Course syllabus

 

SEMESTER 1, 2019

15 points

Information about the EXAM:

- PHIL 102 Lecturer Office Hours EXAM PERIOD.docx

- PHIL 102 Exam Information 2019-1.docx

Quick exam advice.docx

Ethics courses in 2020:

- PHIL 268 Ethical Theory Semester One 2020-1.docx

PHIL 210 Applied Ethics 2020.docx

Course Convenor and Lecturer:

Professor Tim Mulgan

t.mulgan@auckland.ac.nz

Please direct all administrative queries, and requests for assignment extensions, to Prof. Mulgan. His office hours for this semester are Tuesday 3pm to 5pm in room 409 in building 206 (which is variously called Te Puna Aronui, Humanities, or Arts 1).

Lecturer:

Dr Vanya Kovach  

v.kovach@auckland.ac.nz

Room 425 Humanities Building (ARTS 1)

Office hours: Monday 12 - 1pm and Tuesday 12 - 1pm or by appointment

Tutors:

The Tutors for PHIL 102 this semester are:

Moss Bioletti

• Office hours: Thursday 4-5pm  and Friday: 1-2pm in Room 206-306
• Email: mbio097@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Wenna Yeo

• Office hours: Monday 12-1pm and Friday 1-2pm in Room 206.305
• Email: wyeo589@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

 

Go beyond your majors with skills-based learning Have you considered studying a three-course Module to complement your majors? Find out here how Modules can boost your degree. Find out here about the Faculty of Arts’ new career-focused skills course, ARTSGEN 102, Solving your Future, coming in Semester 2, 2019.

 

Course delivery format:

2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorial

(Timetable and room details can be viewed on Student Services Online)

Please go to the Reading Lists section for readings and guidance on when to read them

All lectures will be recorded

Lecture slides or notes, recordings, tutorial outlines and other incidental materials will be made available in the Modules section

 

Tutorials

Tutorials provide an opportunity to discuss questions and issues raised in the course.  Your tutors will encourage collaborative inquiry, and will connect the ideas and arguments discussed both to the assessment of the course and to "real life" issues.  Each tutorial will begin with an informal, open book "snap review" of key points from lectures in the previous week, which students will complete in pairs.  Tutorial outlines will be posted at the end of the week before each tutorial.  Tutorials begin in the first week of semester.

 Missed tutorials

If you miss a tutorial through sickness or on other compassionate grounds, you may attend at another time, under certain conditions. Please let the tutor know, at the tutorial, that you will be there for one session only. If the room is already at capacity, you will not be admitted.

Summary of Course Description:              

The philosophical study of ethics provides theoretical frameworks for thinking about questions such as "What makes an action right or wrong?", "What kind of person should I try to be?" and “Is morality objective or not?” A number of theories will be explored, evaluated and applied to practical moral issues such as our obligations to strangers, our obligations to future people, our treatment of other animals, and tolerance regarding cultural differences.

Overview of Course Content

The course has two main components:

1. An examination of three influential (Western European) approaches to Ethics: Utilitarianism, Deontology and Virtue Ethics.
2. The application of these approaches to a variety of topics in practical ethics. Topics that will be covered in detail are: our obligations to distant strangers, our obligations to future people, our treatment of other animals, and tolerance regarding cultural differences.

 Course aims

1. To introduce to students a range of approaches to ethics, by outlining the main features of each approach, the reasons one might have for adopting such an approach and the standard objections to each approach.
2. To explore how these approaches to ethics can be applied to real life issues in practical ethics
3. To encourage and enable students to form their own views on the merits of each approach to ethics, and on topics in practical ethics, and to argue for these views.

 Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Describe and, where relevant, compare, the theories presented to them in the course
• Offer an evaluation of selected theories and views, including whether standard objections to them can met
• Present their evaluations using the basic format of argument, objection and reply
• Present and defend their own view on the topics covered, in the light of material presented in the course

 Assessment Summary:

Coursework assignments:

1 x 400 word writing task, in which students will be asked to follow a set structure in which they will: state their position on an issue, offer an argument for that position, consider an objection to that argument and then offer a reply defending their view. This is worth 10% 

2 x 1200 word essays. These are worth 20% each

Exam: Two hours. This is worth 50%  

Plussage applies. If you complete all three coursework assignments to a satisfactory standard (a pass is not required, but an honest attempt is) your final mark will be either 50% coursework and 50% exam, or 100% exam, whichever is higher

Assignment submission will be on-line only (no paper copies required) via Canvas, using Turnitin, a program which will check your assignment for any material which has been taken from other sources without acknowledgement.  It is VERY good at this, so please do not include any such material in your essays. The consequences of doing so are serious. Further information on referencing and plagiarism will be provided.

Useful documents for essays and assignments:

PHIL 102 Short Assignment 2019.docx

PHIL 102 Advice for Essay 1 on Hedonism.doc

PHIL 102 Advice for Essay 1 on Mill's Proof.doc

General Essay Marking Criteria.doc

Philosophy Essay Guide.pdf

Prescribed Texts:

There are no prescribed texts

 Recommended Texts:

Ethics, Piers Benn, UCL Press 1998.  Available as an e-book, see Reading Lists

Course Schedule

Week 1    Introduction to ethics. Our Obligations to Distant Strangers (Mulgan)

Week 2    Utilitarianism (Mulgan)

Week 3    Utilitarianism (Mulgan)

Week 4    Utilitarianism (Mulgan)

Week 5    Virtue Ethics (Kovach)

Week 6    Virtue Ethics (Kovach)

(Mid Semester Break)

Week 7   Deontology (Kovach)

Week 8   Deontology (Kovach)

Week 9    Our Obligations to Future People (Mulgan)

Week 10  Our Treatment of Other Animals (Kovach)

Week 11   The Justification and Limits of Toleration (Kovach)

Week 12   (Thursday lecture only) Wrap up (Mulgan and Kovach)

 

 Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – 10 marks per week or part of a week. No essays will be accepted after two weeks beyond the due date, except in very exceptional circumstances.