Ethics
Fall 2009
PHL 106-0G3…..3 Credits……No Prerequisites
Dr. Hollace Graff, Oakton Community College
Course
studies meaning, value, and moral responsibility in human life. Topics include
examination of at least four conflicting theories about what constitutes moral
conduct and social justice; application of these theories to individual moral
dilemmas and to contemporary social issues such as world hunger or the
environmental crisis.
A. Students will develop and understanding of at least four fundamentally different ethical theories and the problems that these theories address.
B. Students will develop their critical thinking skills. They will examine criticisms of all the ethical theories they study and will debate the alternative solutions offered by these theories to enduring moral questions.
C. Students will learn to apply ethical theories to concrete situations on the personal level, on the national level, and on the global level.
D.
Students will adopt
positions on contemporary social issues and use the ethical theory with which
they agree to defend their positions.
Students and employees at Oakton Community College are required to demonstrate academic integrity and follow Oakton’s Code of Academic Conduct. This code prohibits:
· cheating,
· plagiarism (turning in work not written by you, or lacking proper citation),
· falsification and fabrication (lying or distorting the truth),
· helping others to cheat,
· unauthorized changes on official documents,
· pretending to be someone else or having someone else pretend to be you,
· making or accepting bribes, special favors, or threats, and
· any other behavior that violates academic integrity.
There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton’s policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you. If you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years.
Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.
Debates about liberty and authority……Hobbes, Locke,
Smith, Mill, and contemporary articles
Debates about distributive justice………Marx, Nozick, Rawls, Nussbaum, and
contemporary articles
Radical critiques of the tradition….. Schweickart, Gandhi, Shiva, and
contemporary articles
Consult the Reading Schedule for more details.
This is a Great Books class,
so this class will be conducted primarily as a seminar, and I will only
occasionally lecture. This means that you need to read the assigned material
carefully and come to class ready to engage. We may occasionally watch films
and have guest speakers as well.
1. There will be three quizzes. I will distribute a brief study guide before each quiz. The quizzes will consist of short-answer questions and short essays. If you miss a quiz, you may take a make-up in the Testing Center before the next class. If you cannot make up the quiz at this point, you will need to make special arrangements with me to take an alternative quiz later in the semester. This alternative quiz will be an essay exam.
2. You will keep a philosophical journal. In this journal you will record your reactions to the assigned readings and your responses to questions that I pose in class. The journal topics will be available on the class website. The journal should not consist of notes or summaries of the readings. Rather, you should take positions and offer arguments for those positions. You may also consider ways in which the material we read in class relates to your own experiences. Your journal will be collected three times during the semester. I will write comments, and I will give you tentative grades. However, the final grade for your journal as a whole will be assigned at the end of the semester. Each time that you turn in the journal, you need to turn in the entire journal – including the material upon which I have already commented. Your final journal should be at least 15 -20 typewritten pages. In the interest of preserving trees, your journal should not be more than double-spaced, should not use larger than 12-point type, and should not have extra-large margins or large blank spaces between sections.
3. Participation is very important in this class. You can earn participation points in several ways.
a. You may earn participation points by attending class. (If you are late or must leave early, you will receive half credit for the day.)
b. You will also need to attend at least three outside events related to the class, and you will receive one or two participation points for each of these events. I will give you a number of options for events that you might attend during the semester such as public forums, plays, and art openings at Oakton. You will need to provide proof of attendance and write a brief response in your journal.
c. You can also receive participation points by volunteering to give brief presentations on assigned readings. You should plan to do this on at least two occasions. A presentation may earn one or two participation points.
d. There are no excused absences. However, if you need to be absent because of something such as religious holidays or family emergency, I will make every effort to insure that you have ways to earn extra credit that will compensate for your absence. These extra credit opportunities will involve attendance at more outside events relevant to the class such as public forums or plays.
e.
You can also receive participation points for meeting with a study
group outside of class. (I will explain this more in class.)
f.
A…39+, B….35-38, C….30-34, D….26-29.
4.
In unusual circumstances such as hospitalization or compulsory
military service, I will make arrangements so that students can fulfill course
requirements in other ways.
Instructional Materials
Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy edited by Cahn
After Capitalism by David Schweickart
Earth Democracy by Vandana Shiva
Web articles (This will include articles that may be written during the semester.)
1. The journal will represent 40% of your final grade.
2. Class participation will represent 30% of your final grade.
3. The exams will represent 30% of your final grade.
4. On exams, the grading scale will be 90-100…A, 80-89…B, 70-79…C, 60-69…D
5.
If any
part of a student’s journal is plagiarized, the student will receive will
receive an F on the journal. Cheating on an exam will result in a zero for the
exam. All such cases will be reported to the Dean of Students. I have adopted
these policies to guarantee the vast majority of students who do not plagiarize
or cheat that they will receive better grades than students who do violate
academic integrity.
A. Disabilities
If you have a documented learning, psychological, or physical disability you may be entitled to reasonable academic accommodations or services. To request accommodations or services, contact the ASSIST office in the Learning Center. All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements. The College will not waive any essential skill or requirement of a course or degree program.
B. Discrimination
The Oakton Community College Catalog states:
Oakton Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, or marital status in admission to and participation in its educational programs, activities and services, or employment practices. The College does not tolerate sexual harassment or sexual assault by or of its students or employees.
In keeping with this policy of tolerance and non-discrimination, in this class all of us (myself included) should strive to listen and give careful consideration to all ideas expressed in class, especially those that are different from our own, without attacking or demeaning the people who have those views. We should also strive to avoid using insulting terms or telling offensive jokes when talking to or about individuals or groups.
C. Instructor information
Office: 3614
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 10-12, Thursdays 3:30-4:30,
Fridays 2-4:30, and by appointment
Phone: 847-376-7033
Email: hgraff@oakton.edu
Website: http://www.oakton.edu/~hgraff