Teaching Philosophy from Scratch: Designing Dynamic Pedagogy for Adult ‘Firsts’

Appendix: Sample Syllabus for Teaching from Scratch

Phil 172-H01 Contemporary Moral Issues Mo 12:00 pm–1:15 pm Aug 25–Dec 21, 2022

Syllabus – TOPIC: CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES – See also appendix at end of this syllabus and Lehman Fall undergraduate calender: https://www.***.

Prof. Naomi Zack, Office hours CA 371, Mon. 3–4 and Tues 3–4, or by appointment, including phone. EMAIL>***

About this Course Moral issues are ethical issues. In Philosophy, Morality = Ethics. What is ethics? Why does it matter? Both of these questions have the same answer: Human life or well-being is at stake. An ethical situation or an ethical aspect to something involves human harm or well-being or life or death. Human well-being and life are universally considered important and valuable. This course will present classical ethics writings in philosophy, contemporary moral/ethical topics, and tools for reading, thinking, speaking, and writing about ethics.

Learning Objectives – General: Become familiar and fluent with an important branch of philosophy and ordinary life.

Specific Learning Objectives for PHI 172: (1) Learn how to recognize ethical issues; (2) Discover your own ethical perspective; (3) Use philosophical tools and methods to read, think, speak, and write about ethics.

Grading – (Based on 100 %): D: 63–66, D+: 67–69, C: 73–76, C+: 77–79, B−: 80–82, B: 83–86, B+: 87–89, A−: 90–92, A: 93–96. Incomplete: requires completing 50 % of assigned work, and must be requested by the student. UW (Unofficial Withdrawal): issued if the student stops attending or doesn’t submit work. You should avoid this grade, because it may result in a Department of Education request that tuition money be returned.

Grade components for this course: The class meets 14 times, once a week. Grade components: 14 written assignments. You are required to write them all, but only your 8 highest grades will count toward your final grade. You will lose 2 points for each assignment you do not write. You must attend class because a record of your participation in class is to be submitted using the form on Blackboard, when your midterm assignment is due and again with your final paper for the second half of the course = 21 points total, or 1½ points for each day you participate. You are required to attend all classes in order to participate. See the form on Blackboard for this. Group discussion will take place regularly in class. Leadership of the group will rotate. Your participation in group discussions should be noted by you on your class participation form (download it, fill it out and email it to me when due for midterm and final grades). Please do not inform me if you are going to miss class but do not take credit for participation in a class you have missed, which would be academic misconduct. If you have an official excuse, provide a 100 word answer to the Discussion question related to the assignment and add it to your class participation record. Treat this as an independent make-up assignment with citations and fulfilment of the writing requirements for assignments. Assignments are due whether or not you are present in class. The official excuse to make up for missed class participation must come from your Lehman advisor or the office of disability services; see Appendix below. DO NOT send me documentation directly.

Please note – This course is modular. You will receive a midterm grade for half of the work and then a separate grade for the second half after the midterm. The addition of both will equal your final grade. Your midterm grade and the work contributing to that cannot be changed after the midterm date.

Course Requirements: This is a hybrid course. We meet once a week in person and the rest of the work is done online, in submitting your weekly assignments by email, immediate feedback on them, and individual discussion of content and grade related questions with the instructor by email. All course material is in one book. Announcements and further notes pertaining to the in-person lecture will be posted on Blackboard. Please make sure that you are able to access Blackboard for this course.

Required reading, on sale in Lehman bookstore and Amazon:

Ethics: The Essential Writings , ed. Gordon Marino. Cost – $15 kindle, $19 print, cheaper used. Must have to pass course! Please plan to read 20 pages per week.

All weekly assignments must be submitted by email as a Word.doc, as an attachment or copied and pasted into your email. No other formats will be accepted. EMAIL>***. Each assignment should be about 1 page double-spaced, 12 pt font (about 200 words). Line up your answers with the a, b, c, etc. parts of the question. Put the assignment number in the subject field of your email. Assignments are usually due within one week, because they are due at 9 AM the day the next class meets. However, several assignments have longer times because there is a break between classes. You can have an excused absence only with official documentation and you then need to accompany your assignment with a one-page essay in answer to the discussion question. Otherwise, you will lose two points for the missing assignment and 1½ points for the missed participation. The last assignment and participation form cannot be late. Assignments must be completed in order.

Specific Writing Requirements:

1. Create your own record of this course through reading notes and course notes (including instructor and peer discussion), lectures, your own reports. You will return to these for writing weekly assignments and then for your midterm and final papers.

