Detailed Schedule of Lectures and Tutorials

Required Readings

All required readings are available via the library’s E-reading system.

Background Reading

‘Reading Philosophy’ (read this if you haven’t studied philosophy before)

P. Vallentyne, ‘Consequentialism’

McNaughton & Rawling, ‘Deontology’

R. Hursthouse, ‘Virtue Theory’

All in Ethics in Practice, ed. Hugh LaFollette (Blackwell publishing, 3rd edition)

Lecture 1: Life, Death and the Ethics of Killing

Tutorial 1: Introduction and Essay Writing Tips

No required reading for this tutorial. However, the background readings are highly recommended, particularly if you have not completed any other ethics courses.

Lecture 2: Abortion

Tutorial 2: Abortion (Marquis)

Required Reading: 

D. Marquis ‘Why Abortion is Immoral’, Journal of Philosophy, LXXXVI, 4 (April 1989): 183202

Additional Readings:

M. Tooley ‘Abortion and Infanticide’¨, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1972): 3765

P. Singer, Practical Ethics 3rd edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), Ch. 4 “What’s Wrong with Killing?”

W. Sinnott-Armstrong, "You can't lose what you ain't never had: A reply to Marquis on abortion, Philosophical Studies 96(1) (1999): 5972.

P. McInerney, "Does a Fetus Already have a Future Like Ours?", The Journal of Philosophy 87(5) (1990): 264268.

A. Norcross, "Killing, Abortion, and Contraception: A Reply to Marquis", The Journal of Philosophy 87(5) (1990): 268277.

Lecture 3: Euthanasia

Tutorial 3: Abortion (Thomson)

Required Reading:

J. J. Thomson, “A Defence of Abortion,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (1971): 4766

Additional Readings:

M. Little, “The Moral Permissibility of Abortion,” in A Cohen and C Wellman (eds.) Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics (Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005)

Lecture 4: Animal Ethics

Tutorial 4: Abortion (Rachels)

Required Reading:

J. Rachels, “Active and Passive Euthanasia,” The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality (Oxford University Press, 1986), ch. 7

Additional Readings:

T. Beauchamp, ‘Justifying Physician Assisted Suicide’ in Ethics in Practice, edited by Hugh LaFollette (Blackwell publishing, 3rd edition)

J. D. Velleman, “Against the Right to Die,” New York Working Paper Series (August 13, 2007). Reprinted in Ethics in Practice

Lecture 5: Environmental Ethics and Climate Change

Tutorial 5: Animal Ethics

Required Reading: 

P. Singer, “All Animals Are Equal,” Animal Liberation (Avon Books, 1990)

Additional Readings:

C. Diamond, “Eating Meat and Eating People,” Philosophy, 53 206 (1978): 465479

R. Hursthouse, “Applying Virtue Ethics to Our Treatment of the Other Animals,” in Jennifer Welchman (ed.) The Practice of Virtue (Hackett, 2006)

Korsgaard, Christine M. "A Kantian Case for Animal Rights." 2012. In Animal Law - Tier and Rect:Developments and Perspectives in the 21st Century, ed. Margot Michael, Daniela Kühne, and Julia Hänni, 3-27. Zurich: Dike Verlag. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/34903186/Korsgaard.A.Kantian.Case.for.Animal.Rights.pdf?sequence=1

Lecture 6: World Poverty 

Tutorial 6: Environmental Ethics and Climate Change

Required Reading: 

W. Sinnott-Armstrong, “It’s Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral Obligations,” in Sinnott-Armstrong and Howarth (eds.), Perspectives on Climate Change, Ethics, Vol. 5 (2005)

Additional Readings:

‘S. Caney, ‘Climate Change and The Future: Discounting for Time, Wealth and Risk’, Journal of Social Philosophy 40 (2009): 163186

Kagan, S. "Do I make a difference?", Philosophy and Public Affairs 39 2 (2011): 105–141.

Gardiner, Caney, Jamieson & Shue, (eds).: Climate Ethics: Essential Readings. (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Lecture 7: Genetic Engineering

Tutorial 7: World Poverty

Required Reading: 

P. Singer, ‘Famine, “Famine, Affluence and Morality,” Philosophy and Public Affairs (1972): 229–243

Additional Readings:

G. Cullity “International Aid and the Scope of Kindness.” Ethics 105 (1994): 99–127

J. Carens, ‘Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders,’ Review of Politics 49 (1987): 251273

Lecture 8: Consent

Tutorial 8: Genetic Engineering

Required Reading: 

M. Sandel, “The case against perfection,” The Atlantic Monthly 293 (3): 5162

Additional Readings:

N. Agar, “Liberal Eugenics,” Public Affairs Quarterly 12 2 (1998): 137 155)

F. Kamm, “Is There a Problem with Enhancement?” American Journal of Bioethics 5 3 (2005): 5 14

J. Savluescu & G. Kahane, “Procreative Beneficence and Disability: Is There a Moral Obligation to Create Children with the Best Chance of the Best Life,” Bioethics 23 5 (2009): 274 – 290

Lecture 9: Commercial Surrogacy

Tutorial 9: Consent

Required Reading: 

Sarah Conly, “Seduction, Rape and Coercion,” Ethics, 115 (2004): 96121

Recommended Readings:

Robin West, “Sex, Law and Consent,” in Alan Wertheimer & William Miller (eds.) The Ethics of Consent: Theory and Practice, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Additional Readings:

Onora O’Neill, “Between Consenting Adults,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 14 3 (1985): 251277

Alan Wertheimer, “Consent to Sexual Relations,” in Franklin Miller & Alan Wertheimer (eds.) The Ethics of Consent (2010), electronic version in library e-collection

Lecture 10: Censorship and Pornography

Tutorial 10: Commercial Surrogacy

Required Reading: 

Anderson, “Why Commercial Surrogate Motherhood Unethically Commodifies Women and Children: Reply to McLachlan and Swales,” Health Care Analysis 8 (2000): 1926

Additional Readings:

M. Sandel, “Commodification, Commercialization, and Privatization,” in What Money Can’t buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values (1998)

H. McLachlan and J. K. Swales, “Babies, Child Bearers and Commodification,” Health Care Analysis, 8 (2000)

Lecture 11: Moral Ignorance

Tutorial 11 (combined): Pornography and Censorship

Required Reading: 

A.W. Eaton, “A Sensible Antiporn Feminism,” Ethics, 117 4 (2007): 674715

Recommended Readings:

S. Brison, ‘The Price We Pay’ in Ethics in Practice, edited by Hugh LaFollette (Blackwell)

Additional Readings:

Rae Langton, ‘Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts,’ Philosophy and Public Affairs, 22 (4) 1993: 293330

N. Bauer, ‘Pornutopia,’ N +1, (2007): 6373

Tutorial 11 (combined): Moral Ignorance

Required Reading: 

C. Calhoun, “Responsibility and Reproach,” Ethics, 99 2 (1989): 389406

Additional Readings:

M. Moody Adams, “Culture, Responsibility, and Affected Ignorance,” Ethics 104 2 (1994): 291 309

T. Isaacs, “Cultural Context and Moral Responsibility,” Ethics, 107 4 (1997): 670684

G. Rosen, “Culpability and Ignorance,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 103 1 (2004)