Phil 1100: History of Ethics

David L. Rouse
Zehmer 216
375-4577
dlr9g@uvawise.edu

Course Description:

The history of ethics, from Plato and Aristotle through the twentieth century, is critically surveyed. Special attention will be given to ethical intuitionism (Plato), virtue ethics (Aristotle, Aquinas), religious ethics (Bhagavad Gita, Hebrew and Greek Bible, Martin Luther King, Jr.) deontological ethics (Kant), utilitarianism (Bentham, Mill) and existentialism (Simone de Beauvoir).

Course Requirements and Grading:

Students are expected to attend class and do the assigned readings before each class session. Excessive unexcused absence (more than three classes) may result in being dropped from the course. The course grade will be based on two exams during the course and a comprehensive final. The final will constitute 40% of the course grade, the other two exams 25% each. The remaining ten percent will be based on class participation.

Grades are assigned as follows.

Students are expected to know and abide by the rules of Clinch Valley College, including the Honor Code.

Schedule

Date	Topic
15 Jan	Introduction
17	Plato, The Republic , selections; Lecture
20	The Republic continued
22	The Republic continued
24	The Republic continued
27	The Republic continued
29	The Republic continued
31	Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics ; Table of Virtues ; Lecture
03Feb	Nicomachean Ethics continued
05	Nicomachean Ethics continued
07	Nicomachean Ethics continued
10	Nicomachean Ethics continued
12	Bhagavad Gita
14	Deuteronomy 4-8; 13-15; 22-23 ; Lecture Amos ; Lecture
17	Luke , 6; 10:29-37; 12:22-34; 16:19-31 ;Lecture
19	Corinthians 13 ; Romans 13:1-7 ; ;Lecture
21	Limitations of Religious Ethics
24	Review Study Guide
26	Exam
28	Thomas Aquinas, On Virtue ;Lecture
03 Mar	Aquinas continued
05	Aquinas continued
07	Immanuel Kant, Foundations for the Metaphysics of Morals ;* Lecture*
17	Kant continued
19	Kant continued
21	Kant continued
24	Review Study Guide
26	Exam
28	Jeremy Bentham Principles of Morals and Legislation Lecture
31	Bentham continued
02 Apr	Bentham continued
04	John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism Lecture
07	Mill continued
09	Mill continued
11	Martin Luther King, Jr., Letters From the Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, Jr., I Had a Dream Lecture
14	Cornell West, "The Crisis of Christian Identity in America." handout.
16	West continued
18	Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity L ecture
21	de Beauvoir continued
23	de Beauvoir continued
25	Review Study Guide
28	Review
02 May	Review