Introduction to Ethics

PHIL103 – Fall 2025

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Module 1 What Should I Do?

Week 1 Evaluating moral arguments

08-25-25
08-27-25

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

Week 2 Values

09-01-25*
09-03-25

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

  2. K. Elliott. A Tapestry of Values (Excerpts). Oxford University Press, 2017. Link

Week 3 Is it all about outcomes?

09-08-25

  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

09-10-25

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

Week 4 Are some actions inherently right or wrong?

09-15-25

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

09-17-25

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

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

Week 5 What do we owe each other?

09-22-25

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

09-24-25

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

Week 6 How should we live?

09-29-25

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

10-01-25

  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 7 Do we feel or think our way to morality?

10-06-25

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

  2. 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

10-08-25

  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 8

10-13-25
10-15-25

Module 2 Ethics in the Wild

Week 9 Animal welfare

10-20-25

  1. I. Kant. “We have no duties to animals.” Lectures on Ethics (1930). Link

  2. F. De Waal. “Animal rights.” In: Primates and philosophers: How morality evolved. Princeton University Press, 2009. Link

10-22-25

  1. P. Singer. “All animals are equal.” In: Animal Liberation. Harper Collins, 1975. Link

Week 10 Natural resources

10-27-25

  1. M. Ridley. “Ecology as Religion.” In: The Origins of Virtue. Penguin UK, 1997. Link

  2. Optional: J. Diamond. “Easter’s End.” Discover (1995). Link

10-29-25

  1. G. Hardin. “The tragedy of the commons.” Science 162 (1968), pp. 1243–1248. Link

Week 11 Markets and morals

11-03-25

  1. M. Valo. “Guadeloupe and Martinique threatened as pesticide contaminates food chain.” The Guardian (2013). Link

  2. M. Munger. “They Clapped: Can Price-Gouging Laws Prohibit Scarcity?” Econlib (2007). Link

  3. L. Gross. “A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species.” PLoS Biology 4 (2006), e439. Link

11-05-25

  1. M. Sandel. “Hired Help.” In: Justice. 2009. Link

Week 12 Technology

11-10-25

  1. M. Andreessen. Why AI Will Save the World. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). June 6, 2023. Link

  2. Optional: M. Andreessen. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Oct. 16, 2023. Link

11-12-25

  1. TBA

Week 13 God-given or culturally crafted?

11-17-25

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

11-19-25

  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 Charity

11-24-25

  1. K. Simler and R. Hanson. “Charity.” In: The Elephant in the Brain. Oxford University Press, 2017. Link

11-26-25*

Week 15 Good and evil

12-01-25

  1. C. Buckley. “Man is rescued by stranger on subway tracks.” The New York Times 3.1 (2007). Link

  2. R. Baumeister. Evil: Inside human violence and cruelty (excerpts). 1999. Link

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

12-03-25

Week 16

12-08-25