ANTH 2360/UGED 2666 Ethics and the Human Experience Spring 2018 Lecture: Tuesday 9:30 AM 11:15 AM, NAH 12 Tutorial: Tuesday 2:30PM 3:15 PM, NAH 401 Tuesday 4:30PM 5:15 PM, NAH 401 Instructor: Teresa KUAN, NAH 325, tkuan@cuhk.edu.hk, 3-7728 Office Hours: Friday 3:00 5:00 PM, and by appointment (By Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes) This course introduces students to the study of ethics and morality from a social and crosscultural perspective. Ethics and morality may appears to be an abstract subject for philosophers, but this course shall demonstrate how they are in fact a close part of our everyday lives. Human beings living in different societies have different ideas about what constitutes the good and the right. How and why do they differ? Does the cross-cultural study of morality and ethics lead to moral relativism? What are some shared human problems? How do people manage to get along with each other, and how does a person learn to get along with oneself? Ethics and the Human Experience will prioritize context in understanding what shapes the good and the right. But ultimately, the class aims to enrich and expand our vocabulary of virtues, stretching our moral imagination beyond the usual concerns. Learning Outcomes: 1. Students will acquire intellectual resources for thinking about ethics and morality from a holistic perspective. 2. Students will learn to differentiate between the various factors that create unique social, cultural and historical circumstances. 3. Students will learn to connect the seemingly mundane to broader philosophical themes. 4. Students will have a better understanding of their own life experience. 5. Students will apply the skills they have learned in doing a class presentation on a topic of their choosing, in collaboration with group-mates. 1
Required Texts All readings will be posted on Blackboard. Evaluation Grade Item Percentage Due Date Midterm Paper 25% March 6 Presentation proposal -- March 23 Research Presentation 25% April 23 (make-up class) Final Paper 35% May 4 Participation and attendance 15% -- All assignments must be submitted to VeriGuide. Assignments without a signed declaration from VeriGuide will not be graded. Week 1 (January 9): Course Introduction No readings. ** The Anthropological Rebellion Against Moral Universalism Week 2 (January 16): Beyond Right and Wrong Beth CONKLIN, Introduction and Transforming Grief. In Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society. Week 3 (January 23): The Case of Transplant Ethics Nancy SCHEPER-HUGHES, The Last Commodity: Post-Human Ethics and the Global Traffic in Fresh Organs. In Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems. Dirty Pretty Things (2003) Week 4 (January 30): The Unintended Consequences of Good Intentions Miriam TICKTIN, Where ethics and politics meet: The violence of humanitarianism in France. American Ethnologist. Week 5 (February 6): The Morality of Bureaucracy Lisa STEVENSON, Cooperating. In Life Besides Itself: Imagining Care in the Canadian Arctic. (OPTIONAL) David GRAEBER, The Utopia of Rules, or Why We Really Love Bureaucracy After All. In The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy. 2
Wherever there are societies, there is altruism Durkheim Week 6 (February 13): The Sociological Foundation YAN Yunxiang, The Good Samaritan s new trouble: A study of the changing moral landscape in contemporary China. Social Anthropology. (OPTIONAL) Émile DURKHEIM, Division of Labor in Society: Consequences and Division of Labor in Society: Conclusion. In Émile Durkheim: On Morality and Society. Disorder / 现实是过去的未来 (Clip only) Week 7 (February 20): Holiday No class. Happy Chinese New Year! Week 8 (February 27): Local Moral Worlds Jason THROOP, Subjectivity, Embodiment, and Social Action. In Suffering and Sentiment: Exploring the Vicissitudes of Experience and Pain in Yap. Yap How Did You Know We d Like TV? (1981) (Clips only) MIDTERM PAPER DUE: March 6 (Tuesday) Guiding questions will be posted Wednesday morning February 28 by 10:00 a.m. Paper is due to the department office on March 6, by 5:30 p.m. Why Ethics? Why Now? Week 9 (March 6): The Burden of Self-Development in Neoliberal Times Nancy ABELMANN, So Jin PARK, and Hyunhee KIM, On their Own: Becoming Cosmopolitan Subjects beyond College in South Korea. In Global Futures: Youth, Nation, and the New Economy in Uncertain Times. Week 10 (March 13): Ethics as Self-Formation Michel FOUCAULT, Self-Writing. In Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth. (OPTIONAL) Michel FOUCAULT, Introduction to The History of Sexuality, Volume 2. Week 11 (March 20): The Ethics of Trash Ordinary Ethics Gay HAWKINS, Plastic Bags. In The Ethics of Waste: How We Relate to Rubbish. PRESENTATION PROPOSAL DUE: March 23 (Friday) 3
The proposal is not a graded assignment. It is instead a chance for us to communicate about your project idea. Please submit a hard copy to the department office by 5:30 p.m. Week 12 (March 27) No class. I will be in Cambridge (U.S.A.) for a conference. Week 13 (April 3): Reading Week No class. Happy Easter! Week 14 (April 10): Ordinary Ethics and the Case of Forgiveness Cheryl MATTINGLY, Luck, Friendship, and the Narrative Self. In Moral Laboratories: Family Peril and the Struggle for the Good Life. (OPTIONAL) Veena DAS, Ordinary Ethics. In A Companion to Moral Anthropology. Week 15 (April 17): The Ethics of Care Janelle TAYLOR, On Recognition, Caring, and Dementia. In Care In Practice: On Tinkering in Clinics, Homes, and Farms. Class Make-up (April 23): Student Presentations No readings. FINAL PAPER DUE: May 4 (Friday) Guiding questions will be posted by April 24 by 5:00 p.m. Paper is due to the department office on May 4, by 5:30 p.m. 4
POLICIES Late Submissions Papers submitted after the due date will suffer a fraction of a grade deduction for every day it is late. For example, an A- will become a B+, a B will become a B-, et cetera. Academic Honesty The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on academic honesty, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating in examinations and plagiarism. Any such offence will lead to disciplinary action including possibly termination of studies at the University. Students should know how to properly use source material and how to avoid plagiarism. Students should read the detailed guidelines and examples for the acknowledgement of sources in the University s website at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty. Students are required to submit all papers through VeriGuide, which is also explained at the above website. 5