Instructor: Lindsay Rettler Time and Location: Mon/Wed 2:00-3:15 pm; Kohrman Hall 2215 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 Mon 10/19 (week 7) Midterm Exam: Wed 10/21 (week 7) Take Home Final Exam: assigned in class on Mon 12/7; 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 W 9/9 Introduction M 9/14 What’s Wrong with Arguing? (1-24)
THE ETHICS OF KILLING W 9/16 Is Killing in War Wrong? (33-39)
Robert Fullinwider – War and Innocence
Lawrence Alexander – Self-Defense and the Killing of Noncombatants: A Reply to Fullinwider
M 9/21 Is Euthanasia Wrong? (44-49)
James Rachels – Active and Passive Euthanasia
W 9/23 Responses to Rachels (50-57)
Winston Nesbitt – Is Killing No Worse Than Letting Die?
Roy Perrett – Killing, Letting Die, and the Bare Difference Argument
M 9/28 Is Abortion Wrong? Part 1 (58-69)
Don Marquis: Why Abortion is Immoral
W 9/30 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?
M 10/5 Is Abortion Wrong? Part 2 (85-98)
Judith Jarvis Thomson – A Defense of Abortion
W 10/7 Responses to Thomson (99-107)
Baruch Brody – Thomson on Abortion
Francis Beckwith – Arguments from Bodily Rights: A Critical Analysis
M 10/12 Is Killing Non-Human Animals Wrong? (108-117)
Tom Regan – The Case for Animal Rights
W 10/14 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
M 10/19 In-Class Review for the Midterm Exam and Choose Presentation Topics W 10/21 MIDTERM EXAM
Presentation on student-chosen topics begin...
THE ETHICS OF THE FAMILY M 10/26 Is the Traditional Family Wrong? (259-281)
Christina Hoff Sommers - Philosophers Against the Family
Claudia Mills – The Ties That Bind: Duties to Family Members
W 10/28 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 M 10/26 Is Homosexuality Wrong? (178-185)
Michael Levin – Why Homosexuality is Abnormal
Is Same-Sex Marriage Wrong? (297-311)
Jeff Jordan – Is It Wrong to Discriminate on the Basis of Homosexuality?
David Boonin – Same-Sex Marriage and the Argument from Public Agreement
Andrew Sullivan – Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality
W 10/28 Is Adultery Wrong? (194-216)
Richard Wasserstrom – Is Adultery Immoral?
Bonnie Steinbock – Adultery
Is Prostitution Wrong? (233-246, 250-252)
Lars Ericsson – Charges Against Prostitution
Laurie Shrage – Should Feminists Oppose Prostitution?
THE ETHICS OF RACE M 11/9 Are Reparations for Slavery Wrong? (361-366)
David Horowitz – Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks—and Racist, Too!
Does Racial Discrimination Make Capital Punishment Wrong? (422-432)
Stephen Nathanson – Does It Matter if the Death Penalty is Arbitrarily Administered?
W 11/11 Is Racial Profiling Wrong? (435-470)
Michael Levin – Responses to Race Differences in Crime
Laurence Thomas – Statistical Badness
THE ETHICS OF STATE POLICIES M 11/16 Is a Government Ban on Human Cloning Wrong? (475-493)
President’s Council on Bioethics – Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
David Elliott – Uniqueness, Individuality, and Human Cloning
W 11/18 Is a Government Ban on Tobacco Wrong? (497-512, 523-536)
Robert Goodin – No Smoking
Graham Oddie – Addiction and the Value of Freedom
M 11/23 Is Redistributive Taxation Wrong? (580-592)
Robert Nozick – Distributive Justice
Alan Goodman – The Entitlement Theory of Distributive Justice
Is Ignoring Global Warming Wrong? (610-617)
Martino Traxler – Fair Chore Division for Climate Change
W 11/25 No Class – Thanksgiving Break
ETHICAL THEORIES M 11/30 Consequentialism and Deontology (24-26) W 12/2 Contractarianism and Virtue Theory (27-30)
M 12/7 Review and FINAL EXAM ASSIGNED W 12/9 Reflections on the Course