Extra Credit

Philosophy 110: Introduction to Ethics

Extra Credit

Earn 10 points of extra credit for every question answered correctly, up to 100 points.

Ethical Relativism

What is the basic principle of ethical relativism?

What are some problems that arise for relativism? Which apply to benign relativists, which to debunking relativists, and which to both?

Plato: Euthyphro

Socrates claims that he doesn’t know anything. If that’s the case, how does he respond to the definitions his interlocutor puts forward?

Euthyphro tweaks his definition and comes up with: what is dear to all the gods/God is pious and what is hated by all the gods/God is impious. Socrates doesn’t think that explains anything. Why not?

Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill On Liberty)

What are the five major problems that arise for act utilitarianism?

What is the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism?

Kantian Ethics

What would you do, in order to determine whether or not an individual rule you’re thinking of undertaking is in accord with universal law? (How do you apply the Categorical Imperative?)

Why does Kant think you should recognize that you must always treat other rational beings as ends in themselves, and never merely as means?

Virtue Ethics (Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics)

What are the two parts to developing into a person who can find the Golden Mean, and why are both parts necessary?

What do virtue ethicists think about ethical principles?

Fall Schedule Update

Hi All,

I can't get on WebAdvisor to send you an email. On Tuesday, Dec. 1, we'll do a case study in class, and I'll give you the page numbers to read in On Liberty. See you then!

Questions for Laramie Project

UPDATE 2: Your grades are available here; you'll need your student ID to find your grade. I'll keep this thread open for one more week so that those of you who haven't completed your responses can do so.

UPDATE: Great job of discussing question 1, everyone. I think we've articulated most of the arguments, at this point, so if you're posting your response now , please respond to question 2.

Please post your response to one of the questions below by Saturday, November 7, at 8 a.m. Then respond to 2 of your colleagues by Tuesday, November 10 at 8 a.m. Your comments should be substantive and thoughtful. Try to elaborate on your ideas, and explain why you think about things the way you do.

1. Many people were particularly upset that Matthew Sheperd was murdered because he was gay. Do you think there's something particularly bad about crime when it's aimed at someone because of their inherent characteristics (like their race, ethnicity, gender) rather than, say, because you got in a fight over something with them? Why or why not?
2. One of the characters mentions that he thinks the men who committed the crime should be our teachers - that we should learn from them why they reacted the way they did and had the ideas they had. What ideas and assumptions do you think they had, that made them react the way they did to Matthew?

If you missed watching the movie in class, you can get it from the library: The Laramie Project
image published by Xnatedawgx under a creative commons attribution/share alike license

Term Paper 2: Nicomachean Ethics

Here's the link to your second term paper assignment. Let me know if you have questions as you're working on it, and have fun! (I know, I know.)

Your paper is due on Thursday, October 29. I'll give you the take-home midterm that Thursday, as well.

Discussion Questions

Please post a comment on one of the questions below. Post your answer by Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

Please respond to two of your colleagues by Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.

Make sure your answers are substantive and that you've given them plenty of thought, and elaborate on your answers. Good answers will be at least two generous paragraphs long.

1. Do you think Father Gabriel showed courage in the movie? What do you think made him courageous, or not? Do you think Father Rodrigo (Mendoza) showed courage? What do you think made him courageous?
2. Do you think violence is ever an appropriate response? Why or why not? What did you think about the divisions over the use of violence in response to the closing of the missions in the movie?
3. Do you think Cardinal Altamirano ought to have refused to carry out the terms of the treaty? What would it have accomplished? Does it matter that it wouldn't have stopped the closing of the missions? Why or why not?
4. The Waunana Indians of Columbia portrayed the Guarani in the film; rather than paying them individually for their roles, the director arranged to fund a trust for the entire village (the trust was used, in part, to lobby the government of Columbia for certain land rights for that group). Do you think that arrangement is at all problematic? Would you imagine Roland Joffe sugggesting that he fund a trust for the city of New York, in lieu of paying Robert DeNiro for his work?
   

Plato Assignment

Your assignment for this weekend is to make your own quiz on the Euthyphro. Here are the instructions; turn in your quiz on Tuesday, October 6. Have fun!

Email me with questions.

(That's a 19th Century bust of Socrates on the left)

Updated Link to Forum Grades

Here's the link to the updated PDF of your forum grades.

For privacy, you'll need your student ID number to locate your grades.

Don't forget to go to WebAdvisor and correct your email address if you didn't receive the email from me last night.

If you'd like to improve your grade, you can add to what you've already posted for additional points. If you contacted me earlier about difficulties posting, don't worry, you can still post for full credit.

I'll hold the comments open until this coming Sunday at midnight.