Syllabus - PHIL 379 Professor Tom Atchison
Contemporary Moral Theory Office: 317 St. John’s Hall (St. Paul Campus)
Spring Semester 2024 Email: Thomas.Atchison@metrostate.edu
Credits earned: 4 Zoom office hours: Thursday 1-3, Friday 11-1 and by appointment
When we say something is morally right or wrong, are we simply expressing our personal feelings or are we saying something more? Who gets to decide (and how do they decide) what makes something morally right or wrong? Do moral issues have answers about which we can be certain? Does morality have well-regarded theories like the physical sciences do--theories which help ethicists and others to decide what is right or wrong? These and other questions will be addressed in this decidedly theory-focused course in moral philosophy.
Note: These catalog items are now required to be included in all syllabi.
The course will be oriented around challenges to conventional ethics (and mainstream moral theories like utilitarianism and Kantianism) that flow from Marx and Nietzsche and from people who belong to disadvantaged or marginalized groups. Marx argued that crucial elements of conventional ethical thinking reflected the interests of the ruling class in a class-divided society, and, therefore, counted as a false or distorted ‘ideology’. Nietzsche argued that the conventional (Christian) morality of Europe and North America represented the interests of the weak and the downtrodden and was, therefore, ‘anti-life’. Feminist writers have claimed that mainstream moral theories express a distinctively male point of view, unfriendly to the needs and interests of women and sexual minorities. This class will explore a variety of thinkers who either develop the ideas of Marx or Nietzsche or feminism or who react critically to those ideas. Readings will be drawn from: 20th century European writers who were avowed Marxists or were influenced by Marx, like Georg Lukacs, Herbert Marcuse, Jurgen Habermas, and Ranier Forst; Black Marxists like W.E.B. Dubois, C.L.R. James and Cedric Robinson; French ‘post-structuralist’ thinkers (who claim to be followers of Nietzsche) like Foucault and Baudrillard; feminists like Nancy Hartsock, Nancy Fraser, Marilyn Frye, and Carol Gilligan, and ‘post-colonial' thinkers like Fanon and Memmi. Our guiding questions will be: To what extent and in what ways have our ideas about right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, been distorted by some form of power? How can we pursue moral theory in a way that recognizes the role of power, prejudice and culture in the shaping of ethical ideas and practices without entirely losing our grip on the idea that some things really are right and others really are wrong?
All required class readings will be made available online.
Class website (check here often for links and updates: http://www.woldww.net/classes/
Please bring the assigned reading to class with you each week (printed out or on a device).
Please make sure your Metro State email account is working and check regularly for class related emails -- this course is especially likely to be revised on the fly.
Conduct of the Course
Class time will be devoted almost entirely to discussion. Students will be expected to take a good deal of initiative for determining the direction and focus of that discussion and, to some extent, of the course as a whole.
Much of our discussion will focus on understanding and evaluating the texts. This will work well only if you have done the assigned reading carefully -- often twice or three times -- and given it some careful thought. In philosophy we are interested not in the information that can be extracted from a text, nor simply in the conclusions or opinions that an author expresses; we are primarily interested in understanding and assessing the reasoning that an author uses to try to establish or support those conclusions. This requires a very careful sort of reading.
The point of reading these texts is not only to understand what some great minds have produced. A guided tour through the Museum of Great Ideas is a very good thing, but not the best thing that philosophy has to offer. Better is the opportunity to learn to think for yourself. The readings provide models of careful and/or creative thinking, challenges to our prejudices and assumptions, and starting points for our own reflections. But the only way to learn to philosophize is to enter the conversation yourself. In this way a course in philosophy is more like a course in drawing or sculpture -- a studio art course -- than like a course in art history or art appreciation. You can’t learn to draw by just watching other people draw, and you can’t learn to do philosophy by just listening and reading. You have to express your views and expose them to other people’s critical reactions.
Groundrules for class discussion
In my view, high quality class discussion is informed by careful reading of assigned texts, respectful of the other participants, relevant to the issues we are trying to discuss and thoughtful in that points are made or questions are raised that help us move toward greater understanding. I believe the following guidelines help foster this kind of discussion:
Coming to class with the reading done and some ideas in mind;
Being willing to say what you really think even if it might be unpopular or not what you think the teacher wants to hear
Never demeaning or "putting down" others for their perceptions or opinions, but honestly expressing disagreement with or confusion about what they say;
Speaking from one's own experience-- not presuming to speak for others;
Being sensitive to what we don't know about each other-- not assuming that we all share certain experiences or perceptions;
Allowing each other to "try on" unfamiliar ideas and ways of looking at the world;
Allowing others space to speak by taking no more than your fair share of “air time’;
Speaking up for yourself in a timely manner if you feel these guidelines are not being respected.
Assignments and Grading
Note: I do not use a point system for grading: I assign letter grades to various assignments, and I determine your final grade by computing a weighted average of those letter grades.
Reading assignments
I expect you to find time (at least several hours) to do the reading for each class and to come prepared to discuss it. Come to class ready to say what you found interesting, what you found confusing, questionable, or just plain wrong, what seemed to you to be the most important claims made, and what arguments or justifications were offered for those claims. Expect that you will need to read the assignments more than once to understand them adequately, and plan your time accordingly. Depending on how much background you have in moral philosophy, in economics, and in political history, you may need to take considerable time to look up various terms, concepts, writers, and schools of thought, just to understand what our authors are saying.
