Honors Seminar

PHIL212 – Spring 2026

Note : Towson University Students need to enter their Towson email and password in order to access most of the readings linked on this page.

Module 1 Data & Values

Week 1

01-26-26
01-28-26

Week 2 Disciplining Intuition

02-02-26
02-04-26

  1. S. Greenberg and S. Stephens-Davidowitz. “You are Not as Good at Kissing as You Think. But You are Better at Dancing.” The New York Times (2019). Link

  2. D. Kahneman, O. Sibony, and C. Sunstein. “Bias is a Big Problem. But so is ‘Noise.’” The New York Times (May 2021). Link

  3. C. Anderson. “The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete.” Wired (2008). Link

Week 3 Facts & Values

02-09-26

  1. A. Chalmers. “Science as knowledge derived from the facts of experience.” In: What Is This Thing Called Science? 4th ed. Open University Press, 2013. Chap. 1. Link

02-11-26

  1. K. Elliott. “An introduction to values in science.” In: A Tapestry of Values. Oxford University Press, 2017. Chap. 1. Link

Week 4 Heuristics

02-16-26

  1. D. Kahneman. “The Characters of the Story.” In: Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Link

  2. TBA

02-18-26

  1. G. Gigerenzer. “I Think, Therefore I Err.” Social Research 72.1 (2005). Link

Week 5 Social values

02-23-26

  1. K. Elliott. “What should we study?” In: A Tapestry of Values. Oxford University Press, 2017. Chap. 2. Link

02-25-26

  1. K. Elliott. “How should we study it?” In: A Tapestry of Values. Oxford University Press, 2017. Chap. 3. Link

Week 6 Uncertainty

03-02-26

  1. K. Elliott. “What are we trying to accomplish?” In: A Tapestry of Values. Oxford University Press, 2017. Chap. 4. Link

03-04-26

  1. K. Elliott. “What if we are uncertain?” In: A Tapestry of Values. Oxford University Press, 2017. Chap. 5. Link

Week 7

03-09-26
03-11-26

Week 8 Spring Break

03-16-26*
03-18-26*

Module 2 Moral Values

Week 9 What is morality?

03-23-26

  1. J. Rachels and S. Rachels. “What is Morality?” In: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill New York, 1993. Link

03-25-26

  1. P. Bloom. “Against Empathy.” Boston Review (2014). Link

  2. T. Nagel. “Moral luck (excerpt).” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1976). Link

  3. R. Burton. “Pathological certitude.” In: B. Oakley et al. Pathological altruism. Oxford University Press, 2011. Link

Week 10 Is it all about outcomes?

03-30-26

  1. P. Singer. “Good charity, bad charity.” The New York Times (2013). Link

  2. “Cannibalism in the Sea.” BBC History (2021). Link

  3. “The right to privacy (notes)”. Link

04-01-26

  1. R. Shafer-Landau. “Consequentialism.” In: The Fundamentals of Ethics. 2009. Link

Week 11 What do we owe each other?

04-06-26

  1. J. Rachels and S. Rachels. “The Social Contract Theory.” In: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill New York, 1993. Link

04-08-26

  1. M. Sandel. “The case for equality.” In: Justice. 2009. Link

Week 12 How should we live?

04-13-26

  1. R. Shafer-Landau. “Hedonism.” In: The Fundamentals of Ethics. 2009. Link

04-15-26

  1. P. Bloom. “Why We Choose to Suffer.” The Wall Street Journal (2021). Link

  2. R. Nozick. “The Experience Machine.” In: Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Book, 1974. Link

Week 13 God-given or culturally crafted?

04-20-26

  1. J. Rachels and S. Rachels. “Does Morality Depend on Religion?” In: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill New York, 1993. Link

04-22-26

  1. J. Rachels and S. Rachels. “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism.” In: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill New York, 1993. Link

  2. K. Cuomo. “Interview with Fauziya Kassindja.” PBS (2000). Link

Week 14 Do we feel or think our way to morality?

04-27-26

  1. TBA

  2. J. Greene. “Efficiency, Flexibility, and the Dual-Process Brain.” In: Moral Tribes: Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. Penguin, 2014. Link

  3. J. Greene. “Cushman et al’s experiment on human aggression.” In: Moral Tribes: Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. Penguin, 2014. Link

04-29-26

  1. J. Haidt. “The Intuitive Dog and Its Rational Tail.” In: The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Vintage, 2012. Link

Week 15

05-04-26
05-06-26

Week 16

05-11-26

  1. TBA