QUESTIONS FOR IN-CLASS WRITINGS
Please prepare the following questions and be ready to write for 10 minutes at the beginning of class. Honors students: note the dates for your four questions.
January 24: In your opinion where do moral laws comes from? God, nature, society, or individual human beings? Choose one alternative and defend it with good arguments. Show how the other alternatives fail as a foundation for morality. How does your choice relate to the distinction between ethical objectivism and ethical subjectivism? (See link for definitions.) Note: "nature" does not mean "nature tooth and claw" but "human nature." So one might say that humans are born with natural inclinations to be moral. Some philosophers have located this in a moral faculty called "conscience," a natural ability to tell right from wrong.
February 7: Why do you think that the Buddha refuses to give an answer to Malunkyaputa's questions. This is your reading: Questions that tend not to Edification
February 21: Explain the difference between moral and intellectual virtue.
March 7: Choose one of the following options for human nature and give good reasons why you think it is the right one. What is your opinion of Mencius' example of the child falling into the well?
a. It is neither good nor evil (Gaozi).
b. It is good or evil, depending on who rules (or environment?). Gaozi appears to switch to this position in 6a2.
c. There is intrinsic goodness (Shun) and intrinsic badness (Shun’s father).
d. It is good or more precisely: humans have the potential for goodness (Mencius).
e. It is evil or more precisely: humans tend to evil (Xunzi =Hsün-tzu).
March 24: What is the difference between rational and theological eudaimonism. How does Aquinas argue for the latter using the "overendowment" thesis?
April 4: "Morals excite passions and produce or prevent actions. Reason is utterly impotent in this regard." The following examples may support the truth or falsity of Hume's claim that the emotions, not reason, are the source of morality. Choose one of the following for your writing and give your reasons why Hume might be right or wrong. (1) Think of how moral rules might have come into existence in the evolution of human culture; (2) ponder the case of killing in self-defense; (3) the case of lying to protect the life of a friend; (4) how some people have overcome racism or sexism; (5) why some people hesitate to show affection in public; and (6) how people acquire tastes in the arts, cuisine, wine, and beer. Note: Hume concedes that reason may be the "mediate" (indirect) cause of our actions but never the direct cause of them.
April 18 (Honors, April 15): "There are persons who are not human beings and human beings who are not actual persons." According to Aristotle and Roland Puccetti, why is this statement true? If you disagree with these philosophers, formulate your own definition of a person and answer the question in whole or in part.
May 2 (Honors, April 29): Discuss the tensions between liberty and utility in Mill's two major works. Specifically how would you respond to Mill's claim in On Liberty that maximizing personal liberty will always maximize utility?
May 9 (Honors, May 7): What are the main tensions between Kohlberg and Gilligan on the issue of the moral development of boys and girls?