Schedule of Readings and Presentations | Reason, Morality, and Cultural Difference

A list of course policies can be found here.

We will read extensive portions of the following books:

[FK] Boghossian, Paul. 2006. Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Reynolds, G. 2007. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery: New Riders Publishing.

Both are available on the Readings Page. (Password: FYSE-1496)

Date

Reading

Assignment

8/31

Introductions.

Case Studies.

Review Course Policies.

Discussion Questions.

Scheduling One-On-One Meetings.

I. Relativism (& Philosophy) Bootcamp

A. Moral Relativism

9/9

“Validity and Counterexamples,” pp. 6-13 in Nolt, J. (1997). Logics. London: McGraw-Hill. [You may find this PPT useful.]

“The Challenge of Cultural Relativism,” pp. 14-32 in Rachels, S., & Rachels, J. (2018). The elements of moral philosophy (9th ed.). Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. [PPT] [HANDOUT]

Reconstructing Arguments, up through Section 5.3.6 (top of page 19).

9/14

Prinz, J. (2011). Morality is a Culturally Conditioned Response. Philosophy Now, 82, 6-9. [HANDOUT]

Reconstructing Arguments, from Section 5.3.7 (top of page 19) to end.

Criticizing Arguments.

Assignment 1

Read the instructions for Draft 1 (due 9/23)

B. Relativism About Reality

9/16

Start to think about what you want to write about for Draft 1.

Kinds of Analytical Essays.

(Skim the four Blueprints on this page.)

Assignment 2 and Assignment 3

9/21

Honor Code.

Skim: Boghossian, P. “Constructing the Facts,” Chapter 3 in Fear of Knowledge (FK). [HANDOUT] [PPT]

Read: Boghossian, P. “Relativizing the Facts,” Chapter 4 in FK. [HANDOUT] [PPT]

Academic Integrity Tutorial

You will be signing the Honor Code Pledge. Have an electronic copy of your signature ready to upload to a Google doc.

C. Relativism About Knowledge

9/23

Boghossian, P. “Epistemic Relativism Defended,” Chapter 5 in FK. [HANDOUT]

Draft 1

9/28

Boghossian, P. “Epistemic Relativism Contested ” and “The Paradox Resolved” Chapters 6 and 7 in FK.

[HANDOUT CH 6] [PPT CH 6]

[HANDOUT CH 7]

Writing Abstracts.

9/30

Research Skills (guest lecturer, Ryan Clement)

Required: Download Zotero.

Suggested: “Welcome to the Libraries” tutorial.

10/5

Short blog post on begging the question.

Reynolds, G. (2008). Presentation Zen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. Berkeley: New Riders Publishing.

Assignment 4

Determine Presentation Order; see here for details.

10/8

Paper 1 due no later than 6:00 AM. (Note the AM!!!)

II. Student-Led Discussions & Workshops: Not sure what to do? Click here. Also see the “Responsibilities” link under each column.

	Presenter & Reading	Discussants (Responsibilities)	Peer Evaluators (Responsibilities)
10/7	Aaron Read: Wyman, J. H. (1997). Vengeance is whose: The death penalty and cultural relativism in international law. Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, 6 (Supplement Issue), 543-570.	Kemal, Wes, Patrick	Mei, Katya
10/12	Lulu Lipschultz, Jeremy Harris. 2017. “Social Media Ethics” in Social media communication: Concepts, practices, data, law and ethics. London: Taylor & Francis.	Donovan, Cian, Steil, Katya	Wes, Patrick
10/14	Sam Bredemeier, Brenda Jo, David L Shields, and Jack C Horn. 2003. “Values and violence in sports today: The moral reasoning athletes use in their games and in their lives.” In Sports ethics: an anthology, edited by Jan Boxill, 217-220. Malden: Blackwell.	Gryphon, Awa, Colin, Mei	Steil, Kemal
10/19	Marc Foot, Philippa (1995). Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake? Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 15 (1):1-14.	Aaron, Lulu, Sam	Donovan, Cian
10/21	Gryphon Devine, Philip E. 1987. “Relativism, Abortion, and Tolerance.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 48 (1):131-138. doi: 10.2307/2107711.	Marc, Mei, Katya	Awa, Colin
10/26	Awa Payne, Dinah, and Brenda E. Joyner. 2006. “Successful U.S. Entrepreneurs: Identifying Ethical Decision-Making and Social Responsibility Behaviors.” Journal of Business Ethics 65 (3) : 203-217. .	Kemal, Wes, Patrick	Marc, Gryphon
10/28	Colin Lenzi, Dominic (2017).” Relativism, Ambiguity, and Environmental Virtues.” Environmental Values 26, 91-109.	Donovan, Cian, Steil	Lulu, Sam
11/2	Donovan Gutmann, Amy (1993). The challenge of multiculturalism in political ethics. Philosophy and Public Affairs 22 (3):171-206.	Gryphon, Awa, Colin	Aaron, Katya
11/4	Cian Young, Robert, “Voluntary Euthanasia”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/euthanasia-voluntary/>.	Colin, Sam, Marc	Patrick, Mei
11/9	Steil Schlosberg, David. 2004. “Reconceiving Environmental Justice: Global Movements And Political Theories.” Environmental Politics 13 (3):517-540.	Aaron, Mei, Katya	Kemal, Wes
11/11	Kemal Li, Xiaorong. 2006. “A Cultural Critique of Cultural Relativism.” In Ethics, Human Rights and Culture: Beyond Relativism and Universalism, edited by Xiaorong Li, 54-72. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.	Donovan, Wes, Patrick	Cian, Steil
11/16	Wes Jurjako, Marko, and Luca Malatesti. (2018). Neuropsychology and the Criminal Responsibility of Psychopaths: Reconsidering the Evidence. Erkenntnis 83 (5): 1003–1025.	Cian, Steil, Kemal	Colin, Donovan
11/18	Patrick Gibson, David R. (2014). Enduring Illusions: The Social Organization of Secrecy and Deception. Sociological Theory 32 (4): 283-306.	Sam, Marc, Lulu	Gryphon, Awa
11/20	Draft 3: Complete Draft Due For Everyone
11/21-11/29	Thanksgiving Break
11/30	Mei Wreen, Michael. 2001. “How Tolerant Must a Relativist Be?“ Public Affairs Quarterly 15 (4):329-339.	Aaron, Lulu	Sam, Marc
12/2	Katya Dwyer, James. 2020. “Environmental Migrants, Structural Injustice, and Moral Responsibility.” Bioethics 34 (6) : 562–69.	Gryphon, Awa	Aaron, Lulu
12/9	Everyone: Final Paper Due at 11:59PM