AFRICAAM 223:
Literature and Human Experimentation (COMPLIT 223, CSRE 123B, HUMBIO 175H, MED 220)
This course introduces students to the ways literature has been used to think through the ethics of human subjects research and experimental medicine. We will focus primarily on readings that imaginatively revisit experiments conducted on vulnerable populations: namely groups placed at risk by their classification according to perceived human and cultural differences. We will begin with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), and continue our study via later works of fiction, drama and literary journalism, including Toni Morrison's Beloved, David Feldshuh's Miss Evers Boys, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann and Vivien Spitz's Doctors from Hell, Rebecca Skloot's Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical and policy writings of the period; and our ultimate goal will be to understand modes of ethics deliberation that are possible via creative uses of the imagination, and literature's place in a history of ethical thinking about humane research and care.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
AFRICAAM 229:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAST 229, COMPLIT 229, CSRE 129B, FRENCH 229, HUMBIO 175L, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
AFRICAST 229:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAAM 229, COMPLIT 229, CSRE 129B, FRENCH 229, HUMBIO 175L, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
AMSTUD 135:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (COMM 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 234P, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age? What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
AMSTUD 137:
The Dialogue of Democracy (COMM 137W, COMM 237, POLISCI 232T, POLISCI 332T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
ANTHRO 138:
Medical Ethics in a Global World: Examining Race, Difference and Power in the Research Enterprise (ANTHRO 238, CSRE 138)
This course will explore historical as well as current market transformations of medical ethics in different global contexts. We will examine various aspects of the research enterprise, its knowledge-generating and life-saving goals, as well as the societal, cultural, and political influences that make medical research a site of brokering in need of oversight and emergent ethics.nThis seminar will provide students with tools to explore and critically assess the various technical, social, and ethical positions of researchers, as well as the role of the state, the media, and certain publics in shaping scientific research agendas. We will also examine how structural violence, poverty, global standing, and issues of citizenship also influence issues of consent and just science and medicine.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
ARCHLGY 143:
Classical Archaeology Today: Ethical Issues of Excavation, Ownership, and Display
(Formerly CLASSART 143.) While Classical archaeology engages with material remains from the Greco-Roman past, it is embedded within and inseparable from contemporary practice. Through an examination of case studies, legal statutes, professional codes, and disciplinary practices, this seminar discusses ethical dilemmas raised by Classical archaeology in the 21st century. We will focus on broad issues ranging from ownership, looting, reconstruction, and collecting to nationalism, religion, tourism, and media, with an eye toward defining ethical ¿best practices¿ for Classical archaeology.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
ARTHIST 144:
On Looking: Art, Obscenity, and the Ethics of Spectatorship
This course considers the ethics of looking at art, photography, and other forms of visual representation that have been declared obscene or indecent, whether by religious authorities, government officials, community representatives, or legal opinions. What are the ethical stakes of looking at such materials? And what are the ethical implications of looking away and insisting that others do so as well? nnThe creation of vanguard art since the late 19th-century has often been linked to the concept of transgression. Is it, we will ask, the modern artist's responsibility to challenge accepted standards of representation and the protocols of looking? If so, how are we, as viewers and students of art, to distinguish between legitimate art and unfit obscenity?
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
BIOE 131:
Ethics in Bioengineering
Bioengineering focuses on the development and application of new technologies in the biology and medicine. These technologies often have powerful effects on living systems at the microscopic and macroscopic level. They can provide great benefit to society, but they also can be used in dangerous or damaging ways. These effects may be positive or negative, and so it is critical that bioengineers understand the basic principles of ethics when thinking about how the technologies they develop can and should be applied. On a personal level, every bioengineer should understand the basic principles of ethical behavior in the professional setting. This course will involve substantial writing, and will use case-study methodology to introduce both societal and personal ethical principles, with a focus on practical applications.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
CHINGEN 70N:
Animal Planet and the Romance of the Species (COMPLIT 70N)
Preference to freshmen.This course considers a variety of animal characters in Chinese and Western literatures as potent symbols of cultural values and dynamic sites of ethical reasoning. What does pervasive animal imagery tell us about how we relate to the world and our neighbors? How do animals define the frontiers of humanity and mediate notions of civilization and culture? How do culture, institutions, and political economy shape concepts of human rights and animal welfare? And, above all, what does it mean to be human in the pluralistic and planetary 21st century?
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 17N:
To Die For: Antigone and Political Dissent (TAPS 12N)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 6N.) Preference to freshmen. Tensions inherent in the democracy of ancient Athens; how the character of Antigone emerges in later drama, film, and political thought as a figure of resistance against illegitimate authority; and her relevance to contemporary struggles for women's and workers' rights and national liberation. Readings and screenings include versions of Antigone by Sophocles, Anouilh, Brecht, Fugard/Kani/Ntshona, Paulin, Glowacki, Gurney, and von Trotta.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 35:
Becoming Like God: An Introduction to Greek Ethical Philosophy
(Formerly CLASSGEN 35.) This course investigates key ethical philosophies in classical Greece. After reading several Greek tragedies (representing traditional Greek values), we examine the Greek philosophers' rejection of this tradition and their radically new ethical theories. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle offered different ethical theories, but they shared basic conceptions of goodness and happiness. They argues that we could "become like gods" by achieving philosophic wisdom. What kind of wisdom is this? How does it make us ethically good and supremely happy people?
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
CLASSICS 121:
Ecology in Philosophy and Literature
(Formerly CLASSGEN 116.) The basic principles of ecological thinking, exploring the ways that different writers represent and relate to the natural world. Some key questions: What is nature, and where do humans fit in the natural world? How exactly do humans differ from other animals? Do these differences make us superior beings? What are our ethical responsibilities towards the earth and its inhabitants? In what ways have the technologies of writing, television, and computers affected humankind's relationship to the natural world?
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
COMM 131:
Media Ethics and Responsibility (COMM 231)
(Graduate students register for COMM 231.) The development of professionalism among American journalists, emphasizing the emergence of objectivity as a professional and the epistemological norm. An applied ethics course where questions of power, freedom, and truth autonomy are treated normatively so as to foster critical thinking about the origins and implications of commonly accepted standards of responsible journalism.
Last offered: Winter 2011
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-ER
COMM 135:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 234P, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age? What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
COMM 137W:
The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 237, POLISCI 232T, POLISCI 332T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
COMPLIT 38Q:
Ethics of Jihad
Why choose jihad? An introduction to Islamic ethics. Focus on ways in which people have chosen, rejected, or redefined jihad. Topics include jihad in the age of 1001 Nights, feminist jihad, jihad in Africa, al-Qaida and Hamas, and the hashtag #MyJihad. All readings and discussion in English.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER, Writing 2
COMPLIT 70N:
Animal Planet and the Romance of the Species (CHINGEN 70N)
Preference to freshmen.This course considers a variety of animal characters in Chinese and Western literatures as potent symbols of cultural values and dynamic sites of ethical reasoning. What does pervasive animal imagery tell us about how we relate to the world and our neighbors? How do animals define the frontiers of humanity and mediate notions of civilization and culture? How do culture, institutions, and political economy shape concepts of human rights and animal welfare? And, above all, what does it mean to be human in the pluralistic and planetary 21st century?
