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    Syllabus - Ethics

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    Mitch
    This document provides information about the 7AAN2011 Ethics module offered during the 2013/14 academic year at King's College London. The module is worth 20 credits and will introduce students to contemporary ethical problems and theories. It will examine debates about moral rationality and the relationship between ethics, reason, and the will. The module involves one hour of weekly lectures and seminars. Formative assessment includes two essays, and summative assessment is a two-hour end of year exam. Topics to be covered include ethics and reasons, moral facts, reasons and motivation, morality and rationality, the moral 'ought', moral responsibility, responsibility and control, responsibility and autonomy, and moral responsibility and luck.

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    Syllabus - Ethics

    Uploaded by

    Mitch
    61 views4 pages
    This document provides information about the 7AAN2011 Ethics module offered during the 2013/14 academic year at King's College London. The module is worth 20 credits and will introduce students to contemporary ethical problems and theories. It will examine debates about moral rationality and the relationship between ethics, reason, and the will. The module involves one hour of weekly lectures and seminars. Formative assessment includes two essays, and summative assessment is a two-hour end of year exam. Topics to be covered include ethics and reasons, moral facts, reasons and motivation, morality and rationality, the moral 'ought', moral responsibility, responsibility and control, responsibility and autonomy, and moral responsibility and luck.

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    Syllabus_ Ethics

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    This document provides information about the 7AAN2011 Ethics module offered during the 2013/14 academic year at King's College London. The module is worth 20 credits and will introduce students to contemporary ethical problems and theories. It will examine debates about moral rationality and the relationship between ethics, reason, and the will. The module involves one hour of weekly lectures and seminars. Formative assessment includes two essays, and summative assessment is a two-hour end of year exam. Topics to be covered include ethics and reasons, moral facts, reasons and motivation, morality and rationality, the moral 'ought', moral responsibility, responsibility and control, responsibility and autonomy, and moral responsibility and luck.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    61 views4 pages

    Syllabus - Ethics

    Uploaded by

    Mitch
    This document provides information about the 7AAN2011 Ethics module offered during the 2013/14 academic year at King's College London. The module is worth 20 credits and will introduce students to contemporary ethical problems and theories. It will examine debates about moral rationality and the relationship between ethics, reason, and the will. The module involves one hour of weekly lectures and seminars. Formative assessment includes two essays, and summative assessment is a two-hour end of year exam. Topics to be covered include ethics and reasons, moral facts, reasons and motivation, morality and rationality, the moral 'ought', moral responsibility, responsibility and control, responsibility and autonomy, and moral responsibility and luck.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    School of Arts

    & Humanities
    Department of Philosophy

    7AAN2011 Ethics

    Academic year 2013/14 – Semester 1

    Basic information
    Credits: 20
    Module Tutor: Dr Maria Alvarez (maria.alvarez@kcl.ac.uk)
    Office: 703; tel. ex. 2383
    Consultation time Semester 1: Mondays 15:00

    Lecture time and venue: Mondays 13:00; venue tbc


    Seminar time and venue: Mondays 14:00; venue tbc

    Module description
    The module will introduce students to various contemporary problems in moral philosophy, the ethical theories that
    address them and the historical and intellectual origins of these theories. The course will examine continuing debates
    about moral rationality, focusing on the relation between ethics, reason and the will, with special attention to the
    nature of moral reasons, the possible sources of motivation to act morally, and to the relationship between the will
    and moral responsibility.

    Additional information
    The initial lecture hour will be shared with students taking 5AANB006 Ethics II: Contemporary Ethical
    Philosophy, but they will otherwise be subject to different requirements
    Students who would like to do more ethics might also consider 7AAN2013 Ethics of Science & Technology
    and/or 7AAN2040 Kant II: Moral Philosophy in the second semester

    Module aims
    To introduce students to a range of positions in contemporary ethical debates, and to give them the resources to be
    able to investigate the nature of ethical thought and its place in human life.

    Learning outcomes
    By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills
    appropriate to a level-7 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate that they have:

    A capacity for ethical argument


    A knowledge of the main ethical theorists in the western philosophical tradition, and the relations between
    them
    An understanding of the nature of some central problems in moral philosophy
    1
    Familiarity with and an informed evaluation of a number of attempts to solve the philosophical problems
    under discussion.
    An ability to relate the questions discussed to the work of philosophers studied on other papers
    A capacity to read with great care and reflect upon some difficult texts

    Teaching Arrangements
    1 hour weekly lecture and 1 hour weekly seminar

    Assessment methods and deadlines


    Formative assessment: 2 essays X 1,500-2000 words each due by the end of semester
    Summative assessment: one x two-hour end of year examination

    Formative essays must be completed by the deadline in order to receive feedback. This feedback is crucial for your
    summative assessment.