2. Learn how to edit your formal writing for the course, for clarifying your ideas, as well as improving the craft of your writing in terms of writing mechanics, including scholarly citations and introductions.

3. Citations and references are required for all assignments to get higher than a D. Here is how they work. Include citations of this form throughout your assignments: (author’s last name, page numbers from which you are getting what you write). At the end of your paper, give a list of works cited, in any consistent format. If you are citing the lecture, give the (instructor’s last name and date). If you use the book introductions, cite them. If you have a quotation, cite the page number on which it occurs.

For example, you write “David Hume begins by distinguishing between the easy and abstruse philosophy (Hume, p. 1).” – Your References list the sources you cite.

References, e.g.:

David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Eric Steinberg, ed., Hackett Publishing Co, 1993.

If you use a source that you do not cite or give references for, that is plagiarism, and it is a disciplinary offense according to Lehman College and CUNY rules. I will report plagiarism. – NZ.

To recap: Email all course work to me: ***.

In your email ‘subject’, write the course number and what you are submitting with this email, e.g., PHI 172, Week 1, or Week 2, etc.

Use your Lehman email, only. Other email addresses may be rejected by the system and you will not be informed but simply lose credit.

Submit your assignment either directly in the body of an email or as a Word.doc attachment. No other formats will be accepted, including pdfs.

Repeat the assignment question at the top of your assignment.

If the assignment has two parts, a, and b, separate your answer into a, and b.

Check and edit your assignment for citations, writing mechanics, grasp of main ideas read and discussed. In the first half of the course, you will lose 1 point each for lack of citations, grasp of main ideas, or writing mechanics. In the second half of the course, you will lose 2 points for each.

Drafts are NOT accepted. Students are expected to apply comments on their assignments to future assignments; your lower grades will drop out.

Each week’s assignment should be 200–300 words. Less than 200 words will not provide enough depth and detail; more than 300 words will be overdoing it. All assignments have their due dates in the syllabus. You must attend the lectures for key ideas in order to do well on your assignments.

Do not arrive late. Arrive on time to avoid penalties for persistent lateness.

Schedule. Note: The numbers below correspond to our class meetings and the weeks of the course. You should plan to read about 20 pages each week. If there is any change—and there may be—I will let you know on Blackboard Announcements. The in-class reading assignments will be based on the lectures that are drawn from these essays in the anthology.

Key ideas relevant to the readings will discussed in the lectures. The pages below are the required reading range for each essay.

Reading Assignments are due one week from the class meeting, always at 9 AM on Monday.

PLEASE WRITE THE COURSE No. and ASSIGNMENT WEEK No. in the subject of your email. Copy the question for the assignment question at the top. All of this speeds up accurate grading and recording of grades.

LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED and 2 points will be deducted from the final grade for each unsubmitted paper.

August 29. FIRST DAY – Course Introduction and Syllabus

Assignment 1. Due 9 AM Sept. 12. (You may copy and paste this section with syllabus questions or just provide the numbers and your answers.)

1. What does ethics mean to you, apart from this course? (5 points);

2. Answer these questions about the syllabus. Cite the syllabus page numbers where your answers are (5 points).

   1. What are the grade components for the course, by percentage?

   2. Why is it important to attend?

   3. What happens if you do not submit an assignment? What happens if you are absent?

   4. Explain in-text citations that are required for all of your writing to get full credit.

   5. Do you have the book? If not, when will you have it?

   6. Provide the Lehman email address you will use for Blackboard and to submit assignments by email, for this course.

   7. Attendance will not be taken for in-person classes. So why should you attend?

   8. Provide a sample of an in-text citation and its reference at the end.

   9. How and where do you submit your assignments?

   10. Do you have access to Blackboard on the internet? For information on getting equipment or access to the internet if you need that, please see the Lehman home page.

Discussion question: Given what ethics means to you, is it OK to judge others ethically?

Classics

September 12. Plato, Euthyphro, pp. 3–5 and 16–17. Or, if you have time, the whole dialogue.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, pp. 43–5, Introduction and pp. 56–58 and 71–73.

Assignment 2: (a) Explain how Plato separated ethics from religion. (b) How are virtues connected to happiness, according to Aristotle? Due 9 AM, Sept. 19.

Discussion question: How can people be ethical if they think their ethics comes from religion but there is no logical connection between the two?

September 19 Epictetus, The Enchiridion, pp. 85–92.

St. Augustine, City of God, Book XIX, pp. 107–118.

Assignment 3: Due 9 Am Sept. 26. (a) Why is it important to know what is under your control, according to Epictetus? (b) How did St. Augustine think we could find happiness? (c) What is the nature of evil according to St. Augustine?

