PHIL 220: Moral Issues Winter 2014

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PHILOSOPHY 220: Moral Issues Winter 2014

Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30am – 11:50am

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION Instructor Professor Mathieu Doucet Email mdoucet@uwaterloo.ca Office Hagey Hall 328 Office Phone (519) 888-4567 extension 32824 Office Hours Tuesday 1:00 - 2:00, Thursday 2:00

– 3:00 (or by appointment)

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course considers several controversial contemporary moral questions, and explores the ways that philosophy can help to clarify and answer these questions. The aim of the course is not to defend any particular conclusion to any of these questions: rather, we will work to explore and understand the moral and philosophical issues that these issues raise. The goal is to help you think more clearly about difficult moral issues, and so to help you develop and defend your own views on these and related issues.

Course Topics Global Poverty and Inequality: We live in a very unequal world, in which billions live in grinding poverty while those of us in affluent nations live in relative luxury. Is this situation at all morally justifiable? If not, do individuals in rich nations have a responsibility to reduce the suffering of those in poor nations? If so, why do we have those responsibilities, and how much do they demand of us, if anything?

Climate Change: The climate is warming, largely as a result of the activities of those of us who live wealthy nations. The harms of climate change, however, are largely borne by those who live in relative poverty. What kind of ethical obligations (if any) does that climate change generate? What reasons does a single individual have to refrain from polluting, given that no single individual act makes a significant difference to climate change? What obligations (if any) do we have to preserve the environment for people who have yet to be born? How should we balance such obligations against the obligations we have to people who are currently alive?

Non-Human Animals: An estimated 700 million non-human animals are killed for food in Canada every year. Is this morally permissible? If not, why not: what makes the use of animals morally wrong? If it is permissible, do we have any moral obligations at all toward animals, and if so what might they be?

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Prostitution: The Supreme Court of Canada has recently struck down Canada’s prostitution laws: unless the government introduces new legislation, prostitution will be fully legal by the end of 2014. Is prostitution a moral issue? That is, is prostitution immoral? If so, why? Even if prostitution is immoral, should it be illegal? How should the potential harms of prostitution be reduced/eliminated?

Recreational Drugs: Is recreational drug use immoral? If not, is the use of illegal drugs immoral nonetheless? Can the prohibition on many recreational drugs be justified, or should such drugs be legalized?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of the course, you should be able to:

Accurately summarize several contemporary moral issues. Explain, in writing, key concepts and arguments in moral philosophy. Apply positions and concepts from moral philosophy to real-world moral issues. Assess the morally significant issues and competing interests at stake in a range of

moral issues. Critically evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, implications, and assumptions of

positions and arguments in moral philosophy.

This course will help develop the skills to: Critically analyze difficult moral issues. Read and critically evaluate philosophical texts. Discuss and debate issues and arguments in moral philosophy with peers in small

groups and in full classroom discussion. Write clear, well-structured explanations and assessments of philosophical

arguments.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES In order to achieve these objectives, you should:

Treat your classmates with respect. Do the readings prior to class. Most of the readings are relatively short, but they can be

difficult. You will get the most out of the class if you read them carefully and more than once, both before and after the class.

Bring a copy of the text to class. Be in your seat ready to participate at the beginning of class, and remain until the end of

class. Take notes in class and review them. Restrict the use of your laptop in class to taking notes and reviewing readings. Refrain entirely from the use of cell phones while in class. (Just turn them off for the

duration of class.) Ask questions of the Professor when you are unclear about concepts. Put serious thought into your written assignments, including the online

component of the group discussions.

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Finally, come to class ready to participate in a discussion about interesting and important questions about puzzling and important moral issues.

TEXTS There is no textbook for this class. All readings for the course will be available electronically through the course LEARN webpage. Articles are available as PDFs, while the brief Background material at the beginning of each module will be links to online new sources.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND ASSESSMENT Assessment Date Weight Midterm quiz Tuesday, February 11

15% Final quiz Thursday, April 3 15%

Midterm paper Monday, February 24 20% Final paper April 8 or 10 35% Discussion participation Throughout the term 15% Total: 100%

Quizzes The quizzes will be completed online through LEARN. Each quiz will be available for 24 hours, and you will have a total of 1 hour to complete it from the time you begin. The mid-term quiz will cover material from the first two sections of the course (Global Poverty and Climate Change). The final quiz will cover material from the last three sections (Non-Human Animals, Prostitution, and Recreational Drugs). Each Quiz is worth 15% of the total grade.

Papers The Midterm paper will be 2 pages in length, and is due on Monday, February 24

by 5:00 pm. The Final paper will be approximately 5 pages in length. Students wishing to

receive comments on their papers must submit by Tuesday, April 8th at 5:00 pm. Otherwise, the paper is due by Thursday, April 10th at 5:00 pm.

Essay questions will be made available at least 2 weeks prior to the due date. All papers must be submitted online via LEARN in the relevant Dropbox. Hard copes

will not be accepted. Essays must be prepared for anonymous review. This means that you should not

include your name anywhere on the paper, or in the file name of the document you submit to the Dropbox.

Late policy: Late papers are subject to a penalty of 5% per day. No late submissions will be accepted once graded assignments have been returned to the class.

Discussion participation Philosophy happens best in conversation, and the topics we will consider in this course lend themselves to active discussion and debate. One of the main activities of this

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course will therefore be just that kind of discussion with your peers: throughout the term, you will debate a variety of moral issues both online and in class.

Here’s how it works: at the beginning of term, you’ll be randomly divided into small discussion groups on LEARN. Each group will have about 6 members. Prior to the beginning of each module, I’ll post a series of short questions related to the upcoming topic. For each of the 5 modules, you are responsible for making at least 2 posts.