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
COMPLIT 171:
Ethics of Jihad (ETHICSOC 102R)
Why choose jihad? An introduction to Islamic ethics. Focus on ways in which people have chosen, rejected, or redefined jihad. Evaluation of the norms in moments of ethical and political choice. Topics include jihad in the age of 1001 Nights, jihad in the Arab Renaissance, jihad in Bin Laden's sermons, and the hashtag #MyJihad. All readings and discussion in English.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
COMPLIT 199:
Senior Seminar: The Pleasures of Reading
Senior seminar for Comp Lit Senior majors only.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
COMPLIT 223:
Literature and Human Experimentation (AFRICAAM 223, CSRE 123B, HUMBIO 175H, MED 220)
This course introduces students to the ways literature has been used to think through the ethics of human subjects research and experimental medicine. We will focus primarily on readings that imaginatively revisit experiments conducted on vulnerable populations: namely groups placed at risk by their classification according to perceived human and cultural differences. We will begin with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), and continue our study via later works of fiction, drama and literary journalism, including Toni Morrison's Beloved, David Feldshuh's Miss Evers Boys, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann and Vivien Spitz's Doctors from Hell, Rebecca Skloot's Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical and policy writings of the period; and our ultimate goal will be to understand modes of ethics deliberation that are possible via creative uses of the imagination, and literature's place in a history of ethical thinking about humane research and care.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
COMPLIT 229:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAAM 229, AFRICAST 229, CSRE 129B, FRENCH 229, HUMBIO 175L, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CS 181:
Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy
(Formerly 201.) Primarily for majors entering computer-related fields. Ethical and social issues related to the development and use of computer technology. Ethical theory, and social, political, and legal considerations. Scenarios in problem areas: privacy, reliability and risks of complex systems, and responsibility of professionals for applications and consequences of their work. Prerequisite: 106B or X.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors: ;
Johnson, K. (PI);
Lin, H. (PI);
Alarcon Viesca, S. (TA);
Grace, M. (TA);
Gregory, K. (TA);
Johnson, K. (GP);
Marriott, E. (TA);
Shaikh, S. (TA);
Shapiro, J. (TA);
Troccoli, N. (TA);
Weiler, A. (TA)
CS 181W:
Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy (WIM)
Writing-intensive version of CS181. Satisfies the WIM requirement for Computer Science, Engineering Physics, STS, and Math/Comp Sci undergraduates.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors: ;
Johnson, K. (PI);
Lin, H. (PI);
Alarcon Viesca, S. (TA);
Grace, M. (TA);
Gregory, K. (TA);
Johnson, K. (GP);
Marriott, E. (TA);
Shaikh, S. (TA);
Shapiro, J. (TA);
Troccoli, N. (TA);
Weiler, A. (TA)
CSRE 123B:
Literature and Human Experimentation (AFRICAAM 223, COMPLIT 223, HUMBIO 175H, MED 220)
This course introduces students to the ways literature has been used to think through the ethics of human subjects research and experimental medicine. We will focus primarily on readings that imaginatively revisit experiments conducted on vulnerable populations: namely groups placed at risk by their classification according to perceived human and cultural differences. We will begin with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), and continue our study via later works of fiction, drama and literary journalism, including Toni Morrison's Beloved, David Feldshuh's Miss Evers Boys, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann and Vivien Spitz's Doctors from Hell, Rebecca Skloot's Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical and policy writings of the period; and our ultimate goal will be to understand modes of ethics deliberation that are possible via creative uses of the imagination, and literature's place in a history of ethical thinking about humane research and care.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CSRE 129B:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAAM 229, AFRICAST 229, COMPLIT 229, FRENCH 229, HUMBIO 175L, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
CSRE 138:
Medical Ethics in a Global World: Examining Race, Difference and Power in the Research Enterprise (ANTHRO 138, ANTHRO 238)
This course will explore historical as well as current market transformations of medical ethics in different global contexts. We will examine various aspects of the research enterprise, its knowledge-generating and life-saving goals, as well as the societal, cultural, and political influences that make medical research a site of brokering in need of oversight and emergent ethics.nThis seminar will provide students with tools to explore and critically assess the various technical, social, and ethical positions of researchers, as well as the role of the state, the media, and certain publics in shaping scientific research agendas. We will also examine how structural violence, poverty, global standing, and issues of citizenship also influence issues of consent and just science and medicine.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
CSRE 178:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (ETHICSOC 133, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, PUBLPOL 103D, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
EARTHSYS 11Q:
Sustainability And Social Justice (ETHICSOC 11Q)
At its core, sustainability is a conversation about equity. Equity between people today and people tomorrow. Equity between the many diverse people today who are all trying to pursue their hopes and dreams. Equity between human beings and the myriad other living creatures we share this planet with. Movements for environmental sustainability and social justice share a concern for equity, but have largely evolved in parallel. Mounting evidence however shows that environmental and social change are almost always inextricably linked, and the climate crisis is pushing together these two areas of study like never before. That is good news, but tough questions remain. What happens when the environmental costs of personal freedom can no longer be sustained? Should the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few? Are we responsible for repairing the injustices of our parents' and grandparents' generations? Where are the win-win solutions? In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will explore the theory and practice of sustainability and social justice, examining case studies where they have intersected, and where they have not. Readings will draw from sustainability science, environmental justice, environmental ethics, religious studies, social psychology, and ecological economics. Through weekly readings, discussions, and journal writing, students will develop a personal sustainability manifesto and analyze a policy, technology, or social movement through the lens of social and environmental sustainability.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ENGLISH 67N:
The Ethical Gangster: How to be Moral, How to be Good--Mafia Style
Is there a difference between being moral and being good? Does it matter? Does knowing the difference matter at all to how a person should conduct him or herself in close relationships, in social groups, in professional life, in politics? The answer to all these questions is a resounding yes. This class will explore human moral psychology: the intuitions we have about right and wrong, fair and unfair, harm, justice, loyalty, authority, sanctity, freedom and oppression. We will then relate these intuitions to systematic ethical theories of right and wrong. We will do so by immersing ourselves in a somewhat surprising source¿the greatest hits of Mafia movies from Little Caesar to The Sopranos. We will also consider recent findings in experimental moral psychology.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ENGLISH 106E:
Dante and Aristotle (PHIL 193D)
Students will read all of Dante¿s Commedia alongside works by Aristotle and various ancient and medieval philosophers. Our aim will be to understand the way an Aristotelian worldview informs the Commedia. For instance, what is the role of pleasure in the ethical life? What is the highest good of the human being? All readings will be in translation.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ENGLISH 167H:
The Ethical Gangster
(English majors must register for 5 units) A study of recent developments in understanding human moral psychology using mafia movies to explore the differences between Kantian and Utilitarian moral theory. We will study the greatest hits of gangster fiction and film, from Fielding's Jonathan Wild to The Sopranos.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ENGR 131:
Ethical Issues in Engineering
Moral rights and responsibilities of engineers in relation to society, employers, colleagues, and clients; cost-benefit-risk analysis, safety, and informed consent; the ethics of whistle blowing; ethical conflicts of engineers as expert witnesses, consultants, and managers; ethical issues in engineering design, manufacturing, and operations; ethical issues arising from engineering work in foreign countries; and ethical implications of the social and environmental contexts of contemporary engineering. Case studies, guest practitioners, and field research. Limited enrollment.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
ESF 1:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Active, Inquiring, Beautiful Life
Moving through history from the Rome of the Emperor Hadrian, to the city-states of Renaissance Italy, to the 18th century republic of the United States, we will examine how self-made men fashioned themselves and their surroundings by educating themselves broadly. We will ask how a liberal education made their active careers richer and more transformational. We will also take up the great debate on whether a liberal education or vocational training is the surest path to advancement. We will engage this debate through the works of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington but consider today's struggle over the same issues ¿ a struggle that engrosses both highly industrialized and developing societies.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 1A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Active, Inquiring, Beautiful Life
Moving through history from the Rome of the Emperor Hadrian, to the city-states of Renaissance Italy, to the 18th century republic of the United States, we will examine how self-made men fashioned themselves and their surroundings by educating themselves broadly. We will ask how a liberal education made their active careers richer and more transformational. We will also take up the great debate on whether a liberal education or vocational training is the surest path to advancement. We will engage this debate through the works of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington but consider today's struggle over the same issues ¿ a struggle that engrosses both highly industrialized and developing societies.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 4:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Learning to Change
Does education entail changing the self? How much? Why should I change my life? How do I discover that I need to change? Who can rightly tell me how to change? What difference does it make? These and related questions have been around for a long time, yet that makes them no easier to answer today than 2500 years ago. In the 5th century BCE, Socrates found that his answers--based on his own will to change--proved troublesome, and ultimately fatal. His follower, the philosopher Plato, transformed the Socratic exploration into idiosyncratic utopian visions that sought to change the conditions of life--and so make Socrates' fate unrepeatable. Plato's own followers, from Aristotle onward, found new ways to explain, enact, or evade change. Not until the end of antiquity, however, do we find, in Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), someone as explicitly and passionately committed to personal change as the early Greek thinker. Bookended by the major figures of the Athenian seeker and the North African, this course will lead students to analyze and compare their own tentative answers with the ideas on self-fashioning that can be found in a range of ancient texts. Students will demonstrate their grasp of the material through a variety of exercises, including a research paper, discourse analyses, and responses in persona.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 4A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Learning to Change
Does education entail changing the self? How much? Why should I change my life? How do I discover that I need to change? Who can rightly tell me how to change? What difference does it make? These and related questions have been around for a long time, yet that makes them no easier to answer today than 2500 years ago. In the 5th century BCE, Socrates found that his answers--based on his own will to change--proved troublesome, and ultimately fatal. His follower, the philosopher Plato, transformed the Socratic exploration into idiosyncratic utopian visions that sought to change the conditions of life--and so make Socrates' fate unrepeatable. Plato's own followers, from Aristotle onward, found new ways to explain, enact, or evade change. Not until the end of antiquity, however, do we find, in Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), someone as explicitly and passionately committed to personal change as the early Greek thinker. Bookended by the major figures of the Athenian seeker and the North African, this course will lead students to analyze and compare their own tentative answers with the ideas on self-fashioning that can be found in a range of ancient texts. Students will demonstrate their grasp of the material through a variety of exercises, including a research paper, discourse analyses, and responses in persona.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 5:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Thinking Like a Philosopher
The Ancient Greek aphorism ¿Know thyself¿ is a centerpiece of wisdom. But knowing one¿s own mind is not easy, in part because it is not a matter of simply looking inward to find one¿s proclivities and beliefs; it seems one must look outward to the issues and questions the world presents, and know what one thinks about them. Knowing oneself is in part a matter of knowing one¿s way around as a thinker, where that is a matter of knowing how to think about issues, when to trust one¿s judgment and when to withhold it. Fashioning or making oneself into a better (more acute, more sensitive, more judicious) reasoner is something philosophy as a discipline holds out as a promise. In this course, we will take up the first task of becoming better reasoners about a select handful of persistent problems; we will at the same time reflect on what it is that philosophical thinking is, and how it might shape us as thinkers.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 5A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Thinking Like a Philosopher
