Philosophy and Responsibility PHL 220 Fall 2013
Page1 PHL 220, Philosophy and Responsibility Salve Regina University Fall 2013 Course Description In the light of classic philosophical texts, students examine various ethical treatments of personal and social responsibility, the nature of community, as well as the challenges inherent in working for a world which is harmonious, just and merciful. (University Mission Statement) Goals and Objectives Goal 1 An Education with a Catholic Identity 1.1 demonstrate an awareness of the Catholic intellectual tradition and its distinctive contribution to liberal education at this university Synthesis 1.9 recognize the essential unity of all knowledge as both an intellectual and a religious principle through interdisciplinary study and thematic connections among discipline-based courses Goal II Liberal Education Analysis 2.3 engage in critical self-inquiry that promotes self-knowledge in order to develop (1) the ability to evaluate different opinions and beliefs, (2) a willingness to test one s point of view against others, (3) a willingness to recognize faulty thinking and seek other rational alternatives, and (4) a sense of collaboration by learning in community
Page2 Goal III Responsible Citizens of the World Analysis 3.4 gain awareness of cultural differences in order to promote the respect and empathy for one another that is essential for dialogue Goal IV Lifelong Learning Analysis 4.7 apply skills related to critical reading, critical thinking, and problem solving Synthesis 4.8 integrate and synthesize information and ideas Readings and Sources Plato. Aristotle. Kant. Mill. Nietzsche. Republic. Basic Books Ethics. Focus Press Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Hackett Utilitarianism. Hackett Basic Writings of Nietzsche. Random House FILM: Human, All Too Human. This is an introduction to the work of Nietzsche. Online source to be announced. Course Guide: McKillop Library website>course guide>p>phl 220 Recommended: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries Contact Information: Dr. Lois Eveleth Office Marian Hall, room 101 Office Hours Th 12:00 3:00. Fri 12:00 2:00. And by appointment Telephone 341-3170 Email evelethl@salve.edu Disability Notice: Students with disabilities should submit a Notification of Disability Form to the professor within the first two weeks of class. This form is available through the Office of Disability Services. Students are advised to speak directly with the professor concerning specific requests for reasonable accommodations (e.g., extended testing time)
Page3 Methodology Class sessions will usually consist of textual analysis/interpretation of the readings assigned for that day, and so reading the assignments before coming to class is a smart idea. Requirements and Grading Quizzes 30%. Papers 30%. Details TBA. Participation 20%. Final exam 20%. In-class, according to the exam schedule. Course Policies Show up on time for every class. Be ready for serious philosophical action. Have the assigned book with you. Don t leave the classroom during class time. Don t have any electronic devices, phones, etc. turned on. No food, please. Turn in written assignments on time. Late papers lose one step grade for every late day, until the grade withers away to nothingness. Do your own work and only your own work. Plagiarism is wrong and intolerable. Plagiarized work will receive an F grade. Assignment and Reading Schedule Wed. Sept.4, 2013 Introduction to the course. The task of Ethics Weeks 2-4 Plato. Republic, Book I. Justice, Thrasymachus, and Socrates.
Page4 Republic, Book II. Glaucon s Challenge to Socrates. The Ring of Gyges. Republic, Book IV. The First Definition of Justice. The State is the Soul of Man Writ Large. Three classes, three virtues. Republic, Book VI. The Forms. The Divided Line. Republic, Book VII. The Allegory of the Cave. Weeks 5-6 Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Book I. The Goodness of Human Life Nicomachean Ethics, Book II. Virtue Defined. Conditions of Being Responsible. Nicomachean Ethics, Book V, sections 1-8. Kinds of Justice Nicomachean Ethics, Book X Pleasure and Happiness Weeks 7-8 Immanuel Kant. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (GMM), Preface and First Section, numbers 393 to 396. GMM, First section, numbers 397 405; and Second section, numbers 412 ( In this study ) to 416.
