PHIL 4300
Seminar in Ethical Theory or Meta-Ethics
Detailed study of selected issues pertaining to ethical theory or issues of meta-ethics such as realism, relativism, moral knowledge.
Undated
Topics
- Distinctions in Ethics (Sayre-McCord “Moral Realism” @ SEP + Cuneo, Intro)
- T. Cuneo (ebook @ library): The Normative Web (w/ Presentation 1, see below)
- Cuneo, up to
- NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
- Shafer-Landau’s Moral Realism (2003): meta-philosophy (pp. 110-20 & 220-30)
- NO CLASS (Reading week)
- SEND ESSAY # 1 (to Gordon.davis@carleton.ca)
- Forms of irrealism: Reductive naturalism, relativism, etc. (SEP entries TBA)
- Presentation 2: discussion of individual proposals for Essay 2 (+ reading TBA)
- Comparison of philosophical methods: Cuneo, Plato (Theaetetus) and J.P. Sartre
- ‘Non-realism’ a form of cognitivism? (Parfit, OWM exc-tba & Plato, Theaetetus)
- Concluding reflections (+ date(s) TBA: suitable time(s) to make up for Oct. 12)
Prerequisites & course information
Prerequisite(s): eligibility for fourth-year standing in a Philosophy Honours program or permission of the Department. Also offered at the graduate level, with different requirements, as PHIL 5300 , for which additional credit is precluded. Seminar three hours a week.