ETHICS SYLLABUS: SPRING 2007
PHILOSOPHY 102-1
3 CREDIT HOURS
I.
BASIC INFORMATION.
Instructor: Mr. Robert
Kloska
Office: Campus
Ministry Office C-108 (adjacent to dining room): 239-8365
E-mail: rkloska@hcc-nd.edu
Office
Hours: Mon.
1:30-2:30; but BEST BY APPOINTMENT. I’m around a lot.
Required
Books: The Heart of
Virtue, by Donald DeMarco; Man’s Search for
Meaning, by Viktor Frankl; The Journey: A Spiritual Roadmap for Modern
Pilgrims, by Peter Kreeft.
II. AIMS OF THE COURSE.
This
course will introduce you to a basic ethical theory in the Aristotelian/Thomistic tradition. The primary purpose of this course is
for you to be able to understand and explain fundamental moral concepts such as
objective and subjective truth, the bases and limitations of human conduct,
good and evil actions, norms of morality, happiness, law, freedom,
responsibility, conscience, virtue. We shall
investigate the relation between thought and action primarily from an
Aristotelian / Thomistic perspective.
Although this may or may not be
covered explicitly in class, besides acquiring a general knowledge of moral
principles and problems, the goal of this course is to prepare and encourage
you to be a constructive critic of society by being able to analyze and
evaluate contemporary moral issues in order to distinguish what is good, just
and true from what is evil, unjust and false. This will require listening and
reading skills, making connections between various ideas and disciplines,
distinguishing between knowledge and opinion, analyzing and interpreting the
thoughts of others, asking relevant questions, and defending a position or
point of view. By the end of the course, you should be prepared to critically
read and competently discuss these principles in both oral and written form. Of
course, agreement with the material presented is not necessary to do well in
the course. You must simply engage the material thoroughly and understand and
be able to explain the concepts which you choose to accept or reject.
III. CIVILITY
The
process of education is serious work. You must approach your classroom
experience as you would any other job. You must come to class on time, well
groomed, and alert. Anything that you would not do in an important business
meeting, do not do in class. Especially remember that cell phones should be
muted and never answered during class time. There can be no sleeping in the
classroom. If you are tired, please go to the back of the room and stand
against the wall. After the first day of class, you should not wear hats in the
classroom and should always be clean smelling and properly groomed. You should
sit up reasonably straight and be attentive. You should dress in a way that
does not call undue attention to yourself so that you do not distract your classmates
or the professor. In short, you should conduct yourself in a way that respects
yourself and others. In the same way, I pledge to abide by this code of conduct
myself.
IV.
CHEATING
![[Illustration]](Syllabus_files/image004.jpg)
The Student Handbook states
“Dishonesty such as cheating of all kinds, plagiarism in written or oral
reports, illegal possession of examinations…
(etc.) will not be tolerated. Besides publicly disgracing yourself and the
honor of your family name, cheating is a malicious assault on the integrity of
your education. Any sort of academic dishonesty will result in the most
creative tortures and dismemberment found in the history of Western
Civilization. This includes, but is not limited to the tortures and curious
punishments of bygone days described at: http://www.shanmonster.com/witch/torture/
V. ATTENDANCE AND WORK MISSED DUE TO ABSENCE
- Students
are expected to attend every
class. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class by
means of the daily quiz. Students who are late for the daily quiz will be
considered absent. Since
students need to be present to be able to participate, class participation
grades will be lowered for absences.
- No
student is allowed more than two absences for
any reason except extreme and unforeseeable emergencies. If a student does
need to be absent, it is his or her responsibility to get the notes from
another student and any handout or assignment from the professor. A
student who misses a class and does not get an assignment is not exempt
from the due date of that assignment.
- Quizzes
cannot be made up for any reason. The
lowest quiz score may be dropped.
- Exams
cannot be made up, except for extreme cases if the student
contacts the instructor before the exam or within a reasonable amount of
time after the exam (usually meaning within 30 minutes). Contact means personal interaction, not
merely leaving a message or an email.