Page5 GMM, Second section, numbers 416 ( Finally, there is ) to 428. GMM, Second section, numbers 428 ( But let us ) to 431. Weeks 9-10 John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism, Ch. 2. What is Utilitarianism? Utilitarianism, Ch. 4. Can Utilitarianism be proved? Weeks 11-13 Friedrich Nietzsche. Genealogy of Morals (GOM), Preface; First Essay, sections 1-6 GOM, First Essay, sections 7-11 GOM, First Essay, sections 12-14 GOM, First Essay, sections 15-17 Final Exams
Page6 Plato, The Republic Book 1 Begin with the exasperated Thrasymachus (T), who interrupts the on-going conversation. (p.13, 336b). 1. What does T. demand of Socrates? 2. What is the point of Socrates (S) search-for-gold analogy? 3. What does irony mean, when T. accuses S of being ironic? T. is finally persuaded to give his own definition of justice (p.15, 338c). 4. What is T s first definition of justice? 5. T. adds a bit to the definition (p.16, 339a). What is added? 6. S. finds fault with T s definition. (339a 340c). T. remedies the flaw. (340c 341c). How? S. begins probing T s definition. (p.19, 341c). 7. An analogy: The art of medicine seeks the well-being of the patient; piloting a ship seeks the well-being of the sailors. Whose well-being does ruling seek? 8. T. rejects S s analogy (p.21, 343a) and offers his own. Rulers are like shepherds or cowherds; those being ruled are like sheep or cows. The just man never wins. (343d-344d) the just is the advantage of the stronger, and the unjust is what is profitable and advantageous for oneself. (p.22) (Any contradiction here?) S. tries to correct T s thinking with a new line of questioning. (p.22, 344d). 9. Each art is different and provides a unique benefit. (346a) no art or kind of rule provides for its own benefit (p.24, 346e) but he asks for wages But it is not the wages that persuades men to be rulers (p.25): What is most persuasive? (347c) 10. Glaucon ( one of Plato s brothers) begins to agree with S, though he had initially agreed with T. S. picks up on T s claim that the life of the unjust man is better than that of the just man. (348b) 11. T. is still maintaining that injustice is more profitable than justice. Justice is merely high-minded innocence and injustice is good counsel. (348c-d). 12. S. tries again (349b). Consider the activity of getting the better of 2 someone. (e.g. trying to be superior to someone else). The just man tries to get the better of whom? The unjust man tries to get the better of whom? Consider the musician and the doctor (p.28). These intelligent men will try to get the better of whom? (350b). So, then, how are the just man and the unjust man different? (p.29,350c) T. blushes. (350d). He is not convinced but does not resist and argue anymore. S. continues with another related question: whether injustice is more powerful and mightier than justice. (351a). 13. Imagine an unjust city. Can unjust enterprises accomplish anything? 14. What of injustice within a man? What will happen? 15. On p.31 S. provides a summary of what has been accomplished in
Page7 the dialogue to this point. 16. The Greek word for virtue (arête) means excellence. Every thing has its own excellence. (e.g. horse, eyes, ears, pruning knife). Each one s task is done well with its own virtue (excellence). 17. What is the work of a human soul? (p.33, 353d) 18. What is the virtue of a soul, i.e. the quality that helps the soul perform its work? 19. What is required for happiness and living well? S. again claims to be ignorant. Why? Why does he accuse himself of gluttony? Book II A. Glaucon (G) and Adeimantus (A) mount a challenge to S. (357a 367e) 1. Things can be good in themselves, or they can be good only in their consequences. Or, they can be good only because one gets wages for one s performance or work. Where is justice? What is justice, in itself? ( all alone by itself when it is in the soul ) (357b) 3 2. G. proposes that justice is not good in itself but only as a compromise. The Myth of Gyges: a thought experiment about consequences. (359b-360d) 3. Compare the life of the perfectly unjust man with that of the perfectly just man. Which life is better? (360e-362c) 4. A. adds to G s challenge. (362d-367e) Poets praise the consequences of justice but not justice itself. Not even the gods will punish injustice. Why not? B. S. tries again to persuade G. and A. (368a 383c) 5. S. proposes a new approach. In order to examine what the justice of a man is, he will examine the justice of a whole city. Why does he think that this approach will be easier? Why are cities (city-states, in Greece) formed in the first place? Why does specialization of labor develop?. 6. G. complains that there are no luxuries in this hypothetical city, and S. expands the city to include luxuries. (372c 373c). Why is war now envisioned? (373d 374a) Since waging war is also an art, what special group of people is needed? 7. What qualities must the guardians have? (374e 376c) 8. How should the guardians be educated? (376d 377d) What should be stressed? What should be banned? (377d-382c) 9. What does S. mean by the true lie? (382a) Book IV A. Begin on page 111 (433a). Specialization or division of labor is essential in this city. Find S s explanation. (Hint: 433a) The first, tentative definition of justice appears here too. Please locate it. What is injustice, then? See 434b-c. 4 B. The most important analogy of this dialogue appears at this point: S. claims that the structure of the city is similar to the structure of a human soul. (434d 444e) The city has three classes. Because each class has its unique kind of excellence or virtue, the city has three virtues. List these. If a human soul is like the city, then the soul has three parts also. List these. C. S. provides a helpful summary on page 123. (443d-e). Notice the word harmony : it s important.
