Human Nature Instructor: Nicolae Morar, PhD

Human Nature Instructor: Nicolae Morar, PhD PHIL 110: Human Nature CRN: 15005 1. Course Description We are living in a world where a philosophically complex concept like human nature makes the headlines of major newspapers. Journalists seem to be taken by surprise by the recent revival of this concept when they raise the question: has there ever been a time when there were so many different views of human nature floating around all at once? (NYT) For centuries, this concept was a core part of philosophy and theology. The Christian tradition tells us that we are created in the image of God and carry nonetheless within our fallen nature the traces of original sin. On the other hand, the secular philosophical tradition has emphasized our rational or conscious nature, as the unique character of who we are as human beings. Economists have told us that we are driven by our rational choices given certain incentives and opportunities we are exposed to (Becker, 1976). Others continue to believe that we are nothing more than outcomes of social and historical processes whose forces shape us and make us who we truly are (Foucault, 1976). Or, maybe, there is no human nature and we are only what we can make of ourselves while confronting the social forces at hand in our societies (Sartre 1946). Evolutionary psychologists have always denounced the dogma that human nature does not exist (Pinker 2002). They claim that there is enough scientific evidence that the doctrine of the blank slate is once and for all corrupted. The architecture of the mind grounds a new form of humanism, and shows us the psychological unity of our species beneath the superficial differences of physical appearances and parochial culture (Pinker 2002). But, this very idea of human nature, some critics claim, stands sometimes at the very edge of making up another just so story" (Gould & Lewontin, 1979). So, it looks difficult, if not impossible, to find a consensus over the notion of human nature. Nonetheless, we can observe one invariant among all the notions of human nature that we have developed. From Christian anthropology to Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hobbes, human nature played a key role in determining our moral and political behavior by setting us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom and by making us special among the other living organisms. Nonetheless, recent biotechnological innovations have strongly called into question the (so called) fixed limits of the reality denoted by the concept of human nature. What are the ethical and political consequences of such dramatic future possible changes? Are we playing God? It is true that to the extent that theorizing about justice has been based on assumptions about human nature, and in particular on the assumptions that there is (and will remain) one human nature that provides the basis for the moral equality of persons, the radical malleability of life through its application of genetic science presents yet another basic challenge to our thinking about justice (Buchannan 2000). We used to think of human nature as an ideal for what a flourishing human life is (Stevenson & Haberman 2002). But if Darwinism has changed our metaphysics with its twin idea of mutability of the species and variation within populations (Blackburn 2009), and we no longer believe in a fixed human nature as the touchstone of our moral and political systems, how could we still convince ourselves that human nature provides us any constraints in the pursuit of individual and social goods? If some universal human nature cannot serve anymore as a measure for societies, if we cannot offer a prescription of a truly human society, what can be the objective of our political practice? (Levins & Lewontin, 1987) What is our vision of a future just society? Can we even have such a vision if it is not based on some firm and humane concept of human essence or human nature"? (Chomsky 2006) We used to believe that human and moral progress is a function of a growing awareness of our common humanity. But, if our nature is not one and fixed, this simple idea of moral progress no longer applies (Buchannan 2000). Can we even think anymore of the idea of moral progress? We may feel cast adrift in a sea of 1