The Ancient Greek aphorism "Know thyself" is a centerpiece of wisdom. But knowing one's own mind is not easy, in part because it is not a matter of simply looking inward to find one's proclivities and beliefs; it seems one must look outward to the issues and questions the world presents, and know what one thinks about them. Knowing oneself is in part a matter of knowing one¿s way around as a thinker, where that is a matter of knowing how to think about issues, when to trust one's judgment and when to withhold it. Fashioning or making oneself into a better (more acute, more sensitive, more judicious) reasoner is something philosophy as a discipline holds out as a promise. In this course, we will take up the first task of becoming better reasoners about a select handful of persistent problems; we will at the same time reflect on what it is that philosophical thinking is, and how it might shape us as thinkers.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 6:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Wind of Freedom
Stanford's unofficial motto, "the wind of freedom blows," engraved in German on the university seal, invites us the ponder freedom in the context of education. What is the relation between freedom and the "liberal" arts? Does studying free your mind? Does free will even exist? If so, how does education help you develop its potential? This course will look at various authors -- from antiquity through the 20th century -- who have thought about the blessings, burdens, and obligations of human freedom. Beginning with Eve in the Garden of Eden, we will explore how exercising freedom in your personal choices and conduct not only determines your fate as an individual but carries with it a measure of responsibility for the world. We will place special emphasis on the implications of such responsibility in our own time.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 6A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Wind of Freedom
Stanford's unofficial motto, "the wind of freedom blows," engraved in German on the university seal, invites us the ponder freedom in the context of education. What is the relation between freedom and the "liberal" arts? Does studying free your mind? Does free will even exist? If so, how does education help you develop its potential? This course will look at various authors -- from antiquity through the 20th century -- who have thought about the blessings, burdens, and obligations of human freedom. Beginning with Eve in the Garden of Eden, we will explore how exercising freedom in your personal choices and conduct not only determines your fate as an individual but carries with it a measure of responsibility for the world. We will place special emphasis on the implications of such responsibility in our own time.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 7:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Transformation of the Self
Socrates famously claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates and other ancient thinkers examined themselves and found that they did not match up to their own ideals. They thus set out to transform themselves to achieve a good and happy life. What is the good life? How do we change ourselves to live a good and happy life? How do literature and philosophy help us to understand ourselves and to achieve our social, ethical, and personal ideals? In this class, we examine Socrates and Augustine¿s lives and ideas. Each struggled to live a good and happy life. In each case, they urge us to transform ourselves into better human beings. The first half of the course focuses on the Athenian Socrates, who was put to death because he rejected traditional Greek ideals and and proclaimed a new kind of ethical goodness. The second half focuses on the North African Augustine, an unhappy soul who became a new man by converting to Christianity. These thinkers addressed questions and problems that we still confront today: What do we consider to be a happy life? Do we need to be good and ethical people to live happily? Is there one correct set of values? How do we accommodate other people¿s beliefs? Is it possible to experience a transformation of the self? How exactly do we change ourselves to achieve our higher ideals?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 7A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: The Transformation of the Self
Socrates famously claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates and other ancient thinkers examined themselves and found that they did not match up to their own ideals. They thus set out to transform themselves to achieve a good and happy life. What is the good life? How do we change ourselves to live a good and happy life? How do literature and philosophy help us to understand ourselves and to achieve our social, ethical, and personal ideals? In this class, we examine Socrates and Augustine¿s lives and ideas. Each struggled to live a good and happy life. In each case, they urge us to transform ourselves into better human beings. The first half of the course focuses on the Athenian Socrates, who was put to death because he rejected traditional Greek ideals and and proclaimed a new kind of ethical goodness. The second half focuses on the North African Augustine, an unhappy soul who became a new man by converting to Christianity. These thinkers addressed questions and problems that we still confront today: What do we consider to be a happy life? Do we need to be good and ethical people to live happily? Is there one correct set of values? How do we accommodate other people¿s beliefs? Is it possible to experience a transformation of the self? How exactly do we change ourselves to achieve our higher ideals?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 8:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Recognizing the Self and Its Possibilities
Some philosophers have argued that we have privileged and direct access to our inner selves. If this were true, it would make self-knowledge perhaps the easiest sort of knowledge to obtain. But there are many considerations that mitigate against this view of self-knowledge. Consider, for example, the slave who is so oppressed that he fully accepts his slavery and cannot even imagine the possibility of freedom for himself. Such a slave fails to recognize his own capacity for freedom and autonomous self-governance. Though the slave is perhaps the extreme case, many people, it seems, fail to recognize the full range of possibilities open to them. In this course, we shall examine both some of the ways in which one¿s capacity for self-recognition may be distorted and undermined and the role of education in enabling a person to fully recognize the self and its possibilities. What constrains the range of possibilities we see as really open to us? Contrary to the Cartesian, we shall argue that full self-recognition is an often a hard-won achievement. And we shall ask how education might function to give us a less constricted and more liberating sense of the self and its possibilities. We will consider such questions through the lens of philosophy, literature and psychology.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ESF 8A:
Education as Self-Fashioning: Recognizing the Self and Its Possibilities
Some philosophers have argued that we have privileged and direct access to our inner selves. If this were true, it would make self-knowledge perhaps the easiest sort of knowledge to obtain. But there are many considerations that mitigate against this view of self-knowledge. Consider, for example, the slave who is so oppressed that he fully accepts his slavery and cannot even imagine the possibility of freedom for himself. Such a slave fails to recognize his own capacity for freedom and autonomous self-governance. Though the slave is perhaps the extreme case, many people, it seems, fail to recognize the full range of possibilities open to them. In this course, we shall examine both some of the ways in which one¿s capacity for self-recognition may be distorted and undermined and the role of education in enabling a person to fully recognize the self and its possibilities. What constrains the range of possibilities we see as really open to us? Contrary to the Cartesian, we shall argue that full self-recognition is an often a hard-won achievement. And we shall ask how education might function to give us a less constricted and more liberating sense of the self and its possibilities. We will consider such questions through the lens of philosophy, literature and psychology.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 7
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing 1
ETHICSOC 11Q:
Sustainability And Social Justice (EARTHSYS 11Q)
At its core, sustainability is a conversation about equity. Equity between people today and people tomorrow. Equity between the many diverse people today who are all trying to pursue their hopes and dreams. Equity between human beings and the myriad other living creatures we share this planet with. Movements for environmental sustainability and social justice share a concern for equity, but have largely evolved in parallel. Mounting evidence however shows that environmental and social change are almost always inextricably linked, and the climate crisis is pushing together these two areas of study like never before. That is good news, but tough questions remain. What happens when the environmental costs of personal freedom can no longer be sustained? Should the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few? Are we responsible for repairing the injustices of our parents' and grandparents' generations? Where are the win-win solutions? In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will explore the theory and practice of sustainability and social justice, examining case studies where they have intersected, and where they have not. Readings will draw from sustainability science, environmental justice, environmental ethics, religious studies, social psychology, and ecological economics. Through weekly readings, discussions, and journal writing, students will develop a personal sustainability manifesto and analyze a policy, technology, or social movement through the lens of social and environmental sustainability.
Terms: Win, Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 20:
Introduction to Moral Philosophy (PHIL 2)
A survey of moral philosophy in the Western tradition. What makes right actions right and wrong actions wrong? What is it to have a virtuous rather than a vicious character? What is the basis of these distinctions? Why should we care about morality at all? Our aim is to understand how some of the most influential philosophers (including Aristotle, Kant, and Mill) have addressed these questions, and by so doing, to better formulate our own views. No prior familiarity with philosophy required.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 102R:
Ethics of Jihad (COMPLIT 171)
Why choose jihad? An introduction to Islamic ethics. Focus on ways in which people have chosen, rejected, or redefined jihad. Evaluation of the norms in moments of ethical and political choice. Topics include jihad in the age of 1001 Nights, jihad in the Arab Renaissance, jihad in Bin Laden's sermons, and the hashtag #MyJihad. All readings and discussion in English.
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 131S:
Modern Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx and Mill (POLISCI 131L)
This course offers an introduction to the history of Western political thought from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. We will consider the development of ideas like individual rights, government by consent, and the protection of private property. We will also explore the ways in which these ideas continue to animate contemporary political debates. Thinkers covered will include: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 133:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, PUBLPOL 103D, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 135R:
The Ethics of Democratic Citizenship (POLISCI 135D)
We usually think about democratic citizenship in terms of rights and opportunities, but are these benefits of democracy accompanied by special obligations? Do citizens of a democracy have an obligation to take an interest in politics and to actively influence political decision making? How should citizens respond when a democracy¿s laws become especially burdensome? Do citizens of a democracy have a special obligation to obey the law? In this course, we will read classical and contemporary political philosophy including Plato's Crito and King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to explore how political thinkers have understood and argued for the ethics of citizenship. Students in this course will draw on these materials to construct their own arguments, and to identify and assess implicit appeals to the ethics of citizenship in popular culture and contemporary public discourse, from The Simpsons to President Obama's speeches.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 136R:
Introduction to Global Justice (INTNLREL 136R, PHIL 76, 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: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 170:
Ethical Theory (PHIL 170, PHIL 270)
A more challenging version of Phil 2 designed primarily for juniors and seniors (may also be appropriate for some freshmen and sophomores - contact professor). Fulfills the Ethical Reasoning requirement. Graduate section (270) will include supplemental readings and discussion, geared for graduate students new to moral philosophy, as well as those with some background who would like more.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 171:
Justice (IPS 208, PHIL 171, PHIL 271, POLISCI 103, POLISCI 136S, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 103C, PUBLPOL 307)
Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Counts as Writing in the Major for PoliSci majors.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 174A:
Moral Limits of the Market (PHIL 174A, PHIL 274A, POLISCI 135P)
Morally controversial uses of markets and market reasoning in areas such as organ sales, procreation, education, and child labor. Would a market for organ donation make saving lives more efficient; if it did, would it thereby be justified? Should a nation be permitted to buy the right to pollute? Readings include Walzer, Arrow, Rawls, Sen, Frey, Titmuss, and empirical cases.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 178M:
Introduction to Environmental Ethics (ETHICSOC 278M, PHIL 178M, PHIL 278M, POLISCI 134L)
How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? The first part of this course will examine such questions in light of some of our current ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations; and also whether reflection on such obligations can prove informative about the adequacy of our ethical theories. In the second part of the course, we will use the tools that we have acquired to tackle various ethical questions that confront us in our dealings with the natural world, looking at subjects such as: animal rights; conservation; economic approaches to the environment; access to and control over natural resources; environmental justice and pollution; climate change; technology and the environment; and environmental activism.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 180M:
The Ethics and Politics of Collective Action (PHIL 73, 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
ETHICSOC 182M:
Business Ethics (PHIL 74)
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
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 185M:
Contemporary Moral Problems (PHIL 72, 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: Aut, Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 186M:
Economic Justice: What Is Private Property, and What (if Anything) Justifies It?