Page8 When is a man unjust? (p.124). Be prepared to explain Socrates definition of justice. Book VI A. Begin on page 187, at 507a ( We ll be as careful as we possibly can ). Here, Socrates incorporates what is called the Doctrine of Forms, or Doctrine of Ideas. Very briefly put, Platonic Forms or Ideas are the perfection of every entity and quality that humans experience: perfect justice or Justice itself; perfect courage or Courage itself; perfect tree-ness or Treeness itself, etc. Look for this line in 507b: there is a fair itself, a good itself, and so on for all the things that we then set down as many. Locate other lines that refer to these perfect entities. B. Analyze his analogy between the sun, by which we see and by which life is possible, and perfect good or Goodness itself. (507d- 508c). C. The famous Divided Line comes next (509d-511e). Look at the translator s diagram on page 464. This is crucial to understanding what Platonic virtue is. The translator offers his commentary/interpretation of this section at the back of the book; see especially, bottom of page 402 to middle of page 406. Extract from all this what virtue means. Book VII Your task here is to analyze and understand the Allegory of the Cave. Look for artists rendering of Plato s Cave on Google Images.. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Book 1 1 What is meant here by end? (Note: It doesn t mean terminal point.) The end of medicine is what? Bridle-making, a lower end, is pursued for the sake of higher ends. What will these be? 2 When is an end or good the best or highest good? Why must we find out what the highest good is? How is this finding out something like political science? 3 A. issues a disclaimer here. Explain. 4 What is the word commonly used for this highest good? There are four candidates commonly identified for designation as highest good. List them here. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Page9 5 Common people think that happiness is what? What do cultivated people say happiness is? What do money-makers think happiness is? What is A s reason for rejecting each candidate? 6 Plato s view is that there is a single idea of good or The Good. What is A s position? 7 When is an end said to be complete? Does happiness qualify? On page 9: The function or characteristic action of a human is what? What makes a man excellent? (Note: virtue means excellence.) The three classes of goods are: 1. 2. 3. The best and finest good is what? But happiness needs external goods too. Why? Can a poor man be happy? 9 Happiness is not the result of fate or fortune but results from what? 10 Look for this line in paragraph 9: activities in accord with virtue control happiness. Explain. Also, can a virtuous person lose his happiness when misfortunes come his way? 11 Can one s happiness be affected after one s death? 12 Virtue is praised, but happiness is. 13 How does A. define happiness here? The two parts of the human soul are the part and the part. The two types of virtue are 1. and 2.. 8 Book II How are virtues of character (or, moral virtues) acquired? For example: how can a person become brave? 1 2 Because actions control the sorts of states we acquire, we have to do the right actions.
