Ethical Theories (Fall 2024)

PROVISIONAL --- SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Philosophy 104: Ethical Theories, Fall 2024

Lecture:

MWF 9–10am, 222 Wheeler

Discussion Sections:

M 10–11am, 225 Dwinelle

M 11–12pm, 235 Dwinelle

M 12–1pm, 263 Dwinelle

Instructor:

Niko Kolodny, kolodny@berkeley.edu

Office hours: F 3-5, sign up for an appointment here: https://bit.ly/NK_OH

Graduate Student Instructors:

James Evershed, https://philosophy.berkeley.edu/people/detail/587

Description:

This course will be a survey of arguably the greatest works of moral philosophy in the Western tradition—Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Hobbes’s Leviathan, Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature, Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals, and Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics—followed by some of the most influential writings of the past century. Interwoven throughout these works, so strikingly different in their methods and conclusions, are attempts to answer the following questions:

1. How should we live? Which goals or activities are the most important? Why? What makes them so?
2. Which actions or traits of character are morally obligatory or virtuous? Why? What makes them so?
3. Why, if at all, should we care about being moral? How are the answers to 2 related to the answers to 1?
4. What must we be like in order to be morally obligated, or capable of moral virtue? (After all, pebbles and insects don’t have moral obligations. In what way are we relevantly different?) In particular, must we have “free will”?
5. How, if at all, can questions like 1–4 have objectively correct answers?

Prerequisites: One course in philosophy.

Readings:

All readings are available online, from the online syllabus.

Requirements:

1. Attendance at lecture and section.
2. Section participation: 10%.
3. Three in-class exams: 20% each.  You will get the exam question about two weeks in advance.  You will be allowed to bring to the exam a 250-word outline, which you must turn in with your exam.  No other materials are allowed.
4. Optional in-class rewrite of one exam of your choosing.  You will be allowed to bring in the original exam, the GSI’s comments, and a 250-word outline, all of which you must turn in with your exam.  No other materials are allowed.  The grade for the rewrite will replace the grade for the original exam. 
5. Final exam: 30%.  Each handout will end with a set of “Review Questions.”  Listening to the lecture and doing the assigned reading should be enough to enable you to answer these. (However, simply reading the handout will not be enough.)  Every question on the final will be a “Review Question.” So, if you come to lecture, do the reading, and make a habit of writing out the answers to these questions, you will be fully prepared for the final.  Some investigation suggests that LLMs aren't much help in answering the review questions. So the final will be a 48-hour take-home exam, which will be available on bCourses from 9am on Dec. 18 until 9am on Dec. 20. You will submit the exam to bCourses (with a Turnitin check). The exam is open book. If you have already written out answers to the review questions, then you can feel free just to cut and paste your answers into the exam.

Notes:

• GSI will not comment on the final exam, but will be available to discuss it.
• Requirements may be reduced if enrollment is high.

Syllabus:

1. Wednesday, August 28: Introduction
2. Friday, August 30: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, I (focus on I:1-2, 4, 7-8, 13)
3. Wednesday, September 4: II, III: 1–5
4. Friday, September 6: VII: 1–3
5. Monday, September 9: X: 7–9
6. Wednesday, September 11: Catch up Exam question assigned
7. Friday, September 13: Aristotle, Politics, I: 1–6; Hobbes, Leviathan, Ch. 6, 8, 10–11
8. Monday, September 16: Ch. 13 (but read ahead Ch. 14–17)
9. Wednesday, September 18: Ch. 14–15, 20–21, 31 and 43
10. Friday, September 20: Ch. 16–21
11. Wednesday, September 25: In class exam
12. Friday, September 27: Hume, Treatise of Human Nature II: iii: 1–2
13. Monday, September 30: Catch up
14. Wednesday, October 2: II: iii: 3; III: i: 1–2
15. Friday, October 4: III: ii: 1–2
16. Monday, October 7: III: iii: 1, 6 
17. Wednesday, October 9: Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, I Exam question assigned
18. Friday, October 11: II
19. Monday, October 14: III
20. Wednesday, October 16: Catch up
21. Friday, October 18: Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, I, II
22. Monday, October 21: III
23. Wednesday, October 23: In-class exam
24. Friday, October 25: Catch up
25. Monday, October 28: Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, I: i, iv
26. Wednesday, October 30: II: i–iii (skip 2 and 3); III: i (skip 2 and 3), vi (skip 1–4), vii, xi (skip 7 and 8) Exam question assigned 
27. Friday, November 1: IV: i–vi
28. Monday, November 4: IV: i–vi
29. Wednesday, November 6: Catch up
30. Friday, November 8: Moore, Principia Ethica, Ch. 1
31. Wednesday, November 13: In-class exam
32. Monday, November 18: Stevenson, “The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms”
33. Wednesday, November 20: Foot, Natural Goodness, Ch. 1, 2
    
34. Friday, November 22: Korsgaard, The Sources of Normativity, Ch. 3
    
35. Monday, November 25: Wolf, “Moral Saints”
36. Monday, December 2: Catch up
37. Wednesday, December 4: Optional in-class rewrite of an exam
38. Friday, December 6: Conclusion
39. Monday, December 9: Review session
40. Thursday, December 19, 7–10pm: Final Exam

Course Policies:

Devices:

Please turn off and stow away all electronic devices.

Course capture:

While videos of lecture are no substitute for in-person attendance, it is understandable that you might miss some lectures due to illness, athletic competitions, etc. So videos of lectures are available on request.

“Re-grading”:

You are strongly encouraged to discuss grades and comments on papers with your GSI or me. However, grades on particular papers and exams will not be changed under any circumstances. While there is no perfect system, selective “re-grading” at students’ request only makes things worse. “Second” grades are likely to be less accurate and less fair than “first” grades. This is because, among other things, the GSI does not have access to other papers for purposes of comparison, the student will inevitably supply additional input (clarifications, explanations, etc.) that the original paper did not, and there are certain biases of self-selection.  The only exception, to which none of these concerns apply, is a suspected arithmetical or recording error in your final course grade. Please do not hesitate to bring this to your GSI’s or my attention.

Academic Dishonesty:

Plagiarism or cheating—including the use of AI in completing assignments—will result in an “F” in the course as a whole and a report to Student Judicial Affairs.

Any test, paper or report submitted by you and that bears your name is presumed to be your own original work that has not previously been submitted for credit in another course unless you obtain prior written approval to do so from your instructor.

In all of your assignments, including your homework or drafts of papers, you may use words or ideas written by other individuals in publications, web sites, or other sources, but only with proper attribution. ‘Proper attribution’ means that you have fully identified the original source and extent of your use of the words or ideas of others that you reproduce in your work for this course, usually in the form of a footnote or parenthesis.

—Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Subcommittee, June 18, 2004.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:

If you have an official accommodation letter that is relevant to this course, please notify both me and your GSI at a reasonable time. We will do whatever we can to help.