Phil 31A – Fall 2024 – 40585 – Mon/Wed 9:30-10:45 am – BCC 424

Instructor: Eric Gerlach – ericgerlach@gmail.com

Course Description: An introduction to ethical ideas, issues and thinkers in the history of human thought.  We will cover central ideas in ancient Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, and China, as well as early modern and contemporary thought, including virtue, morals, values, justice, balance, perspective, utility, individuality, culture and identity.

Course Material & General Requirements: A) Attend lectures, before or after you B) read the online readings at the top of each lecture page (no paper textbook or reader required) and C) compete the assignments by the due dates.  Email all assignments and essays to me at ericgerlach@gmail.com. We will be working through the lectures as we go through the semester.  If you don’t know what we are covering, email me.  I am available to meet in person and online.

Office Hours: I will begin hosting optional Zoom meetings every Wednesday from 11 am to 12 noon.  Please email me for that week’s zoom link, as well as to set up additional meetings, online or in person.

Lecture 1 – Ethics? WHERE?!? & Why Should We Care?

Lecture 2 – Egypt & Babylon

Lecture 3 – Hindus & Jains of India

Lecture 4 – Buddha of India

Lecture 5 – Heraclitus of Greece

Lecture 6 – Aristotle of Greece

Lecture 7 – Epicurus & The Stoics of Greece

Lecture 8 – Confucius of China

Lecture 9 – Mozi of China

Lecture 10 – Daoists of China

Lecture 11 – Kant of Germany

Lecture 12 – Mill of Britain

Lecture 13 – Nietzsche of Germany

Lecture 14 – Wittgenstein of Austria

Lecture 15 – Fanon, hooks and Said: Post-colonialism

Assignments: Four take home quizzes (20% of your grade) and four essays for the class (80% of your grade), the first 1 page (10%), the second 4 pages (20%), the third 4 pages (20%), and the fourth 6 pages (30%), typed, double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, and emailed to ericgerlach@gmail.com.  For the essays, focus on an idea we cover, clearly state and argue for your position with evidence, empathy, and examples from your life, history or fiction.  If you cite works to support your argument, cite them in the body of the text as (Author, year), such as (Smith, 2021).

ALL WORK MUST BE TURNED IN BY MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY DECEMBER 15th.

Here is a video with my thoughts on how to write a philosophy essay:

1st Essay, 1 page – Due Sunday, Sept 1st – For the first, single-page essay, I want you to try to focus your own philosophical beliefs about how ethics works into a single page as simply as possible.  If you have trouble, try starting with the first lecture, and react to what you think this shows about ethics.  I want you to express your ideas so you can see what does and doesn’t change as we go.  Don’t worry about format, or citing examples, or the reading, but rather try to just write.  I will not be grading this harshly, and it is an opening exercise.

2nd Essay, 2 pages – Due Sunday, Sept 29th – For the second essay, I want you to consider how human cultures argue back and forth about whether or not there are objective, permanent standards of morality and ethics, much as the Egyptians believed that the harmony of the cosmos is permanent and the Buddha argued that all things are impermanent.  Are there things that are objectively good or bad, and why?  Make sure to use several examples from real life or hypothetical thought experiments, and anticipate objections and counterexamples of any possible opponents.

3rd Essay, 4 pages – Due Sunday, Oct 27th – For the third essay, I want you to pick one idea found in the Indian, Greek and Chinese thinkers we have studied, explain the idea using examples and apply it to an ethical problem we face in the world today to show that the idea is or is not useful for helping with the problem.  Ideas we have covered include the Jain principles of skepticism, the Jain leaky boat, the Buddha’s middle way, Buddha’s codependent arising, Buddha’s monkey mind, Heraclitus’ wisdom in common, Heraclitus’ river twice, Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean, Aristotle’s natural purposes, Epicurus’ happiness as the goal of life, Stoic acceptance of fate, Confucian compassion and balance, Mencius’ humanity as good, Xunzi’s humanity as evil, and Zhuangzi’s complementary opposites, as well as many more you can choose from.  Ethical problems include poverty, war, theft, hunger, racism, ecological destruction and many other things we are all too familiar with.

4th Essay, 8 pages – Due Sunday, Dec 15th – For the final essay for the class, I want you to pick one idea found in the European and contemporary thinkers we have studied, explain the idea using examples and apply it to an ethical problem we face in the world today to show that the idea is or is not useful for helping with the problem.  You can, if you wish, compare the contemporary ideas to earlier ideas found in the ancient thinkers we covered.  Ideas include: Kant’s universal morals, Bentham’s maximizing happiness, Mill’s minimizing pain, Nietzsche’s individual interpretation, Wittgenstein, Fanon, hooks, and Said.  Please email me with your topic, and I am available to meet as well as read drafts when ready.

Student Learning Outcomes – Upon completion of this class, students will be able to:

  1. Define the main ethical theories covered in the course.
  2. Analyze an ethical theory.
  3. Explain some prominent and on-going moral disagreements in our society.

General Student Requirements:  Students are expected to come to class prepared to ask questions and participate in discussions. It is your responsibility to ask if you missed something; it is not the instructor’s responsibility to remind you. Please read through the syllabus and plan ahead.

AI Policy: Students are prohibited from using AI on assignments.  AI can be useful as a tool for study, but cannot replace attending, reading and watching lectures and completing reading assignments.  AI checking software will be employed when AI use on assignments is suspected, and the instructor has the right to request a meeting online with students suspected of using AI on assignments to determine their retention of material and authenticity of their work.  Students who are determined to have used AI or plagiarism of website material will receive a zero on the assignment, and repeat offenders will get an F in the course and will be subject to college disciplinary action.

Plagiarism, “to use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source” (MLA Handbook,  5th ed., §1.8)—will not be tolerated. Plagiarists, intentional or inadvertent, will receive a zero on the assignment in question; repeat offenders will get an F for the course and will be subject to college disciplinary action.

Disabled Student Program & Services (DSP&S) are provided for any enrolled student who has a verified disability that creates an educational limitation that prevents the student from fully benefiting from classes without additional support services or instruction. Please let the instructor know if you require any support services or would like more information about DSP&S.

The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. Any changes will be announced in class.