WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS: Philosophy is the attempt to come to a systematic understanding of the objective world through the use of reason. The philosophical approach assumes a commitment to follow the truth wherever it leads, however uncomfortable it may make us and in spite of what we may wish to be true. It strives for logical consistency and agreement with the empirical evidence. Philosophy is about asking questions, especially questions no one else wants to ask. Philosophy even questions the unquestionable, including things considered to be "common sense," such as the existence of an external world of matter, free will, God, the soul, an afterlife, or, in the case of this class, the existence of universal, objective moral values (or perhaps the unquestionable certainty of our age is the dogma that morality is culturally relative or completely subjective). Philosophy uses conceptual analysis as its primary tool. Properly analyzing concepts requires the rigorous definition of terms, so the precise use of language is very important to philosophers, or at least to the good ones. This goes all the way back to Socrates. Fuzzy language evinces fuzzy thinking.

WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS NOT: Philosophy is not about exploring your "personal beliefs." Nor is it about your feelings, as reality is not based on your subjective emotional state. Philosophy is not about your identity, your sex, your gender, your sexual orientation, your culture or your "race." It's not about your faith or "how you were raised." Avoid thinking in these terms and using subjective phrases like "personally" and "in my personal opinion" when doing philosophy. Philosophy (and indeed all academic discourse) is about your impersonal opinion, i.e. your opinion backed by reasons and evidence. Although there is an historical tradition associated with philosophy, it is not primarily about history, and even though understanding their historical or cultural context may help us understand the ideas of particular philosophers, it is the ideas themselves with which philosophy is concerned.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN AND NON-WESTERN CULTURES: There were few women philosophers until the beginning of the feminist movement in the 19th century. This was true of most other academic fields due to the institutionalization of pre-modern gender roles. Because this is a survey class concerned with major historical figures and basic concepts in ethics, we won't be reading many women philosophers. This should in no way be seen as casting aspersions on women as a class of people. We will, however, be spending a significant amount of time with Ayn Rand, who happens to be a woman and also one of the most important and influential philosophers and intellectuals of the 20th century, especially in ethics and political philosophy.

Along those same lines, for various complex historical and cultural reasons, philosophy emerged and flourished in the West and is the heritage of Western Civilization. It uniquely sowed the seeds for the scientific and industrial revolutions in Western Europe, leading to our modern technological world, as well as providing the social and political concepts on which the United States was founded. Like the scientific method and industrial production techniques, Western concepts such as individual rights, separation of Church and State, democratic self-government, meritocracy and free market capitalism have been adopted by many non-Western societies and diffused throughout the world. This is yet another reason to focus on theories of value that arose from and influenced the development of the Western world and, consequently, the rest of human civilization. The ethical traditions of other civilizations, including indigenous cultures, are covered extensively in history, cultural anthropology and ethnic studies courses.

Finally, it is important to understand that "Western" is just a conventional term for ideas which first emerged in Western Europe. An idea's place of origin or the particulars of the person who first developed or expounded it has nothing whatever to do with its truth value or importance in increasing human understanding. Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus around the same time and each accused the other of stealing his discovery. Yet calculus is neither essentially a English idea nor a German idea, nor is it a European or "white male" idea. Who was first to discover it, where he lived and the details of his ancestry and nationality are irrelevant to the validity and usefulness of calculus. So it is with all intellectual discoveries and theoretical innovations, including those concerning moral value.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Differentiate between the metaehtical theories of realism, anti-realism, absolutism, relativism and divine command theory, as well as the normative theories of egoism, utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics.
2. Identify notable figures in moral philosophy and their contributions to the field.
3. Explain concepts embedded in primary source material.
4. Evaluate ethical theories for logical coherence and alignment with moral intuitions, and cogently argue for or against each of these theories as explanations for moral phenomena and guides to right action.
5. Apply ethical theories to personal moral dilemmas encountered in daily life.
6. Apply ethical theories to controversial social and political problems.

READING: It is important to read the material in order to perform well in on quizzes and exams and in online forums.

