Don't forget: we're in the e-portfolio lab (E-230) today to work!

Please don't forget to sign up for your final presentation!  As a reminder, the final portfolio presentation is a 5-7 minute talk where you show the class elements of your portfolio that you're proud of, and reflect on those elements.  You don't need to show us every single element, but make sure you show us at least a few pages.  This presentation is worth 10% of your final grade.

Sign up for your final portfolio presentation using this spreadsheet.  In this presentation, you will show off your portfolio to the class in a talk of 5-7 minutes and tell us all about it.  You do not have to show us every single section, but you should give us a representative "tour" of the sections that you are most proud of and explain them to your audience.  After your presentation, questions may be asked of you by your classmates and professor.  This presentation is worth 10% of your total final grade.

The Problem is Civil Obedience, by Howard Zinn, and performed by Matt Damon

An Open Letter from Ferguson Protesters

Moral desert, The Lottery, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things

Zimbardo describes the Milgram experiment

More on War and Peace and Justice

"Is War Good For Us?" by Ian Morris

E-portfolio support

Since the service project is approaching (due 11/21--send me the URL by email), I've made some changes that will help you to have additional support in these final weeks.

On Tuesday 11/18 we will meet in E-230, the e-portfolio lab, for a working session.  This will be how we will spend class time that day.

I will also be holding extra office hours in the e-portfolio lab.  This will allow us to look at your portfolio together and have a hands-on session to improve your work, if you want.  These office hours are like my regular office hours, totally optional.

On Thursday, 11/20, I will hold extra office hours in E-230 from 7-8pm.

On Friday, 11/21, I will hold extra office hours in E-230 from 4-5pm.

And remember: no class tomorrow November 11!  We resume on November 13, and you should read the "War, Peace, and Justice" packet in advance of class on November 13.

As ever, email with any questions.

For extra credit

For extra credit (TOTALLY OPTIONAL)

Option 1: Select any work from "Ethical Theory: A Reader" (http://www.upscsuccess.com/sites/default/files/documents/Ethical_Theory_An_Anthology_@nadal.pdf) (you may not choose any excerpt from a work we have already read in class--for instance, don't choose the excerpt from John Rawls' A Theory of Justice) read it thoroughly, and then in an essay of 500-750 words summarize it and connect it to at least one of our non-textbook readings this semester.  Create a new section in your e-portfolio and place this essay there.  No later than Friday, November 28, at 11:59 PM, email me the essay and copy and paste it on your e-portfolio.  If you do this in a satisfactory manner, you will earn a boost of 1/3 of one grade on your ENTIRE final portfolio.

Option 2: Go to a panel, forum, rally, speech, film screening, or similar event focused on a matter of equity and justice (might include matters related to housing, food justice, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, healthcare, race, freedom of religion, and so on).  This calendar might be helpful, but not all events will necessarily work, and you are definitely not limited to events on this calendar.  In an essay of 500-750 words, report on the event (describe it in detail!), examine the moral philosophy ideas raised in the event, and reflect on your own experience (what was it like for you?).  Create a new section in your e-portfolio and place this essay there.  No later than Friday, November 28, at 11:59 PM, email me the essay and copy and paste it on your e-portfolio.  If you do this in a satisfactory manner, you will earn a boost of 1/3 of one grade on your ENTIRE final portfolio.

You may even do both options, if you like!

Readings for November 13

Please read the following for class on November 13

Augustine of Hippo on just war

Ambrose Bierce, A Horseman In The Sky

T. Hoffman, summary of Childress' Just-War Criteria

Leo Tolstoy, Address to the Swedish Peace Congress

G.E.M. Anscombe, War and Murder

"With Drone Warfare, America Approaches the Robo-Rubicon"


OPTIONAL: Childress, Just-War Criteria

ALSO OPTIONAL: A feminist ethical perspective on weapons of mass destruction

Please note: the readings for this coming week (11/4 and 11/6) were distributed in class.  Some of them are not available online, and so there will be no online version.  Please pick them up outside my office (B-300-K) if you did not pick them up in class Thursday or Tuesday.

This week, I will not be holding my usual office hours on Monday 11:30-12:30 and Tuesday 2:30-3:30.

Instead, this week my office hours will be:

Monday:4pm-5pm
Tuesday: by appointment
Wednesday: 11:30-12:30
Thursday: 2:30-3:30. 

I am also available by appointment on Friday afternoon.

Readings for week of 10/28 and 10/30

Along with Chapter 6 of Justice, for class on 10/28 and 10/30 please read:

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
Excerpts from A Theory of Justice by John Rawls

Tomorrow, Thursday October 16, we will hear short (1-2 minutes) speeches about your service projects.  Pay attention to telling us WHAT you are doing, the STEPS you have taken to execute your act of service, what INTERESTED you in the activity you chose, and WHY your project makes the world a better place, morally speaking.

On Tuesday, October 21, please bring to class TWO PAPER COPIES of a draft of an essay you are working on as one of your five essays for your portfolio.  We'll work together to improve it in class.

Then, revise it according to the suggested improvements, and on Thursday, October 23, bring to class TWO PAPER COPIES of the revised essay, for further improvements.

Peter Singer, Effective Altruism
Slavoj Zizek, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Here are the readings for this coming week in online format.  There is a chapter of Sandel, Justice, too.

Lying, by Tim C. Mazur

"What Clinton Said" from washingtonpost.com

ALSO: The deadline for the outreach project has been extended to Monday, October 6, at 11:59 PM.

