INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

Syllabus

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Roy Weatherford is a Professor of Philosophy at USF. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard University where he was a Danforth Fellow and winner of the Bechtel Prize in Philosophy. He is the author of Philosophical Foundations of Probability Theory, The Implications of Determinism, and World Peace and the Human Family.

Email: roy@dweatherford.com

Office: FAO 239 (Mailing address: FAO226) (Tampa Campus)

Office Hours: T 5:00-6:00; R 1:00-2:00; and by appointment

Phone: (813) 974-5635 (Voice Mail); 974-2447 (Philosophy Department Office)

OBJECTIVES: The principal objectives of this course are (1) to provide the undergraduate philosophy major with the minimal ethical knowledge required of any practicing philosopher, (2) to provide non-majors with an opportunity to increase their awareness of ethical issues and principles.

METHOD: Each class meeting will include lecture on the assigned text and discussion of the issues and principles contained therein.

PREREQUISITES: None.

TEXT: No textbooks will be required in this course. I will be assigning public domain and fair use documents, which I will attempt to post to Blackboard and put on electronic reserve, and I may broker some Xerox purchases from ProCopy if there is enough student demand. I have never done this before, so I expect some problems, but if you will bear with me and it all works out, it should save each of you a hundred bucks or so, so I am willing to make the effort. The text will be A Concise Introduction to Logic, Eighth Edition, by Patrick J. Hurley. It has been ordered through the USF Textbook Center and may be available elsewhere.

GRADING: The three examinations and the term paper will be averaged equally to establish the final average. The grading scale will be 90-100 = A,

80-89 = B, 70-79 = C, 60-69 = D, 59 and below = F. Plusses and minuses will not be assigned.

Schedule

January 6 Introduction

January 8 Introduction to Philosophy

January 13 Introduction to Ethics

January 15 Ethics in Ancient Philosophy

January 20 Platonic Ethics

January 22 Aristotelian Ethics

January 27 Aristotelian Ethics

January 29 Divine Command Ethics

February 3 Divine Command Ethics

February 5 Natural Law Ethics

February 10 The Sociological Perspective on Ethics

February 12 Ethical Relativism

February 17 Situation Ethics

February 19 FIRST EXAMINATION

February 24 Natural Law Ethics

February 26 Determinism and Moral Responsibility

March 2 Social Contract Ethics

March 4 Metaethics

March 9 SPRING BREAK

March 11 SPRING BREAK

March 16 Egoism

March 18 Egoism

March 23 Utilitarianism

March 25 Utilitarianism

March 30 Utilitarianism and Social Philosophy

April 1 SECOND EXAMINATION

April 6 Kantian Ethics

April 8 Kantian Ethics

April 13 Intuitionism and Noncognitivism

April 15 Rawlsian Liberalism

April 20 Rawlsian Metaethics

April 22 Pragmatism

April 27 FINAL EXAM (date tentative)