1. You should give your brief answer to the introductory questions by 8 pm theday prior to the first lecture on the relevant module. (For example, you must post your answers for the ‘Climate Change’ module by 8 pm on Monday, February 10.) Once this deadline has passed, the discussion board will be locked and no posting will be possible. These questions don’t presuppose that you have any background knowledge of the issue, or that you’ve done any of the reading: I’m just looking for your views as a way of starting the discussion.

2. Your second post will be made in a new discussion thread. It should engage in some way with the answer(s) of at least one of the other members of the group. This can take many forms. For example, you can offer an objection to someone’s answers, offer additional support for someone’s answer, point out connections or differences between answers of different members, link the answers to current events or to points raised in the readings, or provide empirical information relevant to someone’s answer. The second post is due by 8:00 pm the day prior to the in class debate for the relevant module. (For example, you must make your second post in the ‘Climate Change module by 8:00 pm on Wednesday, February 5.) Once this deadline has passed, the discussion board will be locked and no posting will be possible.

3. In the final class meeting for each module, your group will convene in class to debate the topic in person and to try to arrive at a consensus on the issue. All of the groups will them convene for a larger group discussion.

Grades: Group discussion is worth 15% of the total grade. Each module is worth 3%, broken down as follows:

2% for participating in the online discussion: each post is worth 1%.o Posts that show evidence of engagement with the issue will earn full credit.

Answers that do not show evidence of engagement will not receive credit.

o ‘Engagement with the issue’ is a low threshold, and does not require a 200-word answer: a few lines for each question are enough. What it does require is more than e.g. “I agree with Emily’s post” or “That’s obviously wrong/right”.

1% for participating in the in-class discussion. At the end of the class, each group must hand in a form listing the members present and summarizing the position taken by the group. (Forms will be provided in class.) If you are not present, you will not receive credit.

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Special Arrangements requires form If circumstances in your life pose an obstacle to your getting your work in on time, you may complete a special arrangements request form (available on the LEARN site for the course) to propose an alternative arrangement. This form must be submitted 48 hours before the due date for the work. Submitting the form doesn't guarantee that your proposed special arrangement will be approved. However, the professor will give all requests serious consideration. Special arrangements requests received after this 48 hour cut-off will not be considered without medical or similar documentation.

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Course Outline Week Date Topic Reading Deadline/Activity 1 January 7 Introduction None 1 January

9 None Moral issues survey

(January 8 by 8 pm) 2 January

14 Global Poverty and Inequality

Background, Singer, ‘Famine, Affluence, Morality’ Discussion Post 1

(January 13 by 8 pm)

2 January 16

Narveson, ‘Is World Poverty a Moral Problem for the Wealthy?’

3 January 21

Hassoun, ‘World Poverty and Individual Freedom’

3 January 23

Pogge, ‘Global Poverty and Human Rights’

Discussion Post 2 (January 27 by 8 pm)

4 January 28

None In class debate

4 January 30

Climate Change

Background, Broome, ‘The Ethics of Climate Change’

Discussion Post 3 (January 29 by 8 pm)

5 February 4

Broome, Climate Matters Ch. 4-5 (selections)

5 February 6

Sinott-Armstrong, ‘It’s not my fault!’

Discussion Post 4 (February 10 by 8 pm)

6 February 11

None In class debate Midterm online quiz

6 February 13

Non-Human Animals

Background, Singer, ‘All Animals Are Equal’

Discussion Post 5 (February 12 by 8 pm)

Reading Week 7 February

25 Regan, ‘The Case for Animal Rights’

Midterm paper (February 24)

7 February 27

Pollan, ‘An Animal’s Place’ Discussion Post 6 (March 3 by 8 pm)

8 March 4 None In class debate 8 March 6 Prostitution Background, Estes, ‘Moral

Reflections on Prostitution’ Discussion Post 7 (March 5 by 8 pm)

9 March 11

Nussbaum, ‘Whether from Reason or Prejudice’

9 March 13

Shrage, ‘Should Feminists Oppose Prostitution?’

Discussion Post 8 (March 17 by 8 pm)

10 March 18

None In class debate

10 March 20

Recreational Drugs

Background, Husak, The Legalization of Drugs (selections)

Discussion Post 9 (March 19 by 8 pm)

11 March 25

Wilson, ‘Against the Legalization of Drugs’

11 March 27

Doucet, ‘Just Say No (For Now)’ Discussion Post 10 (March 31 by 8 pm)

12 April 1 None In class debate 12 April 3 None Essay workshop

Final online quiz April 8 Term paper due

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LEARN SITE AND EMAIL: The instructor will post details concerning quizzes, assignments, etc. on the course LEARN site. It is the individual student’s responsibility to check this on a regular basis. From time to time, the instructors will send students important emails regarding (for instance) readings, assignments, review sessions and tests (or -- if they should arise -- last minute emergencies that affect a scheduled lecture). If you would rather receive these emails at your home account (e.g., hotmail, gmail, rogers...), then you must enter that email address on your WatIAM entry. Log on to WatIAM and update your entry or follow this link: (https://watiam.uwaterloo.ca/idm/user/login.jsp). Log in and then click “Update Profile.” Then, select the “Email configuration” tab. It is your responsibility to stay current with course news by regularly checking whichever email account is listed on your WatIAM entry.

Institutional-required statements for undergraduate course outlines approved by Senate Undergraduate Council, April 14, 2009.

Cross-listed course Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4.

Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals.

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Other sources of information for students Academic integrity (Arts) Academic Integrity Office (uWaterloo)

ACCOMODATION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Note for students with disabilities: The AccessAbility Services office, located in Needles Hall Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.