Seminar. The focus is on private property. Questions include: Is property a natural right or a social construction? How does our current, global system of property allocation work? What things are fit to be private property/a commodity? (Can we sell our bodies? Our vote? Natural resources?) The readings are a mix of philosophical classics (such as Locke and Marx), recent publications (e.g. Thomas Piketty, David Graeber), and empirical case studies. Prerequisites: none.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 203R:
Ethics in Real Life: How Philosophy Can Make Us Better People (PHIL 90E)
Socrates thought that philosophy was supposed to be practical, but most of the philosophy we do today is anything but. This course will convince you that philosophy actually is useful outside of the classroom--and can have a real impact on your everyday decisions and how to live your life. We'll grapple with tough practical questions such as: 'Is it selfish if I choose to have biological children instead of adopting kids who need homes?' 'Am I behaving badly if I don't wear a helmet when I ride my bike?' 'Should I major in a subject that will help me make a lot of money so I can then donate most of it to overseas aid instead of choosing a major that will make me happy?' Throughout the course, we will discuss philosophical questions about blame, impartiality, the force of different 'shoulds,' and whether there are such things as universal moral rules that apply to everyone.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 233R:
The Ethics of Religious Politics
Is it possible for a deeply committed religious person to be a good citizen in a liberal, pluralistic democracy? Is it morally inappropriate for religious citizens to appeal to the teachings of their tradition when they support and vote for laws that coerce fellow citizens? Must the religiously committed be prepared to defend their arguments by appealing to 'secular reasons' ostensibly accessible to all 'reasonable' citizens? What is so special about religious claims of conscience and expression that they warrant special protection in the constitution of most liberal democracies? Is freedom of religion an illusion when it is left to ostensibly secular courts to decide what counts as religion? Exploration of the debates surrounding the public role of religion in a religiously pluralistic American democracy through the writings of scholars on all sides of the issue from the fields of law, political science, philosophy, and religious studies.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 234R:
Ethics On the Edge: Business, Non-Profit Organizations, Government, and Individuals (PUBLPOL 134, PUBLPOL 234)
The objective of the course is to explore the increasing ethical challenges in a world in which technology, global risks, and societal developments are accelerating faster than our understanding can keep pace. We will unravel the factors contributing to the seemingly pervasive failure of ethics today among organizations and leaders across all sectors: business, government and non-profit. A framework for ethical decision-making underpins the course. The relationship between ethics and culture, global risks (poverty, cyber-terrorism, climate change, etc.) leadership, and the law and policy will inform discussion. Prominent guest speakers will attend certain sessions interactively. A broad range of international case studies might include: Ebola; Facebook's mood manipulation research and teen suicides from social media bullying; Google's European "right to be forgotten" and driverless cars; Space X (Elon Musk's voyages to Mars); ISIS' interaction with international NGOs; sexual assault on U.S. university campuses and in the U.S. military; the ethics of corporate social responsibility (through companies such as L'Oreal, Whole Foods and Walmart); corporate and financial sector scandals; and non-profit sector ethics challenges. Final project in lieu of exam on a topic of student's choice. Attendance required. Class participation important (with multiple opportunities beyond speaking in class). Final project in lieu of exam. Strong emphasis on critical thinking and testing ideas in real-world contexts. There will be a limited numbers of openings above the set enrollment limit of 40 students. If the enrollment limit is reached, students wishing to take the course should contact Dr. Susan Liautaud at susan11@stanford.edu. The course offers credit toward Ethics in Society, Public Policy core requirements (if taken in combination with Public Policy 103E), and Science, Technology and Society and satisfies the Ways of Thinking requirement. The course is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates will not be at a disadvantage. *Public Policy majors taking the course to complete the core requirements must obtain a letter grade. Other students may take the course for a letter grade or C/NC.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 237:
Civil Society and Democracy in Comparative Perspective (POLISCI 237S)
A cross-national approach to the study of civil societies and their role in democracy. The concept of civil society--historical, normative, and empirical. Is civil society a universal or culturally relative concept? Does civil society provide a supportive platform for democracy or defend a protected realm of private action against the state? How are the norms of individual rights, the common good, and tolerance balanced in diverse civil societies? Results of theoretical exploration applied to student-conducted empirical research projects on civil societies in eight countries. Summary comparative discussions. Prerequisite: a course on civil society or political theory. Students will conduct original research in teams of two on the selected nations. Enrollment limited to 18. Enrollment preference given to students who have taken PoliSci 236S/EthicSoc 232T.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
ETHICSOC 237M:
Politics and Evil (POLISCI 237M)
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the political theorist Hannah Arendt wrote that ¿the problem of evil will be the fundamental question of postwar intellectual life in Europe.¿ This question remains fundamental today. The acts to which the word ¿evil¿ might apply¿genocide, terrorism, torture, human trafficking, etc.¿persist. The rhetoric of evil also remains central to American political discourse, both as a means of condemning such acts and of justifying preventive and punitive measures intended to combat them. In this advanced undergraduate seminar, we will examine the intersection of politics and evil by considering works by philosophers and political theorists, with occasional forays into film and media. The thinkers covered will include: Hannah Arendt, Immanuel Kant, Niccolò Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzche, and Michael Walzer.
Last offered: Spring 2013
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
FRENCH 228:
Science, technology and society and the humanities in the face of the looming disaster (ITALIAN 228, POLISCI 233F)
How STS and the Humanities can together help think out the looming catastrophes that put the future of humankind in jeopardy.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
FRENCH 229:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAAM 229, AFRICAST 229, COMPLIT 229, CSRE 129B, HUMBIO 175L, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
FRENCH 245:
French Political Thought From Rousseau to the Present (POLISCI 336C)
An overview of the current awakening of French political thought as it is grounded in a new reading of the great classics of French social thought, from Rousseau to Tocqueville and Benjamin Constant. Readings of Lefort, Castoriadis, Louis Dumont, Ricoeur, Furet, Manent, Ferry, Renaut, Gauchet, Raynaud, etc. Readings in French. (Translations in English will be made available whenever possible.) Discussions in French and in English.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
GENE 104Q:
Law and the Biosciences
Preference to sophomores. Focus is on human genetics; also assisted reproduction and neuroscience. Topics include forensic use of DNA, genetic testing, genetic discrimination, eugenics, cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, neuroscientific methods of lie detection, and genetic or neuroscience enhancement. Student presentations on research paper conclusions.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, Writing 2
GERMAN 104:
Resistance Writings in Nazi Germany
This course focuses on documents generated by nonmilitary resistance groups during the period of National Socialism. Letters, essays, diaries, and statements on ethics from the Bonhoeffer and Scholl families form the core of the readings. The resistance novel, Every Man Dies Alone, is also included. Texts will be read as historical documents, reflections of German thought, statements of conscience, attempts to maintain normal relationships with others in the face of great risk, as poetic works, and as guides for the development of an ethical life. Taught in English.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
HISTORY 96:
Gandhi in His Times and Ours
Place the paradox of Gandhi in context of global convulsions of 20th century. Gandhi lived across continents; maturing in South Africa, struggling in India, attaining celebrity in Europe. As leader of masses, his method of Satyagraha was distinctively at odds with his times. Yet, he also privileged sacrifice, dying, even euthanasia. In a world beset by fear and war, Gandhi's complex theory of nonviolence is compelling. What kind of nonviolent politics did Gandhi envision after Fascism, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, and Pakistan?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
HISTORY 196:
Gandhi in His Times and Ours
(Same as HISTORY 96. History majors and others taking 5 units, register for 196.) Place the paradox of Gandhi in context of global convulsions of 20th century. Gandhi lived across continents; maturing in South Africa, struggling in India, attaining celebrity in Europe. As leader of masses, his method of Satyagraha was distinctively at odds with his times. Yet, he also privileged sacrifice, dying, even euthanasia. In a world beset by fear and war, Gandhi's complex theory of nonviolence is compelling. What kind of nonviolent politics did Gandhi envision after Fascism, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, and Pakistan?