September 29 Note—this class is Thursday rather than Monday.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Question XCIV, pp. 119–133.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Pt I. Of Man; Pt II. Of Commonwealth, pp. 134–143.

Assignment 4: Due 9 AM Oct. 3 (a) What is the natural law, according to Aquinas? (b) How does Hobbes describe human life without government?

Discussion question: Do you need natural or human-made law in order to be ethically good?

October 3. Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 188–203.

Assignment 5: Due 9AM Oct. 17. (a) What are the two formulations of Kant’s Categorical Imperative? (b) How is categorical reasoning different from hypothetical reasoning according to Kant?

Discussion question: What are some problems with Kant’s moral theory?

October 17. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, pp. 225–242.

Assignment 6: Due 9 AM Oct. 24. (a) What is Mill’s reasoning to justify utilitarianism? (b) What is utilitarianism? (c) What are higher and lower pleasures and act vs. rule utilitarianism (based on lecture).

Discussion question: What are some problems with utilitarianism?

October 24. Review.

Assignment 7: Due 9 AM Oct. 31. With reference to Aristotle, Kant, and J. S. Mill, and citations and references to the readings, describe the three main philosophical moral systems, by name and in terms of their broad ideas. Which one do you prefer and why? This assignment will require citations and a list of references. Do not cite or refer to material outside of the required readings.

Discussion question: Provide your own review of assignments 1–6.

More Contemporary Issues

October 31. This is Hallowe’en. Feel free to dress up! I will. – nz .

Ruth Benedict, ‘Anthropology and the Abnormal’, pp. 309–321.

Mary Midgley, ‘Trying Out One’s New Sword’, pp. 321–327.

Assignment 8: Due 9 AM Nov. 7. (a) Explain what Benedict thinks about cultural difference and mental illness. (b) What do you think about “trying out one’s new sword” as Midgley describes it?

Discussion question: Do you think there are fundamental differences in what is right from culture to culture? If so, what can individuals do about that? If not, explain.

November 7. Robert Coles, ‘The Disparity Between Intellect and Character’, pp. 350–355.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’, pp. 356–378.

Assignment 9: Due 9AM on Nov. 14. (a) What is the difference between intellect and character according to Coles? (b) How is M.L. King’s letter related to this distinction?

Discussion question: If intellect is what you know and character is what you do, explain why both are necessary.

November 14. Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism and Human Emotion’, pp. 329–332.

Assignment 10: Due 9AM, Nov. 21. (a) Explain how Sartre thinks we have to choose a moral system to get a moral answer. (b) Considering intellect and character, do you think one chooses either path when they conflict? (Intellect is just knowing. Character is knowing plus doing.).

Discussion question: Give an example like Sartre’s but different, where one must choose a moral system in order to make a moral (or ethical) decision.

November 21. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, pp. 378–386.

Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp. 396–410.

Assignment 11: Due 9AM on Nov. 21. (a) How does Rawls think we can arrive at justice in his thought experiment? (b) What does MacIntyre mean by “after virtue”?

Discussion question: What is most important to Rawls and MacIntyre, in contrast/comparison?

November 28. Nel Noddings, ‘Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics & Moral Education’, pp. 424–235.

Susan Wolf, ‘Moral Saints’, pp. 462–472.

Assignment 12: Due 9AM Dec. 5. (a) How does Noddings derive care ethics from motherhood? (b) Would Wolf consider Noddings’s carer to be a moral saint? Explain why or why not.

Discussion question: Do you want to be a moral saint? Why or why not?

December 5 Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: The Land Ethic, pp. 486–505.

Peter Singer, ‘Rich and Poor’, pp. 506–518.

Assignment 13: Due Dec. 12, 9AM. (a) What is the land ethic? (b) What does Singer’s view of the poor share with the land ethic?

Discussion question: What do you think about the land ethic and the poor ethic? Give reasons.

14. December 12. LAST DAY – Tom Regan, ‘The Case for Animal Rights’, pp. 530–554.

Michael Walzer, ‘Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands’, pp. 545–566.

Last Assignment 14: Due Dec 19, 9AM. (a) What is Regan’s case for animal rights? (b) What is the “problem of dirty hands” and how does it relate to animal rights? (c) Do you agree with including animals in the moral universe or not? Give reasons.

Discussion question: Why would people not want to include animals in the moral universe?

Your class participation form is also due on Dec. 19 at 9 AM. Attach or copy both the assignment and the form in the same email. This is an absolute deadline for both the assignment and the participation form.