- Assignments
are due at the beginning of
class on the date assigned. Assignments more than five
minutes late will be considered one day late and will be marked down a
full letter grade. Every
additional day will result in a markdown of half a letter grade per
day.
- Students
are required to keep a copy of any paper turned in and
should be able to furnish it immediately upon request.
VI.
GRADING SCALE AND POINT TOTALS
The final grade for this course is ultimately a subjective
judgment made by the instructor. The following is an approximate breakdown of
the components of the grade:
Grade Components Grading Scale for Exams and
Quizzes:
25% Quizzes
(almost daily) 100- 94 A 79-78 C+
15% Class
Participation/Preparedness 93
- 90 A- 77-74 C
50% Exams
and Final Exam 89
- 88 B+ 73-70 C-
10% Paper 87
- 84 B 69-60 D
83
- 80 B- <
60 F
Extra Credit: I am not opposed to extra
credit so long as the student is working hard with the regular coursework. To
attend a lecture for extra credit the following criteria must be met:
1.
The
lecture must be suggested or approved by the instructor
2.
You must
attend the entire lecture.
3.
You must
write a minimum one page typed paper that includes a synopsis of what was said
in the lecture and a THOUGHTFUL reflection and reaction to it. It should also
include all the relevant details of the lecture. Who spoke? What was the title?
In what building was the lecture held? When did it begin and end?
4.
This must
be submitted before
VII. QUIZZES AND EXAMINATIONS
Quizzes. The
daily quizzes will most often cover the assigned reading material. Although
they are usually true/false questions, I will sometimes simply ask some
questions and have you give me short answers. Until we tie everything together
in the last few days of the semester, the assigned reading material from
Demarco will only indirectly pertain to what we are discussing in class.
Examinations: There will be no surprises here. Exams will all require short answers.
I shall give you a list of possible exam questions at least two days ahead of
the exam. From this list of questions, I shall pick a number of them for the
exam. Thus, if you prepare for all the questions, you will never see an exam
question for which you have not prepared.
VIII. STUDYING FOR A PHILOSOPHY CLASS
Day to Day: To be
successful in this course you will need to read carefully all the reading
assignments. Its not good enough to simply look at all
the words, you need to be highlighting and underlining the important parts of
the text. Continually ask yourself “What are the potential quiz
questions?”
Before Exams: You
are not in competition with each other. At
XI.
OPTIONAL EXAM REVIEW SESSIONS
When the time comes to prepare for the exams, I’m
willing to hold an evening review session for your benefit. Just let me know
and we can schedule something.
UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION, VOCABULARY, AND
CONTEXT
|
Date |
# |
Assignment Due |
Class Topic |
|
1-16 |
1 |
Nothing
Due – Enjoy it. It won’t last! |
Syllabus;
Paper; The 3 Parts of Morality; Intro:
#1-4 |
|
1-18 |
2 |
Lewis: The
3 Parts of Morality; Introduction
Paper #1-12; Permulter: An opinion on opinions; Syllabus;
Quiz |
Intro:
#5-12; Philosophical Skepticism (Matrix film clip?) |
|
1-23 |
3 |
K: The
Journey: Preface and Chapters 1-3; Quiz |
The
Beginning, the Skeptic, the Cynic, the Nihilist |
|
1-25 |
4 |
K: The
Journey: Chapters 4-8 Quiz |
The
Materialist, the Relativist, the Atheist, the Pantheist and the Deist |
UNIT 2: ETHICAL RELATIVISM,
OBJECTIVE MORAL TRUTH AND NATURAL LAW
(Playing the music
in harmony)
|
1-30 |
5 |
No class - snow |
|
|