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
HISTORY 209C:
Liberalism and Violence (HISTORY 309C)
Does LIberalism have a theory of violence? What does modern political thought, in privileging humanity and rights, share with "terrorists" and "rogue states?" How is liberalism transformed by the use of religion and death for political ends? We read key thinkers of modern life- Adorno, Arendt, Agamben, Benjamin, Derrida, Fanon, Foucault, Gandhi, Heidegger, and Schmitt- to interrogate the relationship between religion, sacrifice, and democracy. At the center are connections between war and modern life, and between violence and non-violence.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
HISTORY 278S:
The Ethical Challenges of Climate Change (HISTORY 478)
This course explores the ethical challenges of climate change from historical, social, economic, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. These include the discovery of global warming over two centuries, the rise of secular and religious denialism and skepticism toward the scientific consensus on it, the dispute between developed and developing countries over how to forge a binding global agreement to mitigate it, and the "role morality" of various actors (scientists, politicians, fossil fuel companies, the media and ordinary individuals) in the US in assessing ethical responsibility for the problem and its solutions.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
HISTORY 293D:
Global Intellectual History (HISTORY 393D)
Ideas have circulated globally for millennia but relatively recently have thinkers begun to conceptualize the global. Like "humanity" and "universalism," or what Marx called "international," the "global" too has complex genealogies. It is associated, often simultaneously, with empire and freedom, war and equality, commitment and treason, piracy and justice, homelessness and cosmopolitanism. Working with key 20th century texts from Italy, Britain, India, Israel, Palestine, Germany, France, and Algeria, course explores how thinking "globally" impacts the very foundations of modern political thought.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
HUMBIO 74:
Ethics in a Human Life (PHIL 74A)
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
HUMBIO 174:
Foundations of Bioethics
Classic articles, legal cases, and foundational concepts. Theoretical approaches derived from philosophy. The ethics of medicine and research on human subjects, assisted reproductive technologies, genetics, cloning, and stem cell research. Ethical issues at the end of life. Prerequisite: Human Biology core or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
HUMBIO 175H:
Literature and Human Experimentation (AFRICAAM 223, COMPLIT 223, CSRE 123B, MED 220)
This course introduces students to the ways literature has been used to think through the ethics of human subjects research and experimental medicine. We will focus primarily on readings that imaginatively revisit experiments conducted on vulnerable populations: namely groups placed at risk by their classification according to perceived human and cultural differences. We will begin with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), and continue our study via later works of fiction, drama and literary journalism, including Toni Morrison's Beloved, David Feldshuh's Miss Evers Boys, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann and Vivien Spitz's Doctors from Hell, Rebecca Skloot's Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical and policy writings of the period; and our ultimate goal will be to understand modes of ethics deliberation that are possible via creative uses of the imagination, and literature's place in a history of ethical thinking about humane research and care.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
HUMBIO 175L:
Literature and Global Health (AFRICAAM 229, AFRICAST 229, COMPLIT 229, CSRE 129B, FRENCH 229, MED 234)
This course examines the ways writers in literature and medicine have used the narrative form to explore the ethics of care in what has been called the developing world. We will begin with a call made by the editor-in-chief of The Lancet for a literature of global health, namely fiction modeled on the social reform novels of the nineteenth century, understood to have helped readers develop a conscience for public health as the field emerged as a modern medical specialty. We will then spend the quarter understanding how colonial, postcolonial, and world literatures have answered and complicated this call. Readings will include prose fiction by Albert Camus, Joseph Conrad, Tsitsi Dangaremgba, Amitav Ghosh, Susan Sontag as well as physician memoirs featuring Frantz Fanon, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Verghese, Paul Farmer. And each literary reading will be paired with medical, philosophical, and policy writings that deeply inform the field of global health.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
HUMBIO 178:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, ETHICSOC 133, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, PUBLPOL 103D, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
INTNLREL 62Q:
Truth Commissions and War Crimes Tribunals in Germany, South Africa, Bosnia, Rwanda, and elsewhere
Imagine you lived in a country in which a delusional dictator imprisons untold masses of citizens in labor camps, tortures them, and slaughters millions of them. Imagine you lived in a country, in which the ruling and unelected elite holds on to power by intimidating its citizens by pervasive secret reporting, sending many of them to prison. Imagine you lived in a country, in which one ethnic group slaughters the other. Imagine you lived in a country in which a racial white minority terrorizes and discriminates against a huge majority of black population. Imagine you lived in a country in which members of one group engage in an €"ethnic cleansing" of their old neighbors.nNow imagine something else: some big political change comes to each of these societies, and the oppressors lose their power and fall into disgrace. Now the previously oppressed engage in a deliberation what to do with their former oppressors. For the most part it is not a question of a brutal revenge by the former victims, but a legitimate and democratically authorized process.nWelcome to the questions of transitional justice. The scenarios mentioned above are real ones: Cambodia, Germany, Rwanda, South Africa, and Bosnia. All of them happened in the last few decades.nIn this course we will explore different paths these societies chose to come to terms with past injustices. Each path was devised and decided in a complex public and political debate.nWe will discuss these and other cases of specific injustices, and the subsequent means to achieve a new start for the country. We will reflect on whether its citizens gained a sense of fairness and hope for a better future, and what it means to come to terms with the past.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
INTNLREL 136R:
Introduction to Global Justice (ETHICSOC 136R, PHIL 76, 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: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
ITALIAN 228:
Science, technology and society and the humanities in the face of the looming disaster (FRENCH 228, POLISCI 233F)
How STS and the Humanities can together help think out the looming catastrophes that put the future of humankind in jeopardy.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
KORGEN 121:
Doing the Right Thing: Ethical Dilemmas in Korean Film (KORGEN 221)
Ethics and violence seem to be contradictory terms, yet much of Korean film and literature in the past five decades has demonstrated that they are an intricate and in many ways justifiable part of the fabric of contemporary existence. Film exposes time and again the complex ways in which the supposed vanguards of morality, religious institutions, family, schools, and the state are sites of condoned transgression, wherein spiritual and physical violation is inflicted relentlessly. This class will explore the ways in which questions about Truth and the origins of good and evil are mediated through film in the particular context of the political, social, and economic development of postwar South Korea. Tuesday classes will include a brief introduction followed by a film screening that will last on average for two hours; students that are unable to stay until 5 pm will be required to watch the rest of the film on their own.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
MS&E 197:
Ethics, Technology, and Public Policy
Ethical issues in science- and technology-related public policy conflicts. Focus is on complex, value-laden policy disputes. Topics: the nature of ethics and morality; rationales for liberty, justice, and human rights; and the use and abuse of these concepts in policy disputes. Case studies from biomedicine, environmental affairs, technical professions, communications, and international relations.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
OSPFLOR 46:
Images of Evil in Criminal Justice
Iconographic component of criminal law; reasons and functions of the visual representation of criminal wrongdoing. Historical roots of "evil typecasting;" consideration of its variations with respect to common law and civil law systems. Fundamental features of the two legal systems. Sources, actors, enforcement mechanisms of the criminal law compared; study of cases in the area of murder, sex offences, organized crime and terrorism. Different techniques of image typecasting highlighted and discussed. International criminal law, which takes the burden to describe, typecast and punish forms of "enormous, disproportionate evil," such as genocide and other mass atrocities.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-ER
OSPFLOR 85:
Bioethics: the Biotechnological Revolution, Human Rights and Politics in the Global Era
Birth and development of the philosophical field of bioethics based on advances in several fundamental fields of science and technology, including molecular and cell biology, information technology, neurosciences and converging technologies. Challenges for society and ethical and political issues created by new advances and opportunities for individuals and populations. Philosophical approaches developed in the Italian as well as in the European debate; special attention to controversy about the freedom of scientific research, new conditions of procreation, birth, cures, and death. Complexity of the challenges posed by the `biotechnological revolution'.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
OSPMADRD 72:
Issues in Bioethics Across Cultures
Ethical dilemmas concerning the autonomy and dignity of human beings and other living creatures; principles of justice that rule different realms of private and public life. Interdisciplinary approach to assessing these challenges, combining scientific facts, health care issues, and moral philosophy. Sources include landmark bioethics papers.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
OSPPARIS 90:
Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy
Ethical and social issues related to the development and use of computer technology. Ethical theory, and social, political, and legal considerations. Scenarios in problem areas: privacy, reliability and risks of complex systems, and responsibility of professionals for applications and consequences of their work. Prerequisite: 106A
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 2:
Introduction to Moral Philosophy (ETHICSOC 20)
A survey of moral philosophy in the Western tradition. What makes right actions right and wrong actions wrong? What is it to have a virtuous rather than a vicious character? What is the basis of these distinctions? Why should we care about morality at all? Our aim is to understand how some of the most influential philosophers (including Aristotle, Kant, and Mill) have addressed these questions, and by so doing, to better formulate our own views. No prior familiarity with philosophy required.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 5N:
The Art of Living
Whether we realize it or not, all of us are forced to make a fundamental choice: by deciding what is most valuable to us, we decide how we are going to live our life. We may opt for a life of reason and knowledge; one of faith and discipline; one of nature and freedom; one of community and altruism; or one of originality and style.We may even choose to live our lives as though they were works of art. In every case, hard work is required: our lives are not just given to us, but need to be made. To live well is, in fact, to practice an art of living. Where, however, do such ideals come from? How do we adopt and defend them? What is required to put them into practice? What do we do when they come into conflict with one another? And what role do great works of art play in all this? "The Art of Living" will explore the various ways in which it is possible to live well and beautifully, what it takes to implement them, and what happens when they come under pressure from inside and out.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 8N:
Free Will and Responsibility
In what sense are we, or might we be free agents? Is our freedom compatible with our being fully a part of the same natural, causal order that includes other physical and biological systems? What assumptions about freedom do we make when we hold people accountable morally and/or legally? When we hold people accountable, and so responsible, can we also see them as part of the natural, causal order? Or is there a deep incompatibility between these two ways of understanding ourselves? What assumptions about our freedom do we make when we deliberate about what to do? Are these assumptions in conflict with seeing ourselves as part of the natural, causal order?nWe will explore these and related questions primarily by way of careful study of recent and contemporary philosophical research on these matters.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 14N:
Belief and the Will
Preference to freshmen. Is there anything wrong with believing something without evidence? Is it possible? The nature and ethics of belief, and belief's relation to evidence and truth. How much control do believers have over their belief?
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
PHIL 15N:
Freedom, Community, and Morality
Preference to freshmen. Does the freedom of the individual conflict with the demands of human community and morality? Or, as some philosophers have maintained, does the freedom of the individual find its highest expression in a moral community of other human beings? Readings include Camus, Mill, Rousseau, and Kant.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
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
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
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
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
| Units: 4
| 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 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: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 90E:
Ethics in Real Life: How Philosophy Can Make Us Better People (ETHICSOC 203R)
Socrates thought that philosophy was supposed to be practical, but most of the philosophy we do today is anything but. This course will convince you that philosophy actually is useful outside of the classroom--and can have a real impact on your everyday decisions and how to live your life. We'll grapple with tough practical questions such as: 'Is it selfish if I choose to have biological children instead of adopting kids who need homes?' 'Am I behaving badly if I don't wear a helmet when I ride my bike?' 'Should I major in a subject that will help me make a lot of money so I can then donate most of it to overseas aid instead of choosing a major that will make me happy?' Throughout the course, we will discuss philosophical questions about blame, impartiality, the force of different 'shoulds,' and whether there are such things as universal moral rules that apply to everyone.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PHIL 101:
Introduction to Medieval Philosophy (PHIL 201)
This course is an introduction to medieval moral philosophy, broadly construed. In addition to doctrines that we would nowadays readily think of as falling within the domain of ethics, we will be looking at closely related topics that might today be thought to belong more properly to metaphysics, the philosophy of religion, or the philosophy of human nature.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 127:
Kant's Ethics (PHIL 227)
A study of Kant¿s ethical thought, focusing on The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, The Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals. Prerequisite: Phil. 2, Phil. 170, or equivalent (consult the instructor). Designed for undergraduate department majors and graduate students.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PHIL 127A:
Kant's Value Theory (PHIL 227A)
(Graduate students register for 227A.) The role of autonomy, principled rational self-governance, in Kant's account of the norms to which human beings are answerable as moral agents, citizens, empirical inquirers, and religious believers. Relations between moral values (goodness, rightness) and aesthetic values (beauty, sublimity).
