WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS: Philosophy is an 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 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, the soul, God, an afterlife, or, in the case of this class, the existence of universal, objective moral values (or perhaps the unquestionable assumption of our age is the belief that morality is relative or subjective). Philosophy uses conceptual analysis as its tool. Because of this, using precise language and properly defining terms are very important to philosophers. This goes all the way back to Socrates. Try reading some post-modern philosophy and you'll see why this is a good practice.

WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS NOT: Philosophy is not about exploring your "personal beliefs." Nor is it about your feelings (please avoid the phrase "I feel" when expressing your point of view in the classroom or online forums, as hopefully what you have to say is based on more than 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." Please avoid referring to these things in class or online forums unless they have some direct bearing on the issue at hand. 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 of note until the beginnings 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 the most important and influential philosophers and intellectuals of the 20th century, especially in ethics.

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 methods, Western concepts such as individual human rights, separation of Church and State, democratic self-government, meritocracy and free market capitalism have been adopted by other 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 human civilization. The ethical traditions of other civilizations, including indigenous cultures, are covered in history, cultural anthropology and ethnic studies courses.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  Ethics is the study of morality, including an analysis of the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice, duty, responsibility, character, and successful living. Possible topics include whether morality is relative to culture or to the individual, the relationship between morality and religion, theories about what make particular actions right or wrong, moral skepticism, and eastern perspectives on right action.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The objectives for this course are for students to (1) come to a clearer understanding of ethical concepts through the study of classical and contemporary theories (2) acquire some factual knowledge about the history of ethics and important ethical thinkers (3) come to their own conclusions about which ethical theories are best or most likely to be true, even if those conclusions are of a tentative nature (4) acquire critical and analytical reasoning skills along the way and (5) apply conclusions about the nature of value to their  present way of life.