Page10 Actions, though, may be ruined by either or. 3 What important role do pleasure and pain play in acquiring virtue? For example: Does a brave man feel pleasure when he performs a brave act? 4 Performing a virtuous action, while it is necessary, is not sufficient. A. lists three conditions in the person/agent doing the action that must be present. List these three. 5 The human soul has three conditions: 1. 2. and 3.. Virtue is a. A virtue is neither excessive nor deficient. Virtue is a because it aims at what is intermediate. 6 Name the vices in the spaces provided. deficient vice the mean or virtue excessive vice bravery temperance generosity magnificence magnanimity mildness truthfulness wit friendliness 8 These three positions/choices are not fixed but are a sliding scale. A. gives two reasons for this indefiniteness. List his two reasons. 9
Page11 Deciding where virtue lies, A. says, is hard work, and he uses a ship-steering metaphor to describe this process of deliberation. How can we reach the mean? Summarize his answer. Book III 1 There are two large classes of involuntary actions. What are they? What are mixed actions? Involuntary actions are a subset of nonvoluntary. What distinguishes involuntary actions? What role does ignorance play? 2 Why does A. say that children do not make decisions? What connection does A. make between our decisions and our moral character? What is the role of deliberation? (Note: A. usually uses the word principle to mean cause or origin.) 4 According to A., can we wish for what is bad for us? 5 If humans seek the good, how can A. say that our vices are voluntary? 3 Book V. What is A s understanding of distributive justice? Book X. Why is happiness an activity rather than a state? 6 How does A. criticize pleasure-seeking? A happy life is a life in accord with. Can the evil man be happy? Why can t a slave live a happy life? What sociological implications about Athens is A. giving us here? 7
Page12 What connection does A. make here between understanding and happiness? Can you think of better words for understanding? Why is leisure necessary to happiness? He writes: each person seems to be his understanding What is he saying about human nature? 8 Why should the happy person have access to belongings or external goods? Can poor people be happy? Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Reading Notes Preface 1. What is Kant s primary concern here? 2. How is his task different from anthropology? First Section Subsections 393-396. 3. The only thing in the world that can be good without qualification is what? 4. Aristotle claimed that happiness is the great goal of human life. How does Kant correct or modify Aristotle on this point? 5. True or False? A will is good when it achieves good effects. 6. Aristotle claimed that human reason governs the will. How does Kant differ on this point? 7. Find some indication that Kant was a Romantic: e.g. might respect a peasant more than he respects an intellectual. 8. The only purpose of reason is what? Subsections 397-405 9. Being done in accordance with duty is not sufficient for a moral action; to be a moral action, an action must be done (how). How are these two actions different? a. I take care of my health because I wish to live a long time. b. I take care of my health because I have a duty to do so. 10.Do the consequences of an action affect the goodness of that action?
Page13 11. Kant s great moral principle is called the Categorical Imperative(p.14): I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my. Provide an example. 12. For a will to be good, that will must act how? Second Section Subsections 412 416 13. How does Kant define imperative? 14. What is a hypothetical imperative? Provide an example. Subsections 416 428 15. Why can t happiness be an end (goal) for our will to choose? 16. A vocabulary note: a priori is a phrase in Latin that is left untranslated. A sentence, statement, or idea is said to be a priori under any one of these conditions: it is independent of sense data it does not derive its authority from sense data it cannot be authorized by sense data it plays a role in our interpretation of sense data This phrase is crucial to Kant, because his great moral principle (the Categorical Imperative) has to be a priori. 16. Is the hypothetical imperative also a priori? 17. Kant gives two more formulations of his Categorical Imperative in subsection 421. Please write them here for your notes. 18. Subsections 422 423 offer examples of acting from a sense of duty. In this section, what does Kant say about suicide? 19. What is the connection between duty and the Categorical Imperative? 20. In subsection 426: can you find a veiled criticism of Aristotle?
Page14 Subsections 428 431 21. A human cannot be used as a means to an end but is always.what? 22. Must we follow our inclinations or not? 23. His second great moral principle is the Practical Imperative. What does it require? (See page 36.) 24. According to Kant, does the Practical Imperative require us to actively foster the well-being of others, or simply not to hurt others? Utilitarianism (published in 1861) Ch. II, What Utilitarianism Is 1. When are actions right? When are they wrong? (p.7) 2. How does Mill define happiness? 3. In order to defend pleasure as an end/goal, Mill identifies several kinds of pleasure. Locate the lines where he does this. (p.8) 4. In distinguishing kinds of pleasures, which is more important, the quantity of pleasures or the quality of those pleasures? Locate lines where he answers this question. 5. To whom does Mill look as authorities on the question of pleasure? 6. An often-quoted sentence appears on page 10: It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. How does this help him to defend his claims about pleasure? 7. Mill was a multi-faceted individual: businessman, philosopher, member of Parliament, reformer. He was a contemporary of Karl Marx and Charles Dickens, both reformers. There are several places in this chapter where his criticism of socio-political conditions in England is evident. Locate as many of these places as you can.
