PHIL 8310 is also offered in Spring 2024
PHIL 8310 is also offered in Spring 2023
Spring 2021 | PHIL 8310 Section 001: Seminar: Moral Philosophy (51969)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Repeat Credit Limit:
- 9 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- Completely Online
- Class Attributes:
Online Course
- Times and Locations:
- Enrollment Status:
Open (2 of 20 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Concepts/problems relating to ethical discourse. prereq: 4310 or 4320 or 4330 or instr consent
- Class Notes:
- This course is completely online in a synchronous format. The course will meet online at the scheduled times.
The lead up and entry of England into World War II prepared the way, at Oxford, for the education and emergence of an extraordinary cohort of female philosophers whose work continues to have a profound influence on post-war moral philosophy in the Anglo-American tradition. Writing of those heady days, Mary Warnock recounted: "It was clear that we were all more interested in understanding this deeply puzzling world than in putting each other down. That was how Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Iris Murdoch, Mary Warnock and I, in our various ways, all came to think out alternatives to the brash, unreal style of philosophising - based essentially on logical positivism - that was current at the time. And these were the ideas that we later expressed in our own writings." (Letter to the Editor, The Guardian, Thu 28 Nov 2013) We will join the Fabulous Five in their quest to understand the deeply puzzling moral world and their rejection of the "brash" (Warnock), "corrupt mind[ed]" (Anscombe, written of R.M. Hare) theories of morality compatible with attributing "wrongness [to] running round trees right-handed or looking at hedgehogs in the light of the moon" (Foot's infamous attack on Ayer et al.). Although they may not have put each other down, these women pulled no punches in attacking the English establishment moral philosophers of their day. Immersing ourselves in their lives and writing, we will attempt to understand the grounds of their criticism and the trail they blazed with positive contributions to subsequent moral philosophy. Shaped by student interest, readings will be drawn from Anscombe and Foot's seminal essays in moral philosophy, as well as Foot's Natural Goodness (2002); Murdoch's Sovereignty of the Good and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992), as well as at least one novel of hers; memoirs by Midgley and Warnock and perhaps Midgley's (notoriously vicious) debate with Richard Dawkins; and Warnock's writings on the ethics of human reproduction
- Class Description:
- The seminar topic for Spring 2018 will be: Valuing Persons. It is a dogma of contemporary moral philosophy that each person possesses an unconditional value that merits respect; respecting others thus is a morally mandated mode of valuing persons. In what, however does such a mode of valuing persons consist? How does it relate to other modes of both valuing and *dis*valuing persons? Do modes of valuing persons grounded in their compliance (or flouting) of deontic standards (e.g., their status as a wrongdoer) exhaust the morally significant range of valuing/disvaluing attitudes? Or in valuing persons as we morally should, must we likewise attend to their compliance (or flouting) of non-deontic (e.g., aretaic) standards, as well? This course will be conducted as an advanced research seminar into these topics, culminating in each student offering a mock conference presentation and producing a (potentially) publishable research paper. Core readings will be drawn from contemporary philosophers and the instructor's forthcoming manuscript, supplemented by readings suggested by students' independent research.
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- Graduate students in philosophy.
- Learning Objectives:
Seminar participants will:
· Become familiar with arguments and approaches to the topic as it is treated
· Present their research on the topic, and
· Produce a significant body of written work on the topic.
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/51969/1213
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 13 May 2017
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2021 Philosophy Classes