printer friendly pagePHIL 64S: Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
Environmental problems define and dominate the times. Climate Change threatens to displace and impoverish millions of people, species extinctions promise to reached unprecedented numbers, and sustainability has become a buzzword in discussions of responsible business practices. In this course we will explore some of the most pivotal environmental issues facing us today using the tools of philosophy. Together we¿ll ask questions such as: Are individuals or governments responsible for solving environmental problems? What objects should we care about in the natural world (animals, living things, ecosystems?), and what do we do when environmental problems force us to make tough choices in the face of competing values? Do we have responsibilities to future generations? This course will provide a foundation for thinking about these questions and for facing our environmental problems head on.
Last offered: Summer 2014
PHIL 65S: Technology and the Good Life
Can we engineer our way to happiness? Should we try to? An introduction to select issues in engineering ethics, the course examines various threats to human welfare, environmental catastrophe, social injustice, the limitations of "human nature" that could be amenable to engineering solutions. We consider whether it is ethically permissible to address these threats via engineering (referring to various conceptions of the good life for human beings: hedonism, liberalism, virtue ethics) and what the costs of such solutions are.
Last offered: Summer 2012
PHIL 71H: Philosophy and the Real World
Introduction to the humanities as an applied discipline; how literary and philosophical ideas illuminate and change how people live their lives as individuals and members of society. Focus is on short texts that illustrate how literary and philosophical ideas arise from social problems and attempt to confront those problems. Methods and approaches: how to read such texts; how to make arguments about them; how such texts shed light on contemporary situations.
Last offered: Summer 2007
PHIL 71Q: Emerging Issues in Neuroethics
What is the mind? Today, most philosophers and neuroscientists believe it is, in one way or another, just the brain. Brain research is progressing at a staggering pace. Neuroimaging technology seems to be closing in on `thought identification¿, i.e. determining an individual¿s thought content merely by scanning the brain. Do we have a right to keep our thoughts private or is it permissible to use imaging technologies, perhaps in judicial settings, to identify someone¿s thoughts? What happens to our concepts of moral responsibility when a brain scan reveals abnormalities in the brain? Do these findings have bearing on our understanding of free will? Commonplace drugs can prevent the forming of memories of painful events. Should we take these drugs to shield ourselves from traumatic memories or is it good for us to remember unpleasant events in order to learn and grow from them? Neurotechnology and pharmacology that enhances cognition is advancing rapidly. Is manipulating our brains into smarter, more efficient ones ethical? These are some of the questions we will consider in this course on the ethics of neuroscience that will allow you to critically assess complicated, cutting edge issues.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Kreitmair, K. (PI)
PHIL 72: Contemporary Moral Problems (ETHICSOC 185M, POLISCI 134P)
This course addresses moral issues that play a major role in contemporary public discourse. The course aims to encourage students to consider moral problems in a reflective, systematic manner, and to equip students with skills that will enable them to do so. Questions to be addressed include: Do rich countries have an obligation to accept refugees from other parts of the world? Do such obligations conflict with the right of individuals to protect their culture? Is there anything principally wrong in the use of drones for purposes of warfare? Do we have obligations to the environment, and if so why? What is racism and what makes it wrong? And what are feminist ideals?
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Naaman, O. (PI)
;
Kim, H. (TA)
PHIL 73: The Ethics and Politics of Collective Action (ETHICSOC 180M, POLISCI 131A, PUBLPOL 304A)
Collective action problems arise when actions that are individually rational give rise to results that are collectively irrational. Scholars have used such a framework to shed light on various political phenomena such as revolutions, civil disobedience, voting, climate change, and the funding of social services. We examine their findings and probe the theoretical foundations of their approach. What does this way of thinking about politics bring into focus, and what does it leave out? What role do institutions play in resolving collective action problems? And what if the required institutions are absent? Can we, as individuals, be required to cooperate even if we expect that others may not play their part? Readings drawn from philosophy, political science, economics, and sociology.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Zacka, B. (PI)
PHIL 74: Business Ethics (ETHICSOC 182M)
What do people mean when they say, "it's just business"? Do they mean that there are no moral norms in business or do they mean that there are special moral norms in business that differ from those of personal relationships and other spheres of social activity? In this class we will examine ethical questions that arise in the domain of business. We will ask, for example: What does the market reward and what should it reward? What are the moral responsibilities of a business owner in a competitive environment? Is it acceptable to employ "sweatshop labor"? How do the moral responsibilities of a business owner differ from that of a policy maker? What information does a seller (or buyer) have a moral duty to disclose? In real estate, is a strategic default morally wrong? How much government regulation of Wall Street is morally justified? We will use the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, J. S. Mill, Marx, Jevons and Menger, Hayek, Walzer, and Sandel, among others, to help us answer these questions. We will see, for example, what Aristotle thought about day trading.
Last offered: Spring 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 74A: Ethics in a Human Life (HUMBIO 74)
Ethical questions pervade a human life from before a person is conceived until after she dies, and at every point in between. This course raises a series of ethical questions, following along the path of a person's life - questions that arise before, during, and after she lives it. We will explore distinctive questions that a life presents at each of several familiar stages: prior to birth, childhood, adulthood, death, and even beyond. We will consider how some philosophers have tried to answer these questions, and we will think about how answering them might help us form a better understanding of the ethical shape of a human life as a whole.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
PHIL 75S: Liberty and Equality
This course concerns recent attempts by social contract theorists to reconcile liberty and equality. We would begin my looking at Rawls¿s attempt to give due respect to both liberty and equality in his two principles. We would then look at criticisms of his attempt from Nozick, G.A. Cohen, possibly Mills and Okin or Pateman. I again would structure each session around a question, such as: Is there a conflict between equality and liberty? What is liberty? Equality. Equality of opportunity? Or equality of condition? What tools do these social contract theorists offer for criticizing racial or gender inequality?
Last offered: Summer 2015
PHIL 76: Introduction to Global Justice (ETHICSOC 136R, INTNLREL 136R, POLISCI 136R, POLISCI 336)
This course provides an overview of core ethical problems in international politics, with special emphasis on the question of what demands justice imposes on institutions and agents acting in a global context. The course is divided into three sections. The first investigates the content of global justice, and comprises of readings from contemporary political theorists and philosophers who write within the liberal contractualist, utilitarian, cosmopolitan, and nationalist traditions. The second part of the course looks at the obligations which global justice generates in relation to five issues of international concern ¿ global poverty, climate change, immigration, warfare, and well-being of women. The final section of the course asks whether a democratic international order is necessary for global justice to be realized.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas
Instructors:
Datta, P. (PI)
Filter Results: