Lectures take place Mondays from 3-4pm in 65/1133 and Thursdays from 4-6pm in 65/1133
SCHEDULE OF READINGS
The readings divide into required, strongly recommended, and optional further readings. I include the optional readings just in case you find the topic especially interesting or would like to write a paper on nearby issues.
Required readings are available for registered students on this password-protected page. Most of the optional further readings can be found for free online or through the university library.
Part 1. Meta-Ethical Preliminaries
Week 1: Moral Relativism - Its Varieties and Status Required
Mary Midgley. 1981. ‘Trying Out One’s New Sword’ in Heart and Mind: The Varieties of Moral Experience. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Strongly Recommended
James Rachels. 1986. ‘The Challenge of Cultural Relativism’ in The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York: McGraw Hill. Further Reading
Michele Moody-Adams. 2002. ‘The Empirical Underdetermination of Descriptive Cultural Relativism’ in Fieldwork in Familiar Places. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
David Wong. 2006. Natural Moralities. Oxford University Press.
Philippa Foot. 1972. ‘Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives.’ Philosophical Review 81: 305-316. Further Reading
Stephen Darwall. 1997. ‘Reasons, Motives, and the Demands of Morality: An Introduction’ in Darwall, S., Gibbard, A., and Railton, P. (eds.) M oral Discourse and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
David Hume. Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Part III, Section III; Book III, Part I, Section I.
Christine Korsgaard. 1997. ‘The Normativity of Instrumental Reason’ in Cullity, G. and Gaut, B. (eds.) Ethics and Practical Reason. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Christine Korsgaard. 1986. ‘Skepticism about Practical Reason.’ The Journal of Philosophy 83: 5-25.
Derek Parfit. 2011. On What Matters, Volume One, Part One. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Derek Parfit. 1997. ‘Reasons and Motivation.’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 71: 99-146.
Part 2. What Matters Morally? Week 4: Goodness and its Distribution Required
Thomas Hurka. 2006. ‘Value Theory’ in Copp, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory. Oxford University Press. Further Reading
Week 5: Values beyond 'Goods' and Relational Equality Required
Elizabeth Anderson. 1999. ‘What Is the Point of Equality?’ Ethics 109: 287-337.
Strongly Recommended
Elizabeth Anderson. 1993. Selection from Value in Ethics and Economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
T. M. Scanlon. 1998. What We Owe to Each Other, Chapter 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Further Reading
Miranda Fricker. 2007. Introduction to Epistemic Injustice. Oxford University Press.
Charles Mills. 2015. ‘Racial Equality' in Hull, G. (ed.) The Equal Society. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Samuel Scheffler. 2003. ‘What Is Egalitarianism?’ Philosophy and Public Affairs 2003: 5-39.
Samuel Scheffler. 2015. ‘The Practice of Equality’ in Fourie, C., Schuppert, F. and Wallimann-Helmer, I. (eds.) Social Equality. Oxford University Press.
Fabian Schuppert. 2015. ‘Being Equals’ in Fourie, C., Schuppert, F. and Wallimann-Helmer, I. (eds.) Social Equality. Oxford University Press.
Naomi Zack. Equality after the History of Philosophy, Chapter 8. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Week 6: Doing and Allowing Harm, Rights, and Self-Ownership, Part 1
Required
Judith Jarvis Thomson. 1985. ‘The Trolley Problem.’ The Yale Law Journal 94: 1395-1415. Further Reading
Philippa Foot. 1967. ‘The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect.’ Oxford Review 5: 5-15.
Judith Jarvis Thomson. 1976. ‘Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem.’ The Monist 59: 204-217.
Judith Jarvis Thomson. 2008. ‘Turning the Trolley.’ Philosophy and Public Affairs 36: 359-374.
Fiona Woollard. 2012. ‘The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing, Part 1.’ Philosophy Compass 7: 448-458.
Michael Tooley. 1994. ‘Killing and Letting Die: An Irrelevant Distinction’ in Norcross, A. and Steinbock, B. (eds.) Killing and Letting Die. New York: Fordham University Press.
Week 7: Doing and Allowing Harm, Rights, and Self-Ownership, Part 2
Required
Fiona Woollard. 2012. ‘If This Is My Body… A Defense of the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing.’ Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 94: 315-341.
Further Reading
Jeff McMahan. 1993. ‘Killing, Letting Die, and Withdrawing Aid.’ Ethics 250-279.
Warren Quinn. 1989. ‘Actions, Intentions, and Consequences: The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing.’ The Philosophical Review 98: 287-312.
Fiona Woollard. 2012. ‘The Doctrine of Doing and Allowing, Part 2.’ Philosophy Compass 7: 459-469.
Fiona Woollard. 2015. Doing and Allowing Harm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Week 8: Intention
Required
Jeff McMahan. 2009. ‘Intention, Permissibility, Terrorism, and War.’ Philosophical Perspectives 23: 345-372. Further Reading
Judith Jarvis Thomson. 1991. ‘Self-Defense.’ Philosophy and Public Affairs 20: 283-310.
Doug Husak. 2009. ‘The Costs to Criminal Law Theory of Supposing that Intentions are Irrelevant to Permissibility.’ Criminal Law and Philosophy 3: 51-70.
F. M. Kamm. 2008. ‘Terrorism and Intending Evil.’ Philosophy and Public Affairs 36: 157-186.
Victor Tadros. 2011. ‘Wrongdoing and Motivation’ in The Ends of Harm. Oxford University Press.
T. M. Scanlon. 2008. Moral Dimensions, Chapters 1 and 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Warren Quinn. 1989. ‘Actions, Intentions, and Consequences: The Doctrine of Double Effect.’ Philosophy and Public Affairs 18: 334-351.
Part 3: Generalist Moral Theory and its Critics
Week 9: Consequentialism
Required
Henry Sidgwick. 1874. Selections from Methods of Ethics. London: MacMillan.
Strongly Recommended
Henry Sidgwick. Further Selections from Methods of Ethics.
Roger Crisp. The Cosmos of Duty, Chapters 1 and 7. Optional Further Reading
Allen Wood. 2006. ‘The Supreme Principle of Morality’, Sections 1 and 2, in Guyer, P. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Optional Further Reading
F. M. Kamm. 2006. ‘Nonconsequentialism’ in Intricate Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Immanuel Kant. 1785. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.
W. D. Ross. 1930. ‘What Makes Right Acts Right?’ in The Right and the Good. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Barbara Herman. ‘Leaving Deontology Behind’ in The Practice of Moral Judgment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Thomas Hill. 1980. ‘Humanity as an End in Itself.’ Ethics 91: 84-99.
Christine Korsgaard. 1986. ‘Kant’s Formula of Humanity.’ Kant-Studien 77: 183-202.
Allen Wood. 2002. ‘What Is Kantian Ethics?’ in Wood, A. (transl.) Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Week 11: Unprincipled Ethics and Non-Ideal Theory
Required
Charles Mills. 2005. ‘‘Ideal Theory’ as Ideology.’ Hypatia 20: 165-184.
Mark Lance and Margaret O. Little. 2006. ‘Particularism and Anti-Theory’ in Copp, D. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Amartya Sen. 2006. ‘What Do We Want from a Theory of Justice?’ The Journal of Philosophy 103: 215-238.
Tommie Shelby. 2004. ‘Race and Social Justice: Rawlsian Considerations.’ Fordham Law Review 72: 1697-1714.
Laura Valentini. 2012. ‘Ideal Theory vs. Non-Ideal Theory: A Conceptual Map.’ Philosophy Compass 7: 654-664.