possibilities (Buchannan 2000) Does a new biological definition of human nature solve these issues? Maybe it does, but only to a certain extent. It shows us that we are are the outcomes of an extraordinary multiplicity of causal pathways (Lewontin, Rose, Kamin 1985) that we create and re-create the environments that we inhabit, and that inequalities in our societies are not biologically determined, and as we have been told, inevitable and immutable. In this sense, our biology makes us free because it tells us that we are not bound to accept the status quo of the world we live in. 2. Class Meetings Class will meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:00 12:50 p.m. in 180 PLC. Discussion sections meet also on Friday, after our lecture time. Here is the schedule. CRN TIME LOCATION INSTRUCTORS 15006 1300-1350 471 MCK Busk L 15007 1300-1350 373 MCK Pickard C 15008 1300-1350 112 WIL Skorburg G 15009 1300-1350 9 PAC Baines B 15010 1400-1450 121 MCK La Rochelle J 15011 1400-1450 471 MCK Busk L 15012 1400-1450 373 MCK Ferrari M 15013 1400-1450 123 MCK Baines B 15014 1500-1550 471 MCK Skorburg G 15015 1500-1550 123 MCK Ferrari M 15016 1500-1550 121 MCK La Rochelle J 15017 1500-1550 373 MCK Pickard C 3. Office Hours and Contact Information (Instructors) Nicolae Morar Office: 250A Susan Campbell Hall Email: nmorar@uoregon.edu Office Hours: TU 11:30-1:30 pm Brock Baines Office: 250B Susan Campbell Hall Email: bbaines@uoregon.edu Office Hours: FR 10:00-12:00 pm Larry Busk Office: 250B Susan Campbell Hall Email: lbusk@uoregon.edu Office Hours: TU 3:00-5:00 pm Martina Ferrari Office: 221 Susan Campbell Hall Email: mferrar2@uoregon.edu Office Hours: TU 12:00-2:00pm Claire Pickard Office: 221 Susan Campbell Hall Email: cpickard@uoregon.edu Office Hours: WED 1:30-3:30pm Jon LaRochelle Office: 158 Susan Campbell Hall Email: jon@uoregon.edu Office Hours: FR 10:00-12:00 pm Joshua Skorburg Office: 161 Susan Campbell Hall Email: jskorbur@uoregon.edu Office Hours: WED 2:00-4:00 PM 2

4. Course Requirements and Grading Grades on papers and exams will be given on the standard 0-100 point grading scale: 100-93: A 92-90: A- 89-87: B+ 86-83: B 82-80: B- 79-77: C+ 76-73: C 72-70: C- 69-60: D 59-0: F Final grades will be determined as follows: Participation/ Attendance (Discussion Sections) 10 % Reading Quizzes 20 % Exam 1 (in class 180 PLC) 20 % Exam 2 (in class 180 PLC) 20 % Final Comprehensive Exam (in class 180 PLC) 30 % Participation and Attendance (Discussion Section). You are expected to participate actively in this class, which includes attending class (both lectures & discussion sections), reading all assigned material prior to class, and participating productively and professionally in discussion sections. Missing more than one discussion session FOR ANY REASON will result in a 1/3 of a full grade reduction (e.g. from A to A-). An additional full grade reduction will be made for each additional missed class after the second (e.g. from A to B). Three late arrivals for class will count as one absence. Discussion is crucial to this class, and all instructors will do their best to make you feel at ease and welcome to contribute to the class conversations. Please feel free to contribute any question, objection, or other thought about the topic at hand when such occurs to you. Although no relevant remark is out of bounds in this class, you will be expected to treat all members of the class respectfully and professionally. The quality and quantity of your participation in the class discussion will be evaluated in assigning 10% of your final grade. Obviously, failure to attend class will negatively affect your participation grade. Reading Quizzes: On a number of occasions throughout the course, brief quizzes will be given either at the beginning or end of the course lecture. These quizzes will be unannounced and will cover the assigned reading for that class period and/or material covered in the previous lecture. The best way to prepare for these quizzes is to read all assigned materials carefully and review notes from the previous lecture before arriving for class. Only the best nine quiz grades (9 out of 10) will be counted in calculating your final grade; the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. No makeup quizzes will be given for any reason. If a quiz is missed due to absence, late arrival, or early departure, this missed quiz will be treated as one of the grades to be dropped. Quiz questions will be video projected, and responses will be given on small note cards provided by the instructor. Two Midterm Exams: Two in-class exams are scheduled during week 4 (10/20) and week 7 (11/14). Those exams are not comprehensive exams, and thus, the material you have to cover is specific for each one of them. Exam 1 will focus on the material we cover from week 1 to week 3, and Exam 2 will focus on the material we cover from week 4 to week 7 (including week 7). You will have to respond to two 3