"Kidneys for Sale"

Things we are doing today:

Kidney market

Trailer for Never Let Me Go

For a long time, people preferred to believe these organs appeared from nowhere, or at most that they grew in a kind of vacuum. Yes, there were arguments. But by the time people became concerned about…about students, by the time they came to consider just how you were reared, whether you should have been brought into existence at all, well by then it was too late. There was no way to reverse the process. How can you ask a world that has come to regard cancer as curable, how can you ask such a world to put away that cure, to go back to the dark days? (spoken by Miss Emily, in Never Let Me Go)
A scene


Healthcare and privilege

On Tuesday, September 30, instead of my usual 2:30-3:30 office hours, I’ll be leading a workshop on Writing in the Social Sciences with Henry Allen Jr., a colleague who teaches history and government.  The workshop will take place in E-419, and I encourage you to come!  If you were planning to meet with me during that office hours period, please email me so we can schedule a time to meet.

On Wednesday, October 1, I will not be holding my usual 11:30-12:30 office hours.  Instead, I’ll be available 5-6pm that same day.  If you were planning to meet with me during the 11:30-12:30 block and 5-6 doesn’t work for you, please email me so we can schedule a time to meet.

On Thursday, October 2, I will also not be holding my 2:30-3:30 office hours.  Instead, I will hold office hours 5:15-6:15 that same day.  Again, if you were planning to come in the 2:30 block and 5:15 won’t work for you, please email me and we’ll figure something out.

Service Project guidelines

Service Project Guidelines document

Things for class today

The following will be engaged with in class today:

Excerpts from Chapter 7 of Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

The story of Zacchaeus

Robin Hood (1960)

OPTIONAL ENRICHMENT: If you're really really interested in Nozick, here's the full text of Anarchy, State, and Utopia.

Week 4 readings

Handouts will be made available in class on Thursday, as well as outside my office.

Week 4: Know your rights! (9/23 and 9/25)

Sandel, Chapter 3

Excerpts from Second Treatise on Government, by John Locke

"German Cannibal Tells of Fantasy"

Theodore Dalrymple, The Case for Cannibalism

CNN feature on Blick v. Connecticut

Selections from Compassion and Choices Press Kit on Blick v. Connecticut (read PDF pages 1-3, 5-9, 23-29)

Judge Julia Aurigemma's decision in Blick v. Connecticut (OPTIONAL)

Today, Tuesday, Thursday

Today, we will focus on learning about the outreach project and practicing the skills of inquiry and interview and reporting necessary to do well on the outreach project.

On Tuesday, we will engage with The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens.

So, in advance of class on Thursday, September 18, please read:

Sandel, Justice, chapter 2

Excerpts from Utilitarianism by J.S. Mill

Excerpt from The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin


In addition, for extra credit:

On Wednesday, September 17, 10am-12:45pm, in D-lounge, BHCC will be celebrating Constitution Day with a marathon reading of the U.S. Constitution.  Constitutions are an important idea in moral and political philosophy.

If you want to earn extra credit, please do the following:

Go to the Constitution Day reading and take part in it, either by reading aloud or by being an attentive audience member, or both.

Read the U.S. Constitution on your own.

Write a comment of 200-300 words on this post addressing ONE of the following prompts:

• The U.S. Constitution was written in the eighteenth century.  Until slightly more than a century before it was written, people in the English-speaking world imagined a "constitution" to be something that was implicit and changing and based on precedent and tradition over time, not something that was explicit and set down in writing at some specific time.  What are the advantages and disadvantages to having a written down constitution?
• Select a "section" of the Constitution, or an amendment to the Constitution, and "excavate" the moral and political philosophy behind it.  What sorts of ideas about authority, personal and community well-being, property, loyalty, the common good, and/or the rights of the individual, can you see in the section or amendment you have chosen?
• This week we are learning about utilitarianism.  Based on what you know about the young United States, when the U.S. Constitution was written, was it "good for the greatest number"?  What about now--is the U.S. Constitution "good for the greatest number" of people in the United States today?

Week 2 readings

Along with chapter 1 of Justice, this is our text for Week 2: The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens.  This is an English court case from over 100 years ago, about sailors in a lifeboat who killed one of their fellow sailors in the lifeboat and ate him.  I strongly recommend reading this and then getting together to pick it apart in a small group--it's a tough text, and it's easier when you read it aloud and parse it together with a few classmates.

Remember, on Tuesday, Sept 9, we meet in E-230 rather than our usual classroom, so that we can have some hands-on time to learn about e-portfolio.  So, we'll discuss our cannibalistic sailors on Thursday.

Evaluation

To clarify how you will earn your final grade...

In-class contributions 30%
E-portfolio 70%

It breaks down like this:

In-class contributions 30%
20% normal stuff, participating every day in class with full engagement
10% your portfolio presentation near the end of the semester

E-portfolio 70%
20% outreach project
30% service project
20% the rest of the e-portfolio--both content and design.  This includes your five essays.

On Tuesday, we're going to explore some moral dilemmas.  This list of moral dilemmas will be important for you for the outreach project, which will be due October 3.

On Thursday, each pair or small group from today will introduce themselves and talk about their moral dilemma and the way their fictional character of choice would respond to it.

For Thursday, please read “How to read a book” and The Ring of Gyges.

OPTIONAL: speaking of invisibility, you might also like to read the Prologue to Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.  

On Thursday, Tuesday, 9/9, we will meet in E-230, the eportfolio lab, for a hands-on introduction to electronic portfolio.

Intro and syllabus

Welcome!  This is the course website for Ethics, as taught by Monica Poole, at Bunker Hill Community College.  This is an introductory course in moral philosophy.

Here is the syllabus for this course.