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 135:
Existentialism (PHIL 235)
Focus is on the existentialist preoccupation with human freedom. What constitutes authentic individuality? What is one's relation to the divine? How can one live a meaningful life? What is the significance of death? A rethinking of the traditional problem of freedom and determinism in readings from Rousseau, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, and the extension of these ideas by Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus, including their social and political consequences in light of 20th-century fascism and feminism.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
PHIL 170:
Ethical Theory (ETHICSOC 170, PHIL 270)
A more challenging version of Phil 2 designed primarily for juniors and seniors (may also be appropriate for some freshmen and sophomores - contact professor). Fulfills the Ethical Reasoning requirement. Graduate section (270) will include supplemental readings and discussion, geared for graduate students new to moral philosophy, as well as those with some background who would like more.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 170D:
Trust and Trustworthiness (PHIL 270D)
An exploration of the place of interpersonal trust in ethical thought. What is it to trust another person? How is trusting related to, though different from, other attitudes we sometimes bear towards others (e.g. justified beliefs we form about others and their conduct; ethically significant expectations we have of others, etc.)? What is involved in acquiring/possessing the virtue of trustworthiness? How should trust (and trustworthiness) figure in our thinking about important ethical activities, for example promising, friendship, or the practice of politics?
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PHIL 171:
Justice (ETHICSOC 171, IPS 208, PHIL 271, POLISCI 103, POLISCI 136S, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 103C, PUBLPOL 307)
Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Counts as Writing in the Major for PoliSci majors.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 172:
History of Modern Moral Philosophy (PHIL 272)
This course traces the development of moral philosophy in Britain just prior to the nearly simultaneous emergence of Kant's moral philosophy and Bentham's utilitarianism in the 1780's. Emphasis is on the dialogue between empiricists and rationalists on the subject of the relationship between the natural and the normative. Authors include Hobbes, Clarke, Hutcheson, Hume, Smith, Price, and Bentham. Prerequisite: some familiarity with Kant's moral theory and utilitarianism, and demonstrated interest in philosophy.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 172B:
Recent Ethical Theory: Moral Obligation (PHIL 272B)
Some moral obligations are "relational," "directional," or "bipolar" in structure: in promising you to act in a certain way, for example, I incur an obligation to you to so act and you acquire a corresponding claim or right against me that I so act. This entails that if I violate my obligation to you, I will not merely be doing something that is morally wrong, but will be wronging you in particular. What does explain this? Do all moral obligations have this structure? We will discuss how different moral theories (consequentialist, deontological, contractualist) try to account for such obligations. Readings include Adams, Anscombe, Darwall, Feinberg, Hart, Parfit, Raz, Scanlon, Skorupski, Thompson, Thomson, Wallace, and Wolf.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 172N:
Prudence and Morality (PHIL 272N)
We sometimes think we should do something just because it will benefit us in the future, even though we don¿t particularly feel like doing it now (e.g. we exercise, go to the dentist for a check-up, or set aside money for retirement). And we sometimes think we should do something for the sake of another person, even when it is inconvenient, costly, or unpleasant (e.g. we stop to help a stranded motorist, donate to charity, or tell someone an embarrassing truth rather than a face-saving lie). When we do the former, we act prudently. When we do the latter, we act morally. This course explores the debate among philosophers about the source of our reasons for acting prudently and morally. Some argue that our reasons to be prudent and moral stem directly from the fact that we are rational ¿ that it is contrary to reason to ignore our own future interests, or the interests of other people. Others disagree, arguing that the source of these reasons must lie elsewhere. Course readings will include work by Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, Christine Korsgaard, Derek Parfit, Philippa Foot, and others.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PHIL 174A:
Moral Limits of the Market (ETHICSOC 174A, PHIL 274A, POLISCI 135P)
Morally controversial uses of markets and market reasoning in areas such as organ sales, procreation, education, and child labor. Would a market for organ donation make saving lives more efficient; if it did, would it thereby be justified? Should a nation be permitted to buy the right to pollute? Readings include Walzer, Arrow, Rawls, Sen, Frey, Titmuss, and empirical cases.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 175:
Philosophy of Law
This course will explore foundational issues about the nature of law and its relation to morality, and about legal responsibility and criminal punishment, with a focus on criminal culpability for attempts. Prerequisite: PHIL 80 and one additional PHIL course.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 175A:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, ETHICSOC 133, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, PUBLPOL 103D, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
PHIL 176:
Political Philosophy: The Social Contract Tradition (PHIL 276, POLISCI 137A, POLISCI 337A)
(Graduate students register for 276.) Why and under what conditions do human beings need political institutions? What makes them legitimate or illegitimate? What is the nature, source, and extent of the obligation to obey the legitimate ones, and how should people alter or overthrow the others? Study of the answers given to such questions by major political theorists of the early modern period: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 178M:
Introduction to Environmental Ethics (ETHICSOC 178M, ETHICSOC 278M, PHIL 278M, POLISCI 134L)
How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? The first part of this course will examine such questions in light of some of our current ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations; and also whether reflection on such obligations can prove informative about the adequacy of our ethical theories. In the second part of the course, we will use the tools that we have acquired to tackle various ethical questions that confront us in our dealings with the natural world, looking at subjects such as: animal rights; conservation; economic approaches to the environment; access to and control over natural resources; environmental justice and pollution; climate change; technology and the environment; and environmental activism.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 182:
Truth (PHIL 282)
Philosophical debates about the place in human lives and the value to human beings of truth and its pursuit. The nature and significance of truth-involving virtues such as accuracy, sincerity, and candor. Prerequisite Phil 80 or permission of the instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 2-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 193D:
Dante and Aristotle (ENGLISH 106E)
Students will read all of Dante¿s Commedia alongside works by Aristotle and various ancient and medieval philosophers. Our aim will be to understand the way an Aristotelian worldview informs the Commedia. For instance, what is the role of pleasure in the ethical life? What is the highest good of the human being? All readings will be in translation.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 194E:
Ethical Antitheory
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
POLISCI 103:
Justice (ETHICSOC 171, IPS 208, PHIL 171, PHIL 271, POLISCI 136S, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 103C, PUBLPOL 307)
Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Counts as Writing in the Major for PoliSci majors.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
POLISCI 131A:
The Ethics and Politics of Collective Action (ETHICSOC 180M, PHIL 73, 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
POLISCI 131L:
Modern Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx and Mill (ETHICSOC 131S)
This course offers an introduction to the history of Western political thought from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. We will consider the development of ideas like individual rights, government by consent, and the protection of private property. We will also explore the ways in which these ideas continue to animate contemporary political debates. Thinkers covered will include: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
POLISCI 133:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, ETHICSOC 133, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, PUBLPOL 103D, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
POLISCI 134L:
Introduction to Environmental Ethics (ETHICSOC 178M, ETHICSOC 278M, PHIL 178M, PHIL 278M)
How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? The first part of this course will examine such questions in light of some of our current ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations; and also whether reflection on such obligations can prove informative about the adequacy of our ethical theories. In the second part of the course, we will use the tools that we have acquired to tackle various ethical questions that confront us in our dealings with the natural world, looking at subjects such as: animal rights; conservation; economic approaches to the environment; access to and control over natural resources; environmental justice and pollution; climate change; technology and the environment; and environmental activism.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
POLISCI 134P:
Contemporary Moral Problems (ETHICSOC 185M, PHIL 72)
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
POLISCI 135D:
The Ethics of Democratic Citizenship (ETHICSOC 135R)
We usually think about democratic citizenship in terms of rights and opportunities, but are these benefits of democracy accompanied by special obligations? Do citizens of a democracy have an obligation to take an interest in politics and to actively influence political decision making? How should citizens respond when a democracy¿s laws become especially burdensome? Do citizens of a democracy have a special obligation to obey the law? In this course, we will read classical and contemporary political philosophy including Plato's Crito and King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" to explore how political thinkers have understood and argued for the ethics of citizenship. Students in this course will draw on these materials to construct their own arguments, and to identify and assess implicit appeals to the ethics of citizenship in popular culture and contemporary public discourse, from The Simpsons to President Obama's speeches.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
POLISCI 135P:
Moral Limits of the Market (ETHICSOC 174A, PHIL 174A, PHIL 274A)
Morally controversial uses of markets and market reasoning in areas such as organ sales, procreation, education, and child labor. Would a market for organ donation make saving lives more efficient; if it did, would it thereby be justified? Should a nation be permitted to buy the right to pollute? Readings include Walzer, Arrow, Rawls, Sen, Frey, Titmuss, and empirical cases.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
POLISCI 136R:
Introduction to Global Justice (ETHICSOC 136R, INTNLREL 136R, PHIL 76, 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: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
POLISCI 136S:
Justice (ETHICSOC 171, IPS 208, PHIL 171, PHIL 271, POLISCI 103, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 103C, PUBLPOL 307)
Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Counts as Writing in the Major for PoliSci majors.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
POLISCI 137A:
Political Philosophy: The Social Contract Tradition (PHIL 176, PHIL 276, POLISCI 337A)
(Graduate students register for 276.) Why and under what conditions do human beings need political institutions? What makes them legitimate or illegitimate? What is the nature, source, and extent of the obligation to obey the legitimate ones, and how should people alter or overthrow the others? Study of the answers given to such questions by major political theorists of the early modern period: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
POLISCI 231:
High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests (CLASSICS 382, POLISCI 331)
Normative political theory combined with positive political theory to better explain how major texts may have responded to and influenced changes in formal and informal institutions. Emphasis is on historical periods in which catastrophic institutional failure was a recent memory or a realistic possibility. Case studies include Greek city-states in the classical period and the northern Atlantic community of the 17th and 18th centuries including upheavals in England and the American Revolutionary era.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 232T:
The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 137W, COMM 237, POLISCI 332T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 233F:
Science, technology and society and the humanities in the face of the looming disaster (FRENCH 228, ITALIAN 228)
How STS and the Humanities can together help think out the looming catastrophes that put the future of humankind in jeopardy.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
POLISCI 234P:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. Can a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age? What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 237M:
Politics and Evil (ETHICSOC 237M)
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the political theorist Hannah Arendt wrote that ¿the problem of evil will be the fundamental question of postwar intellectual life in Europe.¿ This question remains fundamental today. The acts to which the word ¿evil¿ might apply¿genocide, terrorism, torture, human trafficking, etc.¿persist. The rhetoric of evil also remains central to American political discourse, both as a means of condemning such acts and of justifying preventive and punitive measures intended to combat them. In this advanced undergraduate seminar, we will examine the intersection of politics and evil by considering works by philosophers and political theorists, with occasional forays into film and media. The thinkers covered will include: Hannah Arendt, Immanuel Kant, Niccolò Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzche, and Michael Walzer.