questions in an essay format. Since they are scheduled during lecture time, each exam will have a 50 min timeframe. You are required to bring your own green book to class. No other paper support will be accepted. Essays will be graded by the GTF for your discussion section. There will be a possibility for a make-up exam only in the case of documented emergencies. Each midterm exam weights 20% of your final grade. Final Comprehensive Exam (in class): During the finals week, one final comprehensive exam will be scheduled. This exam will draw from all the material assigned as readings in class. A list of review terms and concepts will be posted on Blackboard prior to the exam date. The day and time will be announced later in class & on the course website. The duration of this exam is 120 min (2h). You will have to respond to three questions in an essay format. You are required to bring your own green book to class. No other paper support will be accepted. Essays will be graded by the GTF for your discussion section. There will be a possibility for a make-up exam only in the case of documented emergencies. The final exam weights 30% of your final grade. Failure to complete any of the three exams will result in an automatic failure in the course (grade F). Grading rubric for exam essays (midterm and final): A = Excellent. No mistakes, well-written, and distinctive in some way or other. B = Good. No significant mistakes, well-written, but not distinctive in any way. C = Okay. Some errors, but a basic grasp of the material. D = Poor. Several errors. A tenuous grasp of the material. F = Failing. Problematic on all fronts indicating either no real grasp of the material or a complete lack of effort. 5. Learning Outcomes This course has a number of learning outcomes. The instructors are interested in working with you to develop a series of more general skills that you will need during your college education and even after graduation. These include the ability to: Explain and summarize different approaches to human nature. Articulate and evaluate philosophical arguments Develop reading skills (from philosophical texts to science oriented texts) Develop communication and argumentation skills (especially in your discussion sections) Develop writing skills and learn how to manage your thinking-process in a limited amount of time. 6. Course Policies Incompletes and extensions will be given only in the event of documented emergencies. Emergencies: In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. Sexual Violence: The UO is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and gender-based stalking. If you (or someone you know) has experienced or experiences gender-based violence (intimate partner 4

5 PHIL 110: Human Nature CRN: 15005 violence, attempted or completed sexual assault, harassment, coercion, stalking, etc.), know that you are not alone. UO has staff members trained to support survivors in navigating campus life, accessing health and counseling services, providing academic and housing accommodations, helping with legal protective orders, and more. Please be aware that all UO employees are required reporters. This means that if you tell me about a situation, I may have to report the information to my supervisor or the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity. Although I have to report the situation, you will still have options about how your case will be handled, including whether or not you wish to pursue a formal complaint. Our goal is to make sure you are aware of the range of options available to you and have access to the resources you need. If you wish to speak to someone confidentially, you can call 541-346-SAFE, UO s 24h hotline, to be connected to a confidential counselor to discuss your options. You can also visit the SAFE website at safe.uoregon.edu Accessibility: If you have a documented disability, please contact me in advance. If you need accommodations in this class, I will work with the Accessible Education Center to find a solution for you. Academic Misconduct: With the advent of the Internet, plagiarism has become an increasingly serious problem at universities around the country, particularly in classes like this one, where papers determine a substantial part of the grade. In order to avoid plagiarizing from a source, both direct quotations and paraphrases or summaries of material found in traditional print media or on the internet must be acknowledged. If you have any questions about how this definition will be interpreted, please do not hesitate to discuss the matter with me. Plagiarism and cheating on exams undermines the integrity of the academic community. When undetected, it gives the perpetrator an unfair advantage over students who are graded on the basis of their own work. In this class we will do our best to detect plagiarism and cheating. Students who are aware of violations by others should bring this to my attention. This is the right thing to do. It is also in your own self-interest. There will be zero tolerance for plagiarism in this course. Plagiarized papers will receive a 0, the student will automatically fail the course, and their name will be handed given to the university authorities. For more on the University of Oregon policy on plagiarism, see the following website: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students/ External Sources: Using sources not listed on the syllabus in researching and writing your papers is fine, as long as they are both to the point, and are properly cited. And at all times, when in doubt, cite your sources! It is the best way to avoid being accused of plagiarism. This is probably the best place to make this point, too: Wikipedia can be valuable for getting a very broad grasp of positions and debates, but when it gets into details, especially on philosophic topics, it is very often horrible sketchy, convoluted, misinformed, and often simply wrong. If you wish to consult online resources, I suggest you use some of the other, much better sites. Most prominent is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, but others are useful as well: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - http://plato.stanford.edu/ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - http://www.iep.utm.edu/

