Instructor: Lindsay Rettler Time and Location: Tues/Thurs 5:30-6:45 pm; Dunbar Hall 2210 Contact: lindsayrettler[at]gmail.com Office Hours: Tues 4:30-5:30 pm, Wed 1:00-2:00 pm, and by appointment; Moore Hall 3035
IMPORTANT DATES: Presentations: topics chosen in class on Tues 10/20 (week 7) Midterm Exam: Thurs Oct 22 (week 7) Take Home Final Exam: assigned in class on Tues 12/8; due by midnight on Tues 12/15 (finals week)
COURSE SCHEDULE: Please complete the readings before class on the days for which they are listed. All page numbers are from What’s Wrong? Applied Ethicists and Their Critics, edited by David Boonin and Graham Oddie, 2nd edition, 2005.
INTRODUCTION AND LOGIC T 9/8 Introduction Th 9/10 What’s Wrong with Arguing? (1-24)
THE ETHICS OF KILLING T 9/15 Is Killing in War Wrong? (33-39)
Robert Fullinwider – War and Innocence
Th 9/17 Response to Fullinwider (40-43)
Lawrence Alexander – Self-Defense and the Killing of Noncombatants: A Reply to Fullinwider
T 9/22 Is Euthanasia Wrong? (44-49)
James Rachels – Active and Passive Euthanasia
Th 9/24 Responses to Rachels (50-57)
Winston Nesbitt – Is Killing No Worse Than Letting Die?
Roy Perrett – Killing, Letting Die, and the Bare Difference Argument
T 9/29 Is Abortion Wrong? Part 1 (58-69)
Don Marquis: Why Abortion is Immoral
Th 10/1 Responses to Marquis (70-84)
Gerald Paske – Abortion and the Neo-Natal Right to Life: A Critique of Marquis’s Futurist Argument
Alastair Norcross – Killing, Abortion, and Contraception: A Reply to Marquis
Peter McInerney – Does a Fetus Have a Future-Like-Ours?
T 10/6 Is Abortion Wrong? Part 2 (85-98)
Judith Jarvis Thomson – A Defense of Abortion
Th 10/8 Responses to Thomson (99-107)
Baruch Brody – Thomson on Abortion
Francis Beckwith – Arguments from Bodily Rights: A Critical Analysis
T 10/13 Is Killing Non-Human Animals Wrong? (108-117)
Tom Regan – The Case for Animal Rights
Th 10/15 Responses to Regan (118-130)
Jan Narveson – On a Case for Animal Rights
R.G. Frey – Why Animals Lack Beliefs and Desires
R.G. Frey – The Case Against Animal Rights
Alan White – Rights
T 10/20 In-Class Review for the Midterm Exam Th 10/22 MIDTERM EXAM
THE ETHICS OF THE FAMILY T 10/27 Is Neglecting One’s Parents Wrong? (312-322)
Jane English – What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents?
Is Licensing Parents Wrong? (312-322)
Hugh LaFollette – Licensing Parents
Th 10/29 Is Commercial Surrogate Motherhood Wrong? (330-340)
Elizabeth Anderson – Is Women’s Labor a Commodity?
Richard Arneson – Commodification and Commercial Surrogacy
Is Causing Overpopulation Wrong? (340-358)
Derek Parfit – Overpopulation and the Quality of Life
Thomas Hurka – Value and the Population Size
Don Locke – The Parfit Population Problem
THE ETHICS OF SEX AND RACE T 11/3 Is Homosexuality Wrong? (178-185)
Michael Levin – Why Homosexuality is Abnormal
Timothy Murphy – Homosexuality and Nature: Happiness and the Law at Stake
Is ”Outing” Homosexuals Wrong? (186-189)
Richard Mohr – The Case for Outing
Th 11/5 Is Adultery Wrong? (194-205, 209-216)
Richard Wasserstrom – Is Adultery Immoral?
Don Marquis – What’s Wrong with Adultery?
Is Prostitution Wrong? (233-246, 252-255)
Lars Ericsson – Charges Against Prostitution
Karen Green – Prostitution, Exploitation, and Taboo
T 11/10 Is Racial Profiling Wrong? (435-470)
Michael Levin – Responses to Race Differences in Crime
Laurence Thomas – Statistical Badness
THE ETHICS OF STATE POLICIES Th 11/12 Is a Government Ban on Tobacco Wrong? (497-512, 523-536)
Robert Goodin – No Smoking
Graham Oddie – Addiction and the Value of Freedom
T 11/17 Is Legal Punishment Wrong? (537-555, 557-558)
Randy Barnett – Restitution: A New Paradigm of Criminal Justice
Roger Pilon – Restitution, Punishment, or Both?
Is Issuing Warrants to Torture Wrong? (560-571)
Alan Dershowitz – Tortured Reasoning
Th 11/19 Is Ignoring Global Warming Wrong? (610-617)
Martino Traxler – Fair Chore Division for Climate Change
T 11/24 Is Redistributive Taxation Wrong? (580-592)
Robert Nozick – Distributive Justice
Alan Goodman – The Entitlement Theory of Distributive Justice
Th 11/26 No Class – Thanksgiving Break
ETHICAL THEORIES T 12/1 Consequentialism and Deontology (24-26) Th 12/3 Contractarianism and Virtue Theory (27-30)
T 12/8 Review and FINAL EXAM ASSIGNED Th 12/10 Reflections on the Course