RECORDED VIDEO LECTURES: In addition to the reading, there are recorded video lectures linked in Moodle. Make sure to watch these each week, as they will help you understand the readings, especially primary source material, which can sometimes be rather sense and complex. There may be material on the quizzes and exams which is covered in these recordings but not explicitly stated or covered in the text. For live interaction, attend office hours with the instructor in person or on Zoom.

QUIZZES: There are ten weekly quizzes based on that week's reading and videos plus any other material linked in Moodle for that week. Some of these questions may appear again on the midterm exams and final. Quizzes are due every Sunday before 11:59pm. Late quizzes are not accepted. The Syllabus Quiz from the first week will also count towards your total score for quizzes. The lowest of these eleven quiz scores is dropped.

FORUM POSTS: The purpose of the forum assignment is to give you the opportunity to interpret, evaluate and apply what you have learned, and to discuss the merits and implications of class concepts and theories with your classmates. It emphasizes peer-to-peer learning in which you learn from your fellow students.

Every Monday new topic prompts will be posted. Choose FOUR of the ten weekly forums to respond to throughout the term. In each of the four forums you select, make one post of 150 to 300 words to a topic in the forum before the deadline. For example, you might make a post to the Week Two Forum, Week Three Forum, Week Eight Forum and Week Nine Forum throughout the term. These posts would be made in their respective weeks and due by Sunday 11:59pm of Week Two, Week Three, Week Eight and Week Nine. These four required posts are in addition to your post in the Personal Introductions Forum, which is due THURSDAY of Week One along with the Syllabus Quiz.

Avoid all titles, headers, greetings and signatures. Moodle displays your name, the date, the topic and the forum week; duplicating this information clutters up the forum. When replying to another student, include that student's first name in your reply. Write in block format, like this syllabus, with no indenting, single-spaced with two or more paragraphs, spacing between paragraphs, and using the default font. Do not post a wall of text with no paragraph breaks or your post will be penalized. Do not wish people a good weekend or sign your name. Please save niceties for the Personal Introductions Forum and Social Forum.

It is recommended that you compose your post in Google Docs or Word (or similar word-processor) and check the word count by choosing Tools --> Word Count. This will also prevent your post being lost in case of a connection error in Moodle. If you're pasting from Google docs, Microsoft Word or similar programs, you may need to save as plain text first. After you've posted, make sure that your post's formatting looks OK, that the font size and style is the same as the rest of the forum, that there are no extra spaces above or below the text (a common problem with copying and pasting), that you have at least two paragraphs and that the word count is above 150 and below 300 words.Your post formatting must look exactly like the prompt. Formatting errors will be penalized. Posts below 150 words or above 300 words according to the Moodle word count will be penalized. Do not post over 300 words and apologize for going over length; edit your post down to below 300 words. See the Student Help Desk for help using Moodle forums.

You may reply directly to the prompt or reply to another student. You do not need to do both. To reply to the prompt, click its "reply" link. To reply to another student, click the "reply" link in that student's post. Your post must substantially and directly address the prompt and display a familiarity with the reading and video lectures and discussions, i.e. your post must be distinguishable from someone who hasn't done any of the reading or seen the lectures, looks at the prompt and "gives their opinion." Make sure to do the reading and watch the videos before answer the question. Do not try to just wing it, "Google it" or ask a chat bot what the answer is.

IMPORTANT: Do not use any materials other than the text and class videos in writing your post. Any evidence of copying, paraphrasing or consulting chat bot output or other secondary resources, online or otherwise, will be considered PLAGIARISM, result in a zero on the assignment and may involve additional penalties, including a course penalty of one letter grade, an F in the course and referral to Academic and Student Affairs for disciplinary action. Word to the wise: The same Google searches and AI chat bots that can be used to cheat can be used to detect cheating, and there are other means of detecting it as well. Don't do it!

