WEEK 1
August 27
Ptah-hotep
— @Fordham
— @sofiatopia with introduction
— more background @infiteloom
August 29
Pyramid Texts
Osirian Revolution
Eloquent Peasant
Negative Confessions / Scroll / Text
Amenemope
August 31 – WORKSHOP #1. Due at beginning of class: one page presentation of Ethical Criteria covered this week. We will have a workshop activity based on the material.
• Use about three quotations, using MLA style of format and citation (see Purdue OWL for MLA reminders).
• Simply present in a fair and sympathetic way what the teachings appear to say about ethical life from the point of view of the text. This is not the place to judge the value of the criteria.
WEEK 2
September 3 – Labor Day (no class)
September 5
Mesopotamia
Hammurabi
Torah
Proverbs
Database Supplement: Kamugisha, Aaron. “Critical Notice: Orientalism, Western Republicanism, And The Ancient Polis: Patricia Springborg’s ‘Western Republicanism And The Origental Prince’ And The Canon Of Political Thought.” Philosophical Forum 38.2 (2007): 173-198. Philosopher’s Index. Web. 1 Sept. 2012.
See also: Jan Assman at Amazon / Marc van de Mieroop /
September 7 – WORKSHOP #2. Due at beginning of class: one page development of a Case or Scenario where a contemporary stakeholder is faced with a difficult ethical choice going forward.
• The case may be of a personal nature, family matter, business choice, or public policy at the city, county, state, national, or international level.
• The thing of main importance is that there is some felt tension about what to do involving at least two courses of action.
• Please do not develop children as stakeholders. Let’s explore ethics for adults.
• If your case or scenario involves some set of facts in the contemporary world, provide a citation to an authoritative source for the facts.
WEEK 3
September 10
China
Confucius
Mencius
Xunxi
September 12
China Continued
Laotzu
Chuangtzu
Zhou Dunyi
September 14 – WORSHOP #3. Due at the beginning of class. Three paragraphs, or about two pages in MLA format:
1. In paragraph one, present a case or scenario involving a contemporary stakeholder who faces a difficult choice going forward (see guidelines from Workshop #2).
2. In paragraph two, present ethical criteria from some text that we have studied since the last ethical criteria exercise. In this second paragraph do not make any reference to the case that you developed in the first paragraph or any judgments about the value of the criteria (see guidelines from Workshop #1).
3. In the third paragraph show how the criteria in paragraph two would guide choice for the stakeholder in paragraph one. This is not the place to introduce new quotes or criteria from the text. Nor is this the place to unveil facts not revealed in the case or scenario. Given the facts in paragraph one, if the stakeholder were to be guided by the criteria in paragraph two, how would the stakeholder choose to act? What would the stakeholder do? If the criteria themselves generate a debate between two alternatives, what would be the best resolution of the debate according to the criteria themselves? In any event, the stakeholder must make a choice going forward, in a way that honors the integrity of the criteria as developed in paragraph two. We’ll call this an application of criteria to case or scenario.
WEEK 4
September 17
Hinduism (sacred-texts.com)
Gandhi (Gita: kirtimukha.com) / (Hind Swaraj: mkgandhi.org)
September 19
Buddhism (accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma)
Thich Nhat Hanh (plumvillage.org/mindfulness-trainings) / (Interview with Oprah)
September 21 – WORKSHOP #4. Due: 1-2 page development of case or scenario (no criteria or application required).
WEEK 5
September 24
Popol Vuh
September 26
Dekanawidah / Iroquois Constitution
Black Elk
DeLoria
September 28 – WORKSHOP #5. Due: Two paragraphs (1-2 pages) of criteria and application (using cases previously presented). In the title of your paper, please state your purpose. For example: “Applying Amenemope to Contemporary Dating.” In the first full paragraph develop ethical criteria from one of the texts covered since our last criteria exercise; do not mention anything about the particular case that you have in mind. In the second paragraph remind the reader briefly (with one or two sentences) of some case that we have developed during prior workshops in this class and then apply to that case or scenario the criteria that you have just developed. Please remember this is not the place to introduce new criteria or facts. Just apply the criteria to the case or scenario in order to produce a choice that honors the ethical teaching that you are presenting today.
WEEK 6
October 1 – Plato’s Republic @ Adelaide (Bk IV, find “nurtured”)
(see also, Perseus Project: Plat. Rep. 4.441d)
October 3 – Plato’s Symposium
October 5 – WORKSHOP #6. Due: 1-2 page development of case or scenario (no criteria or application today).
WEEK 7
October 8 – Plato’s Alcibiades & Phaedrus
October 10
October 12 – FOUNDERS DAY (no class)
WEEK 8
October 15 – Aristotle’s Ethics
Bk I – IV Moral Virtues
Bk V – Justice
October 17 – Aristotle’s Ethics
Bk VIII – Friendship
October 19 – WORKSHOP #7. Due: Two paragraphs (1-2 pages) of criteria and application (applying Plato and Aristotle to cases previously presented). Review guidelines from Workshop #5.
WEEK 9
October 22
al-Kindi
Averroes
Maimonides
Aquinas
October 26 – No Class. This workshop will be postponed and added to the next workshop. Workshop #8: Due: 1-2 page development of case or scenario (no criteria or application needed).
WEEK 10
October 29
Epictetus (law, reason, pleasure)
Aurelius
October 31
Kant
November 2 – In addition to a case developed for the postponed WORKSHOP #8, also develop two paragraphs (1-2 pages) of criteria and application for WORKSHOP #9 (from texts since last criteria workshop).
WEEK 11
November 5
Hobbes (Leviathan Chs. XIII-XVIII)
Locke (Second Treatise of Govt.)
November 7
Hegel (Lordship and Bondage)
Rawls
November 9 – Workshop #10: Due: 1-2 page development of case or scenario (no criteria or application today).
WEEK 12
November 12
– Peirce (Fixation of Belief, How to Make Our Ideas Clear, What is a Sign?)
– James (The Will to Believe, Varieties of Religious Experience)
– Dewey (Democracy and Education, Ch. 7)
November 16 – WORKSHOP #11. Due: Two paragraphs (1-2 pages) of criteria and application (texts since last criteria workshop applied to cases previously presented). Review guidelines from Workshop #5.
WEEK 13
November 19
Rand: Objectivist Ethics (ARI)
Marcuse: Liberation from the Affluent Society (marcuse.org)
WEEK 14
November 26
Davis
1970
2009 (mins 35-53)
Foucault
Archaeology
Discipline & Punish
v Chomsky
November 28
Anzaldua: Borderlands / La Frontera (scribd.com)
–keywords: Coatlicue, Nepantla, la Facultad, nahual, mestiza, mestizaje
Butler
November 31 – Workshop #12: Due: 1-2 page development of case or scenario in professional ethics (no criteria or application today).
WEEK 15
December 3
Augustine
Ghazali
Buber
December 5
Farmer (Whitaker [1], [2]) / Bio / Papers
Thurman (Jesus)
King (1949-50 psychology) / The Letter
December 7 – Workshop on drafting the final: bring a draft of your final paper for small-group discussion.
WEEK 16
December 12, 9am: FINAL WORKSHOP, Four pages. (1) case or scenario (2) criteria and application from one recent text (3) criteria and application from any other text this semester, whether recent or not (4) criteria and application from your own view of ethics.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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