6. Website All the information about this course and other comments or events related to the class will be posted on the course website, which can be reached via Professor Morar s homepage: http://pages.uoregon.edu/nmorar/nicolae_morar/phil110_f14.html 6. Textbook & Readings There is no textbook for this course. All required readings are posted on Blackboard. 7. Tentative Assignment Schedule (Subject to revision as we proceed. Specific assignments announced in class) Week 1 9/29 10/1 10/3 Week 2 10/6, 10/8, 10/10 Week 3 10/13 10/15 10/17 The Importance of Classification Introduction to the Course (Syllabus Presentation) J. L. Borges, The Analytical Language of John Wilkins Marc Ereshefsky, The Philosophy of Classification p.15-28 (1.1. Essentialism & 1.2 Cluster Analysis) Marc Ereshefsky, The Philosophy of Classification p.28-49 (1.3. The Historical Approach & 1.4 Taxonomic Monism & Pluralism & 1.5. Hierarchical Classification) Essentialist Theories of Human Nature (Conjunctive Approaches) Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & (especially) 7 Nussbaum, Human Functioning & Social Justice: A Defense of Aristotelian Essentialism (read only from p.214 An Essentialist Proposal up until p.223 Answering Objections ) Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book 3. Ch. 1-3 Ethics and Challenges to An Essentialist View of Human C.E. Harris, The Ethics of Natural Law Buchannan, Human Nature and the Natural Singer, Speciesism and Moral Status Week 4 10/20 10/22 10/24 Cluster Theories of Human Nature (Disjunctive Approaches) Midterm 1 (in-class exam) Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Aphorisms 65-78 Machery, A Plea for Human Nature 6

Week 5 10/27 10/29 10/31 Week 6 11/3, 11/5, 11/7 Week 7 11/10 11/12 11/14 Week 8 11/17 11/19 11/21 Week 9 11/24 11/26 11/28 Week 10 12/1 12/3 12/5 Darwinian Theories of Human Nature Darwin, The Descent of Man (excerpts) Stevenson & al, Darwinian Theories of Human Nature (Evolutionary Theory, Stage 1) Stevenson & al, Darwinian Theories of Human Nature (Evolutionary Theory, Stage 2 & 3 from page. 256-277) Etre dont l'être est de ne pas être [ the being whose essence is in not having an essence ] David Hull, On Human Nature J. P. Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism S. Beauvoir, The Second Sex (excerpts) Human Nature, Social Constructivism/ Determinism, and Sexuality M. Foucault, The Perverse Implantation, History of Sexuality Vol. 1. Ian Hacking, Making Up People Midterm 2 (in-class exam) Human Nature, Race, Feminism, Violence, War H. Bracken, Essence, Accident, Race Nancy Holmstrom, "Do Women Have a Distinct Nature?" S. Oyama, Essentialism, Women, & War: Protesting too Much, Protesting too Little Human Nature, Power, Ideology, Politics, Justice Rose, Lewontin, & Kamin, Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature M. Foucault & N. Chomsky, Human Nature: Justice vs. Power, p.1-39 No Class (Thanksgiving Vacation) Continue reading Foucault & Chomsky (p.39-67) Human Nature, Ethics, and Moral Responsibility: Fiction or Reality? Washington & Kelly, Who is Responsible? p.1-11 (up to The Hiring Committee Sec.) Washington & Kelly, Who is Responsible? p.11-26 Microbes and Human Nature: Towards a New Ethic? (no reading) Final Exam In class (comprehensive) exam (PLC 180) Date (TBA) 7