Avoid phrases like "personally" and "in my personal opinion." You are expected to give your impersonal opinion, backed by logical arguments, empirical evidence and clear examples. For example, instead of saying "In my personal opinion, Montaigne isn't a cultural relativist" say "Montaigne can't be a cultural relativist because he criticizes his own culture." Don't use phrases like "I feel," "I believe, or even "I think." It is assumed that anything you state in your post is what you believe or think, and "I feel" suggests you are trying to think with your emotions, which is always a bad idea, but especially so in an academic assignment. Generally speaking, first-person pronouns like "I" and "my" should not occur in your post. Express your thoughts in objective, third-person language.

Do not quote dictionary definitions of philosophical terms. A dictionary definition gives the popular or colloquial usage and is often different from the technical, philosophical usage of a word. For example, in ethics the term "consequences" simply means the results of an action, good or bad. In popular usage, this term has negative connotations, as in the phrase "There will be consequences!" "Consequence" is often used as a synonym for punishment in the context of disciplining a child. This is totally different from the use of the term in discussions of utilitarianism and deontology.

Avoid tedious references to lots of people having lots of different opinions on the subject or the suggestion that this fact alone -- if it is a fact -- shows that "there is no (one) answer." Assume that there is always an answer, and say what you think that answer might be.

After the first week, avoid invoking relativism or framing ethical issues in relativistic terms. This includes lazy, meaningless comments about people having their own beliefs or everyone having his own "moral compass." Watch yourself on this or you will lose points. Assume from Week Two onward that ethics is objective (i.e. even if, as skeptics claim, it's illegitimate, suppose it's illegitimate for everyone). From Week Three onward, assume ethics is real, universal and absolute and that you are attempting to discover which theory, if any, best describes and justifies it. The one exception to this is a forum topic in Week Ten concerning moral knowledge, which asks you to consider the skeptical position and its implications.

Read the prompt carefully before answering. Be careful about misinterpreting or misunderstanding the question or wandering into irrelevant biographical information or personal anecdotes unless you're absolutely sure they apply to the subject. Posts which do not directly address the prompt will not receive credit. The inclusion of irrelevant material a.k.a. "going off on tangents," will be penalized. Before replying to another student, make sure that student's post is directly responsive to the topic. If it isn't on topic, the original poster won't receive any credit and neither will you. "Me, too" and "Good job!" comments will not receive credit, though you are free to make them. For credit you need to add something original to the discussion: a supporting example, a counter-example or objection, an observation, an application, a request for clarification, etc.

Your answer should include examples or illustrations that demonstrate your understanding of the concepts being discussed and present arguments to support your claims. Chains of assertions without supporting examples, illustrations or arguments will be penalized.

It is up to you to convince me in the space allotted that you understand the material; it is not up to me to pore over vaguely worded assertions without examples or illustrations in order to divine whether you understand the material or to attempt to judge whether what you say could reasonably be construed as an argument. You need a claim (that is, a clear answer to the prompt) and an argument for it (reasons why your answer is the right one). Simply explaining the point of view of one of philosophers under discussion or various possible takes on an issue is not sufficient. Say what you think is the correct answer and why. If you receive no credit and tell me what you meant by your post was such and such, I will tell you that then you should have written that.

Posts which are dashed off at the last minute without serious thought and consideration and with no revision or proofreading are unlikely to receive good scores.Topics are posted every Monday. Start early. This is 20% of your grade, so please put some thought and effort into your posts so that you can do well in the course.

You will have 30 minutes to edit your post after you have made it. Moodle will display your word count; make sure it is over 150 but under 300 words. Make sure the font and formatting matches other posts and that there are no blank spaces at the bottom. Carefully revise and proofread your post for typos, awkward language, conceptual vagueness and inconsistency. Be precise. Use particular examples. Make every word count. Make sure you are using the right words. Use proper grammar. Avoid long run-on sentences and ambiguous reference problems. Avoid overly formal language. This typically just comes off as pretentious and makes your post more difficult to read. Don't use overblown rhetoric, excessive sarcasm, slang, obscenities or other language or tones which are inappropriate for an academic assignment. Give some consideration the other side(s) and avoid straw man and ad hominem arguments.