Analytical response papers
30 % of your grade will be earned by submitting brief (2-3 pages, typed, double-spaced) responses to the readings for each class. These must be submitted to the appropriate assignment folder in D2L before the start of class each week in order to be cosidered 'on time.' Late response papers will earn (at best) half credit. If you must miss a class, try to submit your response paper before the start of that class.
Each week’s response paper should contain a concise summary of the main points made by the author and a critical discussion of one argument that you found in the text. For the purposes of this exercise, an argument is simply a claim supported with some reasons why we should think that that claim is true. Your critical discussion should include a concise statement of the argument (as you understand it) and an assessment of its success. (Does the author prove his or her point? Can you identify weaknesses in the argument?) Your grade for this assignment will be based on your 10 best response papers.
Class discussion
20% of your grade will be determined by my evaluation of the quality of your participation in class discussions. Just showing up and paying attention earns a C for this component; occasionally making helpful contributions earns a B; regularly making helpful contributions earns an A. Helpful contributions include: asking pertinent questions, answering questions asked by the instructor or by other students, expressing your views about the texts or topics we are discussing, responding (relevantly and respectfully) to the views expressed by others.
Position Papers
You will be asked to write 2 fairly short (5-8 page) papers explaining and supporting your position on an interpretive or substantive question arising from one or more of the texts we study. I will provide topics for you to choose from. Each paper will count for 25% of your grade. One will be due at the halfway point and one at the end of the semester. Please keep copies of all the work you hand in.
Note: I try hard to base my evaluation of your work on your understanding of the reading, the quality of your reasoning and questioning, and the clarity and effectiveness of your expression of your thoughts, not on whether I agree with your philosophical theories, ideas, or opinions.
Time commitment outside of class
In accordance with Metropolitan State University guidelines, I've designed this course with the expectation that students will do 2-3 hours of course-related work outside of class for every hour spent in class. In other words, you should expect to spend 7-10 hours a week outside of class working on this course.
Needed reading and writing skills
Although there are no specific prerequisites for this course, it is an upper-division course intended for students with some background in philosophy. This means I assume you have the following reading and writing skills, and assignments are made with this expectation in mind:
Course Policies
Attendance
I do not require attendance per se, but 20% of your grade is determined by class discussion. Students who do not attend class regularly are giving up that portion of their final grade. I strongly advise regular attendance (and prompt completion of response papers) because the material in this course is relatively difficult and confusing, and few students will be able to do well on their papers without the explanations and practice provided in class.
Late work
Response papers must be turned in at (or before) the beginning of class to receive full credit. Late response papers will receive half credit. In fairness to students who turn their position papers in on time, I will subtract one grade (e.g., B+ to B) for each day that a position paper is late. If you cannot turn in your papers on time due to circumstances beyond your control, please let me know.
Incompletes
I will give incomplete grades only to students who have satisfactorily completed most of the course work and who are unable to finish on time because of circumstances beyond their control.
Plagiarism
All work submitted for this course must be your own. Plagiarism is the academic ‘sin’ of presenting someone else’s work as your own. It is plagiarism if you copy something verbatim (word for word) from a published source, from the Internet, or from another student. It is still plagiarism if you rearrange, paraphrase, condense, or summarize someone else’s work without making clear to your reader what is your contribution and what is taken from your source. If the exact wording comes from your source, then use quotation marks. If the idea comes from someone else, give him or her credit for it. The way to do this is to cite your sources. There is a clear and detailed explanation of various forms of plagiarism and of proper citation practices at http://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/avoiding-plagiarism. Also here: https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism. I will give a grade of ‘F’ to any student who submits plagiarized work for this course.
Diversity and Disability Statement:
Our institution values diversity and inclusion; we are committed to a climate of mutual respect and full participation. Our goal is to create learning environments that are usable, equitable, inclusive and welcoming. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or accurate assessment or achievement, please notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students with disabilities are also welcome to contact the Center for Accessibility Resources to discuss a range of options to removing barriers in the course, including accommodations. Phone: 651-793-1549 Web: Center for Accessibility Resources
Also: if you are struggling or having trouble in this course, please talk to me regardless of your official status. We can work it out.
University Non-Attendance and Reporting Policy and Procedure
The purpose of the Non-Attendance and Reporting Policy is to ensure Federal Title IV regulations are adhered to with respect to a student’s enrollment level for the purpose of calculating and paying financial aid. While Metropolitan State University is not required to take attendance, Federal Title IV financial aid regulations require a procedure to establish that students have attended, at a minimum, one day of class for each course in which the student’s enrollment status was used to determine eligibility for the Pell Grant Program. In addition, the university needs to determine a last date of attendance for those students who receive all failing grades or unofficially withdraw.
Attendance is defined based on course delivery mode. A student is “in attendance” if he or she meets the following conditions before the end of the second week of the course:
• Classroom Courses – the student is present in the classroom. For hhis online class, that means attending a Zoom session.
In other words, if you do not show up for at least one of the first two class sessions for this course I will be required to report you as “non-attending” and you will automatically be dropped from the class.
Drop date, Tuition Refunds; Withdrawal deadline
Withdrawing from courses after the drop deadline (Friday, January 12) will result in a ‘W’ on your record, will eliminate any possibility of a refund of the tuition you have paid, and may have an impact on your financial aid. My advice is to determine quickly whether or not this is the right course for you and to drop before that deadline, if it is not.
The last day to withdraw from this course is April 8, 2024.