Spring Semester – 2019

Matthew Lampert

Email: mlampert@nctc.edu

Office Hours: Monday / Wednesday 8:30 – 9:30 am

Monday/Wednesday 9:30 – 10:50 am

Corinth Campus 256

Course Description:

 The systematic evaluation of classical and/or contemporary ethical theories concerning the good life, human conduct in society, morals, and standards of value.

 What does it mean to be a good person? What are our ethical obligations to other individuals and to society as a whole? Is there such a thing as moral truth, or is morality “relative” to individuals or societies? This course is an introduction to ethics, the branch of philosophy that addresses such questions. The aim of the class is for students to leave with the ability and desire to examine their own lives and values, developing skills as critical thinkers and intellectually independent members of society.

 This course is centered around reading and writing, and a lot of both will be expected from you.  First and foremost, however, the class is about thinking. “I don’t know” is never an acceptable answer: as we will see, it’s not about what you know. Even if it were possible, I don’t expect you to know it all; I do, however, expect you to think. Furthermore, I don’t expect you to agree with all of the texts, or even with me! In most other classes (math, science, etc.), the professor is giving you the indisputable facts; in this class, I ask that you question everything.

Textbooks and Bibliography:

Michael Morgan, ed., Classics of Moral and Political Theory, 5^th ed. (Hackett, 2011).  ISBN-13: 978-1-60384-442-0

Course Projects and Requirements (Evaluation):

1.  A course journal. For each class period, I will give you one or more response question(s); a few paragraphs should be sufficient in each case, but journals will be graded on relevance, completeness, and use of course material (your journal responses should show that you have read, and are applying, the assigned reading). Journals will be kept throughout the semester, and I will collect them at the end. Journals should be typed, and handed in printed, in accordance with course policies (see below). Late journals will be accepted (in person, printed) during the final exam week only, and will receive only ¾ credit, unless specific alternate arrangements have been made with me ahead of time. 20%
2. Weekly in-class quizzes (see schedule for specific dates); at the end of the semester, your lowest quiz score will be dropped; the rest will be averaged for your quiz grade. You must be present to take the quiz, which will be given at the very beginning of class—quizzes will not be sent home, nor given as make-ups. A missed quiz is a zero.  30%
3. Midterm Essay, to be assigned during the term. The essay assignments will be your opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and do some critical thinking.  30%
4. Class participation is very important.  This includes not only attendance (see below), but also active involvement in class discussion. I expect that each student will come in with some thoughts to share on each topic of discussion.  20%

Relevant Policies:

1.  Attendance means being present for the entire class. Either show up on time and stay for the entire session, or don’t show up at all; arriving late, or coming in and out during class, is disruptive and will not be tolerated. In case we’re unclear: a minute late is still late.
2. Academic honesty is taken very seriously. In a philosophy class, this means that sources used in papers or journals should be cited somehow (MLA style, Chicago style, etc.), and quotations from any text clearly indicated. It also, more importantly, means not taking credit for the work of another. Plagiarism, handing in papers downloaded off of the internet, or any other case of a student handing in something he or she has not written will be grounds for immediate failure of the class, no exceptions. If you have any questions at all, please consult the university’s policy, and/or see me directly: “I didn’t know this wasn’t okay” is not an excuse.
3. No outside sources are allowed for the essay! The primary texts from the course, class notes, and your thoughts are the only allowable sources. Use of outside sources will result in a zero for the assignment.
4. All handed in work must be typed, and I ask that you go through the step of spell-checking them first as well. If you do not have a computer or printer, you should plan on using the available computer labs at school.
5. Your journal must be submitted in class, in print-form (i.e., not hand-written), on the due date to be considered on time. Do not email your journal to me. I will not accept your journal via email. For that matter, bringing your laptop to the front of the room to show me that your work is done doesn’t count as being on time either. Print it before class, or it’s late. If your journal is not handed in during class on (or by) the date it’s due, you will have only one week to hand it in late. All journals handed in late will be penalized 25%.
6. Turn all cell phones off before entering the classroom, out of respect to fellow students and the discussion. Any student interrupting class with a cell phone or other noisy electronic device may be asked to leave the class for the day.
7. Numerical grading scale breakdown: At the end of this semester, I will assign you a letter grade based upon the percentage of the total points available for the semester that you have earned. My grading scale is as follows. A: 100%-93; A-: 92.9-90; B+: 89.9-87; B: 86.9-83; B-: 82.9-80; C+: 79.9-77; C: 76.9-73; C-: 72.9-70; D+: 69.9-67; D: 66.9-60; F: 59 or below.

Learning Goals:

 At the successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. Read, analyze, and critique philosophical texts.
2. Define and appropriately use important terms such as relativism, virtue, duty, rights, utilitarianism, natural law, egoism, altruism, autonomy, and care ethics.
3. Present and discuss well-reasoned ethical positions in writing.
4. Apply ethical concepts and principles to address moral concerns.
5. Apply course material to various aspects of life.
6. Discuss ways of living responsibly in a world where people have diverse ethical beliefs.

Course Outline/Sequence of Subjects:

Note that this is a tentative schedule, subject to change; we can, and probably will, fall a little bit behind every now and again. But all assignments will be due on the date listed unless I tell you specifically otherwise.