Your post should not read like a stream of consciousness of you trying to figure things out "on the fly." It should not be a series of disjointed observations. If it helps you to write something like that first, go ahead, but then revise it into a clear, methodical and coherent argument. Avoid meaningless, introductory throw-away comments or restating the question; get straight to the point. If you pad your post with meaningless fluff at the beginning, your post may be penalized for insufficient word count. Omit needless words. Be concise.

Don't overuse quotes.The maximum length is 300 words, so there is not room for a lot of quotes. Generally speaking, you should only use direct quotations from primary source readings, not instructor commentary on them in the text. Don't use a direct quote for something like "Mill believed that some pleasures are qualitatively better than others." Instead, explain what this means and then use a good quote to illustrate it such as "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question." That's 45 words. If you use a quote that long, it should probably be the only one, and your post should be closer to the 300 word maximum than the 150 word minimum. Attributing the quote to Mill in the text (e.g. "as Mill says...) is sufficient for citation purposes. You can do a 10/10 post without any quotes whatsoever. Don't feel like you have to use them.

Postings will be awarded a grade of "10" (full credit) to "0" (no credit) and are due before Sunday 11:59pm at the end of each week. Please note that I have the grade book set to ignore empty grades. Therefore, if you miss the deadline for too many forum posts, it won't show up in your grade until the end of the term. At that time, any of the four required forum posts you didn't do will turn into a zero. I have the "ignore empty grades" setting on now to give you a meaningful and accurate assessment of your grade "thus far," assuming you complete the assignments.

Even though the requirement is to make four posts by the end of the term, each week's forum has it's own Sunday 11:59pm deadline. Only one post per forum per week will count for credit, so make sure that you are not caught flat-footed near the end of the term, having missed too many posting opportunities. Late posts are not accepted. Posting after the deadline Sunday 11:59pm deadline is blocked in each forum. If you miss the deadline, you will have to post to a future week's forum. If you wait until Week Seven, you'll have to post by the deadline every week to meet the requirement. Set a weekly reminder in your phone or online calendar so you don't forget to post and don't miss out on any juicy topics you wanted to sound off on (and, while you're at it, you might want to put in the weekly quizzes and exam dates along with the grade option/drop deadline).

EXAMS: Exams are taken in Moodle and may be taken from home from any personal computer. The exam format will be multiple choice and true/false questions. The final will not be comprehensive. Each exam has a study guide linked in Moodle. Read the questions and make sure you can answer each of them. If you don't know the answer to a particular question, search the relevant section of the online textbook, the Powerpoints, your notes from the lectures and videos for the answer. You may even want to write out the answers, which you can consult while taking the exam.

Once you take the exam, you will immediately receive your score. Because of test security issues, you won't able to review your exams unsupervised, as you were able to with the weekly quizzes. You won't be tested on this material again, but if you would still like to review your exam, please come by my office hours. If you just missed a few questions, I can send you the ones you missed in a Moodle message.

You will have about a week to take each exam. Exams are taken via Moodle with a time limit of 50 minutes. The opening and closing times of exams are listed in the table above, in the course outline below and in the Weekly Outline in Moodle. Clicking on any exam in the main course view in Moodle will also show you the exact opening and closing dates and times as well, along with the chapters and weeks it covers.

EXAM DEADLINE POLICY: Since you will have at least a week to take each midterm, you will be expected to meet the deadline, however, you may contact the instructor before the deadline via Moodle message to request an extension without penalty. Make sure include date to which you would like the exam extended. If you miss the deadline for the final due to some unforeseen circumstance or emergency situation, contact the instructor via Moodle message for options ASAP.

Moodle will tell you your grade based on the assignments completed so far. Anything you don't complete will be converted to a zero near the end of the term. Make sure to complete all of the exams by the deadlines!

GRADING: There is no curve. At the end of the term, the class will be graded on the following absolute scale, with course totals rounded up to the nearest whole number: