History of Ethics                                                                             Philosophy 1310, Spring 2018

Michael Thompson
1028D CL
office hours: Tu 3-5
(412) 445 7433 / practical.wisdom@gmail.com (text message is best)

This course will study some of the principal texts of the history of ethics with an emphasis on the question of the rationality, prudence or wisdom of the ethical life.

The principal works to be read are these

• Plato, Republic (~ 3 weeks)
• Hume, Treatise of Human Nature (~2 weeks)
• Kant, Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals (~3 weeks)
• Mill, Utilitarianism (~1 week)
• Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (~2 weeks)
• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (~2 weeks)

These are all contained in Michael Morgan, Classics of Moral and Political Theory (5th edition) which you should bring to class with you.

I do not anticipate following historical order; the merits and interest of Aristotle's theory, for example, are much clearer when we have Nietzsche as a contrast. We may also read fragments from Hobbes and some bits of contemporary works. Ancillary texts will be linked at pitt.edu/~mthompso/history.html.

Three short papers will be assigned at even intervals throughout the term; the grade will be based on these equal measure; class participation will count for no more than 25% of the grade.

The schedule of readings is as follows:

• January 8 Introduction
  

Plato

• January 10 Republic, Book 1 & the speech of Callicles from Plato's Gorgias. A couple of nice ancillary readings from the Stanford Encyclopedia are
  • "Callicles and Thrasymachus", a close comparison of these figures by Rachel Barney.
  • "Plato's Ethics and Politics in the Republic", an overview by Eric Brown
• January 15 Martin Luther King’s birthday; reflect on what he did for our country.
  
• January 17 Republic, Book 2
• January 22-24, Republic, Book 4
• January 29-31, Republic, Books 8 & 9

Hume

• February 5-7 Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Morgan pages 802-812
  • On the influencing motives of the will
  • Moral distinctions not derived from reason
• February 12-14 Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Morgan pages 812-825
  • Moral distinctions derived from a moral sense
  • On justice (and following sections)

The first paper topic will be assigned February 14 and due two weeks later February 27

Kant

• February 19-21 Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, Preface and first section, Morgan 944-54

• February 26-28 Grounding Section 2, 954-75

(March 4-11 Spring recess)

• March 12-14 Grounding Section 2 continued

• March 19-21 Grounding, Section 3, 975-84

The second essay will be assigned March 21 and will be due two weeks later, April 4

Nietzsche

• March 26-28 Genealogy of Morality first two essays, Morgan 1253-90

• April 2 Genealogy of Morality continued

Aristotle

• April 4 Nicomachean Ethics Book 1, 255-65

• April 9-11 Nicomachean Ethics Book 2-3, Morgan p 265-284;

• April 16-18 Nicomachean Ethics Books 5-7, Morgan pp 295-327

The last essay will be assigned April 18 and due on the Friday of exam week.