PHIL 236
Contemporary Ethical Theory Fall 2013
Division II Writing Skills
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Is sacrificing an individual’s welfare for the sake of the community ever justified, or does each individual have an inviolable status that must be respected? Should moral considerations always take priority over personal projects and intimate relationships, or are there some spheres in which we should be free to pursue our goals without concern for morality? We will explore these and related questions by systematically comparing the two dominant ethical theories of the 20th century, consequentialism and deontology. While both find their roots in earlier thinkers — consequentialism in Mill and Sidgwick, deontology in Kant — our focus will be on contemporary developments of these views. We’ll conclude by examining contractualism, which attempts to transcend the divide between consequentialist and deontological views. Readings include works by Bentham, Mill, Nozick, Railton, Brink, Williams, Wolf, Taurek, Rawls, Smart, Scheffler, Nagel, Kant, Kamm, Quinn, Kagan, Ross, and Scanlon.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 10-15
Class#: 1397
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: short response papers; an 8- to 10-page midterm paper; a 10- to 12-page final paper
Prerequisites: at least one PHIL course or permission of the instructor
Enrollment Preferences: Philosophy majors
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills
Attributes: ENVP SC-B Group Electives
JLST Theories of Justice/Law
PHIL Contemporary Value Theory Courses

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