2-1 |
6 |
Boss Essay on Relativism and Objectivism (9) –
Questions answered. D: pp. 11-17; Care; Chastity, Compassion;
Courage |
Subjectivism and Conventionalism |
|
2-6 |
7 |
Finish Boss D; Courtesy, Determination |
Subjectivism |
|
2-8 |
8 |
Subjectivism and Conventionalism Handouts –
Questions answered. D: Faith; Fidelity |
Conventionalism |
|
2-13 |
9 |
Objectivism Handout – Questions answered. D: Generosity;
Graciousness, Gratitude |
Objectivism |
|
2-15 |
10 |
K: Making Choices: pp. 1-38 |
Judgments, decisions and the case for moral absolutes |
|
2-20 |
11 |
Adler’s Natural Law Handout Adler’s Desire’s: Right and Wrong Handout |
Natural Law |
|
2-22 |
12 |
Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe
pp. 3-24 (Lewis) |
Natural Law |
|
2-27 |
13 |
MLK's Letter;
- Answer questions Comparison Handout – Quiz |
Natural Law Examination review questions |
|
3-1 |
14 |
Examination #1 |
|
UNIT 3: PURPOSE
AND MEANING IN LIFE
(Playing the
appropriate sheet of music)
|
3-6 |
14 |
F:
“Experiences in a Concentration Camp” pp. 9-51 |
Frankl
Reading Search for
Happiness – Why did you get out of bed? Schema for
Norms of Morality |
|
3-8 |
15 |
F:
“Experiences in a Concentration Camp” pp. 51-90 |
Frankl
Reading Vocabulary
handout |
|
3-20 |
16 |
F:
“Experiences in a Concentration Camp” pp. 90 – 115 |
Frankl
Reading Examination
of Happiness as Eudaimonia – make distinctions between happiness and
other things |
|
3-22 |
17 |
F: “Logotherapy in a Nutshell” pp. 119-157 |
Frankl
Reading Where do
we look for happiness? |
|
3-27 |
18 |
F: “The Case for a Tragic
Optimism” pp. 161-179 |
Frankl
Video and Catch-up |
|
3-29 |
19 |
PAPER DUE |
Review,
set the context, then move on to… Arguments
for God: Design |
|
4-3 |
20 |
http://www.peterkreeft.com/
: Can you prove God exists? Design, First Cause, Conscience, History;
Quiz |
Arguments
for God |
|
4-5 |
21 |
http://www.peterkreeft.com/ :
Pascal’s Wager, Desire, Divinity of Christ Handout:
Near Death Experiences; Miracles |
Arguments
for God |
|
4-10 |
22 |
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/evil.htm
: The problem of Evil |
The
Problem of Evil |
|
4-12 |
23 |
Making
Choices Handout: 39-50 (Can you be moral without God?); 73-91 (Ten Candidates
for the Greatest Good) – Quiz |
Why God is
relevant to Ethics Exam
Review |
|
4-17 |
24 |
EXAMINATION #2 |
(Covers Unit 3) |
UNIT 4: VIRTUE,
PERSONAL CHARACTER, AND CONSCIENCE
(Keeping
one’s own instrument in tune)
|
4-19 |
25 |
D: Holiness, Hope Overview of Virtue Ethics |
Virtue as the Golden Mean and a constituitive
element of happiness |
|
4-24 |
26 |
D: Humility, Integrity, Justice, Loyalty, Meekness |
Virtue |
|
4-26 |
27 |
D: Mercy,
Mirthfulness; Modesty; Patience, Piety |
Virtue |
|
5-1 |
28 |
Conscience Handout Another
good reading on Conscience (Rice and Farnan?) Quiz |
Conscience |
|
5-3 |
29 |
D: Prudence, Reverence; Sincerity, Temperance, Wisdom;
Epilogue |
Conscience |
|
5-? |
|
Review Session |
|
|
5-? |
30 |
EXAMINATION #3 and CUMULATIVE FINAL |
(Covers Unit 4 and highlights all the material from the entire
semester) |
A Catholic Book of Character
and Success – Garesche
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Tolstoy
Handout: Aristotle’s Ethics, Book I, i-v
http://morrisinstitute.com/weekly/mihv_pc_morris_01.html
http://morrisinstitute.com/weekly/mihv_pc_morris_44.html
The Poison of Subjectivism, by C.S. Lewis. From the collection of
essays entitled, The Seeing Eye.
On Ethics, by C.S.
Lewis. From a collection of essays
entitled, The Seeing Eye. (This is the Abolition of Man in short essay form)
C.S. Lewis: On Ethics (pp. 59-76) – Questions to
answer