ETHICS 2000 - SPRING

ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES, LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
COURSE NUMBER: ETHICS 2000: INTERDISCIPLINARY ETHICS & VALUES
Spring 2007

Grades for Module #1 are ready. Please visit Dr Simmons during office hours to pick up your grades.

Instructors Module Titles
Jack Simmons Philosophical Ethics Module
John Kraft Psychology
Allison Belzer History
Samantha Porgorelsky Law
Classrooms:
 Module 1: Jan 9- – Feb. 6, UH 156
 Modules 2-4: Feb. 8-Mar. 1, Mar. 6-April 3, April 5- April 26
 Kraft – 203, 204, 207
 Belzer – 204, 207, 203
 Porgorelsky – 207, 203, 204
Class time: Tuesday and Thursday -- 10:00-11:15 am
Course Description:
Ethics 2000 is designed to combine interdisciplinary teaching and the study of ethics to satisfy the ethics core curriculum requirement. This course will be taught as a series of modules, each having a different instructor. Each module will consist of seven class meetings, except for the first module which will consist of nine meetings. All students will take the first module together. This first module will be taught by an instructor in Philosophy and will cover basic concepts in the study of ethics. Students will then be separated into three groups. Each group will be assigned a classroom, and students in that group will attend class in that room for the remainder of the semester. The second, third and fourth modules will be taught by instructors from different departments at Armstrong, and each instructor will discuss ethical issues which arise in the instructor’s profession, in an academic discipline, and/or in society generally.
3 Credit Course: Students taking the class for three hours of credit must attend all four modules.
2 Credit Course: Students taking the course for two hours of credit must complete the initial module and two of the remaining three modules. These students may complete all four modules if they wish. In such a case, the lowest of the last three module grades will automatically be dropped. The grade for the first module is never dropped.
Course Objectives:
1. To introduce students to the basic types and structures of ethical reasoning
2. To apply ethical reasoning to various professions and areas of academic training.
3. To challenge the student to think deeply about ethical issues as they arise in society.
Grading Scale:
A – 100-90 B – 89-80 C – 79-66 D – 65-60 F – 59-0

PHILOSOPHY MODULE (January 5 - February 2)
Instructor
Dr. Jack Simmons
Telephone: 921-7336
E-mail: simmonja@mail.armstrong.edu
Office: 202A Gamble Hall
Office Hours: MWF: 1:00-2:30
TTH: 1:45-2:45

Reading (web posted at: http://www.llp.armstrong.edu/facultystaff/simmons.html)
1. Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html (Book 1 and 2)
2. Utilitarianism, Mill
http://www.utilitarianism.com/jsmill.htm (Chapter 1,2,4,5)
3. The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant
http://www.sacred-texts.com/phi/kant/fund.txt
4. “This Sex Which Is Not One,” Luce Irigaray (on e-reserve with Lane Library)

Schedule
Date Topic (Reading)
Jan. 9 Introduction to Ethics, Relativism & Absolutism
Jan. 11 Ethics and Religion, Virtue Ethics (Aristotle)
Jan. 16 Virtue Ethics (Aristotle) & Utilitarianism and Consequentialism (Mill)
Jan. 18 Utilitarianism and Consequentialism (Mill) & Deontological Ethics (Kant)
Jan. 23 Deontological Ethics (Kant)
Jan. 25 Deontological Ethics (Kant) & Feminism (Irigaray)
Jan. 30 Feminism (Irigaray)
Feb. 1 Contract Theory and Summary
Feb 6 Exam


There exists no moral system under which there do not arise unequivocal cases of conflicting obligation.
Mill