PHIL 379 - Contemporary Moral Theory - Spring, 2020
Metropolitan State University
First position paper instructions (Now updated for 2020)
Second position paper instructions (Now updated for 2020)
Guidelines for writing philosophy papers (by Jim Pryor of NYU)
Down below the schedule are links to a bunch of stuff.
Tentative schedule of assignments (This is carried over from two years ago. Check back for updates)
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Date |
Topic |
Reading Assignments |
Writing assignments due |
Jan. 15 |
Introductory Session |
None |
|
Jan. 22 |
Marx and Morality | Karl Marx, Two passages from The German Ideology Michael Rosen, "The Marxist Critique of Morality and the Theory of Ideology"; Optional, extra articles: Steven Lukes, "Marx and Morality: Reflections on the Revolutions of 1989" Sean Sayers, "Marxism and Morality" Raymond Guess, "The Moral Legacy of Marxism" |
Response paper |
Jan. 29 |
Nietzsche, genealogy, morality | Nietzsche, Preface and First Essay fromThe Genealogy of Morality; Jesse Prinz, "Genealogies of Morals: Nietzsche's Method Compared" (requres star ID login) Optional, extra : Sabina Lovibond, “Selflessness and Other Moral Baggage” |
Response paper |
Feb. 5 |
Critical concepts: Alienation, Fetishism, reification |
Optional extra reading: Marx, Alienated Labor |
Response paper |
Feb. 12 |
Herbert Marcuse: Critical Theorist of the '60's: true and false needs, repressive desublimation, and the possibilities for liberation. | It's not strictly necessary to acquaint yourself with Freud's ideas, but it is helpful to understanding, not only Marcuse, but many other 20th century thinkers. Selections from Freud for Beginners. There’s a lot of writing by Marcuse on the Web, and quite a few videos. I think it will work best to focus on his book One Dimensional Man. There is a PDF version of the book here: One-Dimensional Man, 2nd ed.) Read at least:
|
Response paper |
Feb 19 |
Feminism and Ethics | Three takes on the idea of a "women's voice" in moral theory: Jean Grimshaw, "The Idea of a Female Ethic" Cheshire Calhoun, "Justice, Care, Gender Bias" Optional: Carol Gilligan, "Moral Orientation and Moral Development" (I think we can get by with the explanations of Gilligan's ideas that are provided in the other two articles. But, if you have time, you can read her for yourself.) |
Response paper; |
Feb. 26 |
Feminism and Marxism | Catherine MacKinnon, "Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory" (login with Star ID) Optional extra: "Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward Feminist Jurisprudence" (login with Star ID) |
Response paper
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March 4 |
Rawls' Theory of Justice | Rawls, selections from A Theory of Justice (Read the whole thing if you can. If not, at least try to get through the section that ends on page 38.) | Response paper; |
March 11 |
No Class - Spring Break |
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March 18 |
No Class - Spring break has been extended | ||
March 25 |
No Class - Spring break has been extended again | First position paper due Monday, March 30 by 10 am | |
April 1 |
Psychological Oppression and the situation of the colonized | Aime Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism Albert Memmi. 1965 preface to The Colonizer and the Colonized Albert Memmi, "Situations of the Colonized" Franz Fanon, "The Lived Experience of the Black Man" (Chapter 5 of Black Skin, White Masks) -- This pdf is a bit blurry in my browser window, but it looks fine if you download the file and read it in a pdf reader like Adobe Acrobat. Sandra Bartky, "On Psychological Oppression" John Stuart Mill, brief excerpt from On Liberty, liberty not for barbarians. |
Response paper; |
April 8 |
The Black Radical Tradition | Selections from Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson. Optional extra: You might also want to read this remembrance of Robinson, published shortly after his death in 2016, by Robin D.G. Kelley: https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/17/cedric-j-robinson-the-making-of-a-black-radical-intellectual/ If you want to delve further into Robinson’s book, now or later, the whole thing is online here: |
Response paper |
April 15 |
Providing Moral underpinnings for Critical Social Theory | 1. A brief section of the Stanford Encyclopedia article on Habermas. The link will take you to the beginning of the section. Stop when you get to the heading “Habermas's discourse theory of law and politics.” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/#HabDisTheMorPolLaw 2. Rainer Forst, "The Ground of Critique: On the Concept of Human Dignity in Social Orders of Justification" 3. Rahel Jaeggi, “"Resistance to the Perpetual Danger of Relapse": Moral Progress and Social Change" Optional extras:
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Response paper; second paper instructions handed out |
| April 22 | Decolonizing Critical Theory | Amy Allen, “Adorno, Foucault, and the End of Progress: Critical Theory in Postcolonial Times” and some pages from her book The End of Progress | Response paper |
| April 29 | Does Contextualism give us the 'decolonized' moral theory we want? | Amy Allen, "Conclusion: Truth, Reason, and History" from The End of Progress; Michael Williams, "Wittgensteinian Contextualism is not Relativism" (Requires Metro State library log-in) |
Second position paper due Monday May 4 by 10am |
Resources:
There is a large archive of writings by and about various Marxist thinkers (and other thinkers as well) at:
Translations and editing are not always the best, but this is still a great resource.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Articles are highly reliable, but fairly advanced; many are written by leading scholars.)
Critical Theory (overview)
Postmodernism (overview)
Philosophy of Liberation (Latin American)
Constructivism in Metaethics (Kant, Rawls, Korsgaard)
Moral Cognitivism vs. Non-Cognitivism
Consequentialist Moral Theories
Contractarian Moral Theories (Gauthier)
Contractualist Ethics (Scanlon)