    Lecture Schedule

    Week 1 (30th September): Introduction: Ethics, Reasons and the Will


    - What is ethics? What is the connection between reasons, the will and ethics?
    Reading:
    Williams, B. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Routlede (1993), esp. ch.1.

    (Part I – Ethics and Reasons)


    Week 2 (7th October): What are Reasons?
    - What are reasons and why do they matter to ethics?
    Reading:
    Dancy, J. ‘Reasons for Action’ in his Practical Reality, (OUP, 2000), Ch.1
    Alvarez, M., ‘How Many Kinds of Reasons?’, Philosophical Explorations 12 (2): 181-193.

    Week 3 (14th October): Moral Facts


    -Are there Moral Facts? If so, how can we know them?
    Reading: (tbc)

    Week 4 (21st October): Reasons and Motivation


    - What is the ‘force’ of saying that someone has a reason to do something? When is this true?
    Reading:
    Williams, B., ‘Internal and External Reasons’ in his Making Sense of Humanity; (also, helpful his ‘External
    Reasons and the Obscurity of Blame’).
    Hooker, B., ‘Williams’ Argument Against External Reasons’, Analysis 47, No. 1 (1987), 42-44.

    Week 5 (28th October): Morality and Rationality


    - Is morality a matter of rationality?
    Page 2
    McDowell, J., ‘Might There Be External Reasons?’, in Altham & Ross (eds.), World, Mind and Ethics: Essays on
    the Ethical Philosophy of Bernard Williams, (1994).
    Foot, P., ‘Rationality and Goodness’, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplementary Volume, (2004) 54: 1-13.

    READING WEEK 4th-8th November – NO LECTURES OR SEMINARS

    Week 6 (11th November): The Moral ‘Ought’


    - Are there specifically moral reasons? If so, is there a distinctive moral ‘ought’?
    Reading:
    Anscombe, G. E. M., 1958. ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’, Philosophy 33: 1-19.
    Crisp, R., ‘Does Modern Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?’, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplementary
    Volume, (2004) 54: 75-93.

    (Part II Ethics and the Will)


    Week 7 (18th November): Moral Responsibility
    - What are the conditions for moral responsibility?
    Reading:
    Strawson, P., ‘Freedom and Resentment’, in his Freedom and Resentment & Other Essays, (1974), ch1.
    Hart, H. L. A. ‘Postscript: Responsibility and Retribution’ in his Punishment and
    Responsibility, OUP, 1968.

    Week 8 (25th November): Responsibility and Control


    - What kind of control is required for moral responsibility?
    Reading:
    Frankfurt, H., ‘Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility’, The Journal of Philosophy, (1969), 66: 829-839.
    Alvarez, M., ‘Actions, Thought Experiments, and the ‘Principle of Alternate Possibilities’, Australasian Journal
    of Philosophy (2009), 87 (1):61 – 81.

    Week 9 (2nd December): Moral Responsibility and Autonomy


    - What kind of freedom of the will is required for moral responsibility?
    Reading:
    Frankfurt, H., ‘Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person’, The Journal of Philosophy , (1971), 68: 5-20.
    Williams, B., ‘Moral Incapacity’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, (1993) 93:59-70.

    Week 10 (10th December): Moral Responsibility and Luck


    - How, if at all, does luck affect moral responsibility? And if it does, what kinds of luck affect moral responsibility?
    Reading:
    Williams, B., ‘Moral Luck’ in his Moral Luck, 1981 (CUP), ch.2.
    Nagel, E., ‘Moral Luck’ in his Mortal Questions, (CUP), ch.3.

    Suggested Essay Questions


    The questions below each topic can be used as essay questions. Here are others:
    - Are you necessarily irrational if you are not motivated to do what you believe you ought to do?
    - What, if any, is the relationships between practical reasoning and moral reasoning?
    - Does moral responsibility that we have alternative possibilities? Why?
    - Can we be blamed for things that are beyond our control? Why?
    You may choose a different essay question but it should be agreed with the module convenor.

    Page 3
    Further Reading
    There is no textbook for this module but some of the books mentioned in the weekly topics may give useful
    background. In addition, further reading for each topic will be given weekly. Please check the lecture handouts
    posted on KEATS for details.

    Page 4

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