Last offered: Spring 2013
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
POLISCI 237S:
Civil Society and Democracy in Comparative Perspective (ETHICSOC 237)
A cross-national approach to the study of civil societies and their role in democracy. The concept of civil society--historical, normative, and empirical. Is civil society a universal or culturally relative concept? Does civil society provide a supportive platform for democracy or defend a protected realm of private action against the state? How are the norms of individual rights, the common good, and tolerance balanced in diverse civil societies? Results of theoretical exploration applied to student-conducted empirical research projects on civil societies in eight countries. Summary comparative discussions. Prerequisite: a course on civil society or political theory. Students will conduct original research in teams of two on the selected nations. Enrollment limited to 18. Enrollment preference given to students who have taken PoliSci 236S/EthicSoc 232T.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PSYCH 9N:
Reading the Brain: the Scientific, Ethical, and Legal Implications of Brain Imaging
It's hard to pick up a newspaper without seeing a story that involves brain imaging, from research on psychological disorders to its use for lie detection or "neuromarketing". The methods are indeed very powerful, but many of the claims seen in the press are results of overly strong interpretations. In this course, you will learn to evaluate claims based on brain imaging research. We will also explore the deeper ethical and philosophical issues that arise from our ability to peer into our own brains in action. The course will start by discussing how to understand and interpret the findings of brain imaging research. We will discuss how new statistical methods provide the ability to accurately predict thoughts and behaviors from brain images. We will explore how this research has the potential to change our concepts of the self, personal responsibility and free will. We will also discuss the ethics of brain imaging, such as how the ability to detect thoughts relates to personal privacy and mental illness. Finally, we will discuss the legal implications of these techniques, such as their use in lie detection or as evidence against legal culpability.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SMA
PUBLPOL 103C:
Justice (ETHICSOC 171, IPS 208, PHIL 171, PHIL 271, POLISCI 103, POLISCI 136S, POLISCI 336S, PUBLPOL 307)
Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include financing schools and elections, regulating markets, discriminating against people with disabilities, and enforcing sexual morality. Counts as Writing in the Major for PoliSci majors.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PUBLPOL 103D:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, ETHICSOC 133, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, URBANST 122)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
PUBLPOL 103E:
Ethics on the Edge Public Policy Core Seminar (PUBLPOL 203E)
[Note: This two-credit seminar accompanies Ethics on the Edge (Public Policy 134) but can also be taken as a stand-alone course upon permission from the instructor. Enrollment preference will be given to Public Policy majors seeking to fulfill the core requirement (and are required to do so) or upon permission of instructor. (The required course, Public Policy 103C, can be fulfilled by taking Ethics on the Edge (Public Policy 134, 3 units) and this Ethics on the Edge Public Policy Core Seminar (Public Policy 103E, 2 units) for a total of 5 units.) This course is not required for students taking Public Policy 134 to gain Ways of Thinking credit or to gain credit towards Ethics in Society, Science, Technology and Society, or general course credit.] The seminar-style course will explore additional foundational readings on organizational ethics (business, non-profit, and governmental organizations) and policy ethics. Themes will include the Baltimore police brutality incidents, FIFA corruption scandals, and negotiations around the Iran nuclear agreement. Organizing themes include, among others: ethics of leadership; ethics of persuasion and compromise; the influence of bias in organizational and policy ethics; discrepancies between discourse and action; and interpreting and explaining ethics. In addition, the course will offer training in a wide variety of skills for effective communication of ethics for policy purposes (presentations, website discourse, commenting in meetings and conferences, interviews, statement of personal views, interacting with the media, prioritizing arguments, and mapping complex ethical analysis). Most of the assignments allow students flexibility to explore topics of their choice. The objective is to engage actively and improve skills in a supportive environment. A short, analytically rigorous final paper in lieu of final exam. Attendance required. Grading will be based on short assignments, class participation, and the short final paper. *Public Policy majors taking the course to complete the core requirements must obtain a letter grade. Other students may take the course for a letter grade or C/NC.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 2
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PUBLPOL 134:
Ethics On the Edge: Business, Non-Profit Organizations, Government, and Individuals (ETHICSOC 234R, PUBLPOL 234)
The objective of the course is to explore the increasing ethical challenges in a world in which technology, global risks, and societal developments are accelerating faster than our understanding can keep pace. We will unravel the factors contributing to the seemingly pervasive failure of ethics today among organizations and leaders across all sectors: business, government and non-profit. A framework for ethical decision-making underpins the course. The relationship between ethics and culture, global risks (poverty, cyber-terrorism, climate change, etc.) leadership, and the law and policy will inform discussion. Prominent guest speakers will attend certain sessions interactively. A broad range of international case studies might include: Ebola; Facebook's mood manipulation research and teen suicides from social media bullying; Google's European "right to be forgotten" and driverless cars; Space X (Elon Musk's voyages to Mars); ISIS' interaction with international NGOs; sexual assault on U.S. university campuses and in the U.S. military; the ethics of corporate social responsibility (through companies such as L'Oreal, Whole Foods and Walmart); corporate and financial sector scandals; and non-profit sector ethics challenges. Final project in lieu of exam on a topic of student's choice. Attendance required. Class participation important (with multiple opportunities beyond speaking in class). Final project in lieu of exam. Strong emphasis on critical thinking and testing ideas in real-world contexts. There will be a limited numbers of openings above the set enrollment limit of 40 students. If the enrollment limit is reached, students wishing to take the course should contact Dr. Susan Liautaud at susan11@stanford.edu. The course offers credit toward Ethics in Society, Public Policy core requirements (if taken in combination with Public Policy 103E), and Science, Technology and Society and satisfies the Ways of Thinking requirement. The course is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates will not be at a disadvantage. *Public Policy majors taking the course to complete the core requirements must obtain a letter grade. Other students may take the course for a letter grade or C/NC.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
PUBLPOL 304A:
The Ethics and Politics of Collective Action (ETHICSOC 180M, PHIL 73, POLISCI 131A)
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
PWR 194KD:
Topics in Writing and Rhetoric: Technology and Human Values
Pining for a job in Google X but a little afraid of what disrupting the next social system will do to humans when all is said and done? Unsure where the real conversation is happening at Stanford about how to think more carefully and thoughtfully about the tech we are being trained to make? Curious to know what underlying common ground might link fuzzies with techies, humanists with engineers, scientists with philosophers? These are some of the issues we¿ll address in this seminar. You will be able to choose your own current topic¿drones, tech and medicine, Big Data, Cloud applications, AI and consciousness, cybersecurity, tech and the law¿for which you will choose readings and write a seminar paper and then co-lead discussion. The class goals are to know better the ethical value of one¿s tech work and research and to be able to express to scientists and non-scientists alike the ways in which this work contributes to the greater human good (beyond strict convenience or short-term profit). Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For topics, see https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/courses/advanced-pwr-courses.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
RELIGST 17N:
Love, Power, and Justice: Ethics in Christian Perspective
From its inception, the Christian faith has, like all religions, implied an ethos as well as a worldview, a morality and way of life as well as a system of beliefs, an ethics as well as a metaphysics. Throughout history, Christian thinkers have offered reasoned accounts of the moral values, principles, and virtues that ought to animate the adherents of what eventually became the world's largest religion. We will explore a variety of controversial issues, theological orientations, and types of ethical reasoning in the Christian tradition, treating the latter as one 'comprehensive doctrine' (John Rawls) among many; a normative framework (actually a variety of contested religious premises, moral teachings, and philosophical arguments) formally on par with the religious ethics of other major faiths as well as with the various secular moral theories typically discussed in the modern university. We will learn to interpret, reconstruct, criticize, and think intelligently about the coherence and persuasiveness of moral arguments offered by a diverse handful of this religious tradition's best thinkers and critics, past and present.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
RELIGST 106:
Religion and the Environment: The Moral Meanings of Nature
What does it mean to live in "harmony" with nature? What do humans seek and find in nature and our relationship to it? How have understandings of nature oriented human actions and values and given "place" to humanity in the cosmos? From religious texts to Deep Ecology, American conservationism to Buddhist and Romantic nature poetry, naturalist critics of religion to religious naturalists, and finally debates over the role of religion in dealing with environmental crisis, this course is designed as a general introductory survey of the topic of religion and the environment. It will be guided by the question of how conceptions of nature have been a source of reflection on the goals of life and the ways in which humans are to understand their existential "lot". Readings will include primary texts from major religious traditions, poetry, and scholarly and philosophical texts from figures including, among others, Descartes, Goethe, Nietzsche, J.S. Mill, Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Gary Snyder, and Peter Singer.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
RELIGST 119:
Religion, Violence, and Nonviolence
College courses and public events often address "religion and violence"--an important topic, but one-sided. We will study ways in which religious leaders, movements, and discourses have (1) promoted violent conflict, aggression, and oppression; and (2) contributed to nonviolence, peacebuilding, and liberation of the oppressed. An overarching theme will be a view of religions as fields of interpretation. No religion is essentially violent or peaceful; intricately connected to the world around them, religions become what they become through interpretation and action. Each week will have two meetings: one featuring an outstanding guest lecturer and one to discuss the lecture topic, with assigned readings and films. Topics under consideration include: Buddhism and Violence; Dorothy Day and Catholic Nonviolent Resistance to Nuclear Weapons; Just War and Jihad; The Contribution of Negro Spirituals to Liberation; The Quakers: Pacifist Convictions and Activism; Violence/Nonviolence in Jainism; The Role of Christian Faith in M.L. King's Political Work; Spirituality and Religious Peacebuilding. For lecture series with required attendance and written reflections for 2 units, take RELIGST 29.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
SLE 92:
Structured Liberal Education
Focusing on great works of philosophy, religion, literature, painting, and film drawn largely from the Western tradition, the SLE curriculum places particular emphasis on artists and intellectuals who brought new ways of thinking and new ways of creating into the world, often overthrowing prior traditions in the process. These are the works that redefined beauty, challenged the authority of conventional wisdom, raised questions of continuing importance to us today, and - for good or ill - created the world we still live in. Texts may include: Augustine, the Qur'an, Dante, Rumi, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Las Casas, Descartes, Locke, Mill, Schleiermacher, and Flaubert.