Page15 8. He repeats his basic ethical principle on page 11: The directive rule of human conduct is what? Why is this rule usually called the Greatest Happiness Principle? 9. We should strive to secure happiness for all mankind, he says, and not to them only, but, so far as the nature of things admits, to the whole sentient creation. (p.12) This is amazing: the whole sentient creation? How far is he extending our ethical obligations? Why do you suppose Peter Singer cites Mill as an authority? 10. Between pages 12 26 he is anticipating objections and answering these objections. There are two points only for our consideration in these pages. pp.15-16: Does he allow for sacrificing oneself? pp.18-19: What does he imply here about a Kantian sense of duty? Ch. IV. Of What Sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible 1. The principle of utility claims that happiness is desirable as the ultimate human end. How can this principle be proved? 2. Is the desire for happiness consistent with a desire for virtue? 3. List three other goals that can become, according to Mill, part of happiness. How long can Utilitarianism tolerate these goals? How is virtue different? 4. Can you complete Mill s argument here (p.39)? If x is the sole end of human nature, then x must be the criterion of morality. Happiness is the sole end of human nature. Therefore,. 5. What are the sources of evidence for this claim? (p.39) 6. Mill writes that Will is the child of desire, and passes out of the dominion of its parent only to come under that of habit. (p.41). If this is true, how does it undermine Kant s notion of the good will?
Page16 On the Genealogy of Morals First Essay By Friedrich Nietzsche Sections 1-7 1. One of the so-called English psychologists is identified in Nietzsche s Preface. See pp.453-454. What is the point of his criticism? 2. How does Nietzsche re-define the word good? Who, then, are bad? 3. Herbert Spencer was the greatest evolutionary theorist of his age. He was one who claimed that the word good originally meant useful and that people had forgotten this meaning. Does Nietzsche agree? 4. Etymology is the study of word meanings through the study of their historical origins. (e.g., philosophy comes from the Greek words for wisdom [sophia] and for lover [philos]). What does Nietzsche conclude about the etymology of the word good? 5. What other meanings does good have? 6. What changes has a priestly mentality made? 7. What are Nietzsche s accusations against the Jews? What is the slave revolt? Sections 8 12 8. The tree of vengefulness and hatred has produced the profoundest and sublimest kind of love, FN writes. How have the Jews used Jesus in this regard? 9. The revaluation achieved by the slaves/mob has produced a new morality. Explain his metaphor of blood-poisoning. 10. FN s special word is introduced here: ressentiment. (He used the French spelling and pronunciation.) Here he describes ressentiment by contrasting the noble morality and the slave morality. The noble morality develops how? The slave morality develops how?
Page17 11. The difference between bad and evil highlights the difference between the noble morality and the slave morality. Explain. He offers several examples of noble races (top of p.477); notice the Homeric hero. Recall the exploits and values of Ulysses, who is an example of Nietzsche s noble morality. How do you interpret the phrase blond beast? 12. What does he mean by nihilism? Sections 13 17 1. The popular or prevailing moralities are absurd, FN is claiming here, because they make impossible demands. What is their most absurd demand? FN claims that weakness is never a voluntary achievement. Why must the vengeful revaluators claim the opposite? 2. Here he uses a workshop image. What is this workshop producing? 3. His attack on the kingdom of God or the Christian belief in a life after death cites writings of Dante, Thomas Aquinas, and Tertullian. What evidence does he find there of vengefulness or hatred? 4. Before reading section 16, Section 260 in Beyond Good and Evil is helpful here. (Pages 394 398: look for the idea of value-creating. He describes master morality on pages 394-396; slave morality, and how it differs from the greater type, on page 397-398) On pages 489-490 in GOM he sets up a cultural conflict between Rome and Judea. What is the nature of this conflict? Who is winning? Why is Napoleon mentioned here?
Page18 Plato Person Goal Basic principle Deliberation Aristotle Kant Mill Nietzsche