Phil 7 - Introduction to Ethics

    Long Beach City College Summer 2002
    Instructor: Brian W. Carver

    Syllabus

Readings Online

    Plato - Euthyphro
    John Stuart Mill - Utilitarianism (start with Ch. 2)
    Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan (read the excerpt in the text!)
    U.S. Supreme Court - Roe vs. Wade (complete text)

    "Power Steer" - Michael Pollan (NYTimes March 31, 2002)
    "Should You Be a Vegetarian?" (Time Magazine July 7, 2002)
    Beef Industry "Factoid" Fighter (beef.org May 2002)
    ConAgra to Recall 18 Million Pounds of Beef (NYTimes July 19, 2002)
    "When a Crop Becomes King" - Michael Pollan (NYTimes July 19, 2002)

    Various Authors - What We're Fighting For: A Letter from America (Feb. 12, 2002)
    Thomas Jefferson - The Declaration of Independence
    George Washington - Farewell Address
    Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address
    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter from the Birmingham Jail
    Flaws in US Air War Left Hundreds of Civillians Dead (NYTimes July 21, 2002)

Study Guides

   Ethical Theory

    Plato - Euthyphro
    William H. Shaw - Relativism in Ethics
    Louis P. Pojman - A Defense of Ethical Objectivism
    John Stuart Mill - Utilitarianism
    James Rachels – The Debate over Utilitarianism
    Thomas Hobbes - Contractual Ethics
    Onora O'Neill - A Simplified Account of Kant's Ethics

   Abortion

    U.S. Supreme Court - Roe vs. Wade
    John T. Noonan Jr. - Abortion is Morally Wrong
    Judith Jarvis Thomson – A Defense of Abortion
    Baruch Brody - Against an Absolute Right to Abortion
    Mary Ann Warren - The Personhood Argument in Favor of Abortion
    Don Marquis - Why Abortion is Immoral
    Gerald Paske - Abortion and the Neo-Natal Right to Life  

   Animal Rights

    Immanuel Kant - We Have Only Indirect Duties to Animals
    Peter Singer - All Animals are Equal
    R. G. Frey - A Utilitarian Critique of Animal Rights
    Tom Regan - The Radical Egalitarian Case for Animal Rights
    Mary Ann Warren - Difficulties with the Strong Animal Rights Position
    James Rachels - Vegetarianism and "The Other Weight Problem"

    War

    Robert Phillips - Just War Theory
    Various Authors - What We're Fighting For: A Letter from America (Feb. 12, 2002)
    Jan Narveson - A Critique of Pacifism
    Cheyney Ryan - A Defense of Pacifism
    The U.S. Catholic Bishops - Against the Use of Nuclear Weapons
    Charles Krauthammer - On Nuclear Morality

Educational and Other Resources

    Me. (The first place you should turn if you are having trouble in the course.)
    Ethics Web Site by Lawrence M. Hinman (Lots of stuff here!)
    Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
    Philosophers use fancy words: Look them up!
    How to get a free web-based e-mail address

Exam Results

    Exam #1 on Ethical Theory
    Exam #2 on Abortion
    Exam #3 on Animal Rights
    Exam #4 on War