Terms: Win
| Units: 8
| UG Reqs: College, GER:DB-Hum, GER:IHUM-2, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER, Writing SLE
SYMSYS 122:
Artificial Intelligence: Philosophy, Ethics, & Impact
Recent advances in computing may place us at the threshold of a unique turning point in human history. Soon we are likely to entrust management of our environment, economy, security, infrastructure, food production, healthcare, and to a large degree even our personal activities, to artificially intelligent computer systems. The prospect of "turning over the keys" to increasingly autonomous systems raises many complex and troubling questions. How will society respond as versatile robots and machine-learning systems displace an ever-expanding spectrum of blue- and white-collar workers? Will the benefits of this technological revolution be broadly distributed or accrue to a lucky few? How can we ensure that these systems respect our ethical principles when they make decisions at speeds and for rationales that exceed our ability to comprehend? What, if any, legal rights and responsibilities should we grant them? And should we regard them merely as sophisticated tools or as a newly emerging form of life? The goal of this course is to equip students with the intellectual tools, ethical foundation, and psychological framework to successfully navigate the coming age of intelligent machines.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
TAPS 12N:
To Die For: Antigone and Political Dissent (CLASSICS 17N)
(Formerly CLASSGEN 6N.) Preference to freshmen. Tensions inherent in the democracy of ancient Athens; how the character of Antigone emerges in later drama, film, and political thought as a figure of resistance against illegitimate authority; and her relevance to contemporary struggles for women's and workers' rights and national liberation. Readings and screenings include versions of Antigone by Sophocles, Anouilh, Brecht, Fugard/Kani/Ntshona, Paulin, Glowacki, Gurney, and von Trotta.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
TAPS 13N:
Law and Drama
Preference to Freshmen.Beyond the obvious traits that make a good (court room) drama, theater and jurisprudence have much more in common. Just as drama is engaged not only in entertainment but also in examination of social conventions and mechanisms, so law is not only concerned with dispensing justice but with shaping and maintaining a viable human community. In this class we will read and discuss a series of plays in which court proceedings are at the center of dramatic action and concluding with an investigation of the new genre of documentary drama.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
TAPS 180Q:
Noam Chomsky: The Drama of Resistance
Preference to sophomores. Chomsky's ideas and work which challenge the political and economic paradigms governing the U.S. Topics include his model for linguistics; cold war U.S. involvements in S.E. Asia, the Middle East, Central and S. America, the Caribbean, and Indonesia and E. Timor; the media, terrorism, ideology, and culture; student and popular movements; and the role of resistance.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
THINK 2:
The Art of Living
Where do our ideals for living come from, and how should they be structured? How do we justify them in the face of criticism? What role do great works of art play in this creative process?nnnOur lives are not simply given to us, but also something we make: as we examine the circumstances of our existence, recognizing certain facts as immutable and others as subject to our control, each of us faces the challenge of fashioning out of them a way of living that is both meaningful and justifiable. The Art of Living will explore different ways to think about the nature of that challenge ¿ how to accommodate conflicting demands and values, how to make our choices ¿artfully,¿ how we might use works of imaginative literature to inspire us. We will read important works of literature and philosophy, each of which implies a different value by which to live, whether reason, authenticity, community, art, or faith. In each case, you will be presented with different perspectives and asked to work out for yourself what you find most persuasive, thereby fine-tuning skills essential to your own lifelong project of self-construction.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
THINK 5:
Justice and the Constitution
How does justice incorporate the ideals of liberty, equality, and security? How are these ideals balanced against each other? How are they made concrete in the US Constitution and law? What is the relationship between justice and the law? In this course we consider three core ideals that animate the idea of liberty: freedom, equality and security. We explore the relationship between these different ideals through an interdisciplinary inquiry that includes political philosophy, history and law. In your reading, writing and thinking, you will move between the realm of abstract ideas and actual legal cases. We begin with the philosophical roots of the ideals of liberty, equality and security and then focus on their articulation in the US Constitution and the overarching US legal framework and public policy. Students will learn to analyze the distinctive challenges posed to the ideals of liberty, equality and security by twenty-first century developments such as the emergence of the internet and the rise of non-state warfare.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
THINK 7:
Journeys
Is death final or only the beginning of another journey? How do the mysteries of destination give rise to our most basic questions of purpose, meaning, and faith, and challenge us to consider our proper relation to others? Journeys will examine works written across a span of some 2,300 years, from Chinese philosophy to American short stories. Each of these forms and genres presents some essential aspect of the journey we all share, and of the various passages we make within that one great journey that relentlessly challenge and transform us even as we advance toward what the poet Thomas Gray called our "inevitable hour." By reading, discussing, and interpreting these works, we will ask you to consider how each text compels us, by the penetration of its vision and the power of its art, to make part of our own journey in its company.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
THINK 9:
Technological Visions of Utopia
How do science and technology shape the frameworks for imagining utopian or dystopian societies? Sir Thomas More gave a name to the philosophical ideal of a good society - a word that is now a part of common language: utopia. In the almost 500 years since More's Utopia appeared, changes in society - including enormous advances in science and technology - have opened up new possibilities for the utopian society that More and his predecessors could not have envisioned. At the same time science and technology also entail risks that suggest more dystopian scenarios - in their most extreme form, threats to humanity's very survival. We will look at several works that consider how literary visions of society have evolved with the progress of science and technology. The readings begin with More and include examples of more technologically determined visions of the late 20th century, as imagined in works of fiction.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
THINK 11:
Bioethical Challenges of New Technology
How might we apply ideas from ethical theory to contemporary issues and debates in biotechnology? This course will provide critical encounters with some of the central topics in the field of bioethics, with an emphasis on new technologies. Controversies over genetic engineering, stem cell research, reproductive technologies, and genetic testing will provide an opportunity for you to critically assess arguments and evidence. We will begin with an overview of the field and the theoretical approaches to bioethics that have been derived from philosophy. You will then have the opportunity to engage in debate and learn how to identify underlying values and how to apply ideas from ethical theory to contemporary problems.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER
THINK 19:
Rules of War
When, if ever, is war justified? How are ethical norms translated into rules that govern armed conflict? Are these rules still relevant in light of the changing nature of warfare? We will examine seminal readings on just war theory, investigate the legal rules that govern the resort to and conduct of war, and study whether these rules affect the conduct of states and individuals. We will examine alternative ethical frameworks, competing disciplinary approaches to war, and tensions between the outcomes suggested by ethical norms, on the one hand, and legal rules, on the other. Students will engage actively with these questions by participating in an interactive role-playing simulation, in which they will be assigned roles as government officials, advisors, or other actors. The class will confront various ethical, legal, and strategic problems as they make decisions about military intervention and policies regarding the threat and use of force in an international crisis.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
THINK 24:
Evil
What is evil? Are we naturally good or evil? How should we respond to evil? There are many books and courses that focus on the good life or the virtues. Yet despite their obvious apparent presence in our life and world, evil and the vices are rarely taken as explicit topics. We will read philosophical and literary texts that deal with the question of evil at a theoretical level, but will also focus on some practical implications of these issues. By exploring evil, we will confront larger questions about the nature of human beings, the appropriate aims of the good society, the function of punishment, and the place of morality in art.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
THINK 47:
Inventing Government: Ancient and Modern
How might the study of the successes and failures of democratic and republican government in ancient Greece and Rome help us to fix what is broken in our own political systems? Democracy and republic are ancient names for revolutionary approaches to government of, by, and for citizens. Today, almost every state proclaims itself to be a democracy, a republic -- or both. Democratic and republican revolutions transformed ancient Greece and Rome - and later transformed the modern world. We explore how political thinkers, from Machiavelli to Madison and Mill, used the lessons of ancient politics to design bold new systems of government. Ancient politics may still hold lessons for us. We analyze what is broken in modern government (corruption, polarization, gridlock), how it broke, and how the tool kit of ancient political history might help us to analyze and repair the damage.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: College, THINK, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
URBANST 122:
Ethics and Politics of Public Service (CSRE 178, ETHICSOC 133, HUMBIO 178, PHIL 175A, PHIL 275A, POLISCI 133, PUBLPOL 103D)
Ethical and political questions in public service work, including volunteering, service learning, humanitarian assistance, and public service professions such as medicine and teaching. Motives and outcomes in service work. Connections between service work and justice. Is mandatory service an oxymoron? History of public service in the U.S. Issues in crosscultural service work. Integration with the Haas Center for Public Service to connect service activities and public service aspirations with academic experiences at Stanford.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-EDP, WAY-ER
