1. Thinking About Ethics.

   Ethics and Critical Thinking.

   Studying Ethics.

   God's Commandments and Ethics.

   Religion and Ethics.

   Reading: Plato, Euthyphro.

   Exercises

2. Ethics and Reason.

   Reasoning about Ethics.

   Elements of Kantian Ethics.

   Criticisms of Kantian Ethics.

   Conclusion.

   Reading: Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals.

   Exercises

3. Ethics and Emotions.

   Follow Your Reason or Follow Your Heart?

   Objective and Subjective Feelings.

   Intuitionism.

   Conclusion.

   Reading: Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.

   Exercises

4. Utilitarian Ethics.

   Utilitarian Theory.

   Act- vs. Rule-Utilitarians.

   Utiliatarians and the Quality of Pleasures.

   Criticisms of Utilitarian Ethics.

   Nozick’s Challenge to Utilitarian Ethics

   The Uses of Utilitarian Ethics.

   Opposition to Utilitarianism.

   Reading: Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.

   Reading: Mill, What Utilitarianism Is.
   Exercises

5. Social Contract Ethics.

   Framing the Social Contract.

   Fairness and Social Contract Theory: John Rawls.

   Gauthier's Contractarian Ethics.

   The Social Contract Myth and its Underlying Assumptions.

   Conclusion.

   Reading: Hobbes, Leviathan.

   Exercises

6. Egoism, Relativism, and Pragmatism.

   Egoism.

   Relativism.

   Pragmatism.

   Readings: Rorty, Philosophy and Social Hope.

   Exercises

7. Virtue Ethics.

   The Distinctive Focus of Virtue Ethics.

   The Strengths of Virtue Ethics.

   Criticisms of Virtue Theory.

   Virtue Theory and Medicine.

   Reading: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics.

   Exercises

8. Care Ethics.

   The Neglect of Women's Ethical Views.

   The Care Perspectives on Ethics.

   Women and Ethics.

   Reading: Baier, The Need for More than Justice.

   Exercises

9. The Scope of Morality.

   Who is Due Moral Consideration?

   Moral Agents.

   Darwin and the Moral Status of Nonhuman Animals.

   Reading: Darwin, The Descent of Man.

   Reading: Frans de Waal, Primates and Philosophers.

   Exercises

10. Ethical NonObjectivism.

   The Nature of Ethical Nonobjectivism.

   Arguments for Ethical Nonobjectivism.

   The Continuing Struggle Between Objectivists and Nonobjectivists.

   Reading: Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic.

   Exercises

11. Moral Realism.

   Contemporary Moral Realism.

   Moral Realism and the Argument from Simplicity.

   Moral Facts and Scientific Revolutions.

   Two Ways that Moral Realism Might Fail.

   Reading: Smith, Realism.

   Exercises

12. How Hard is Ethics?

   The Demands of Ethical Living.

   Comparing