24.02
Moral Problems and the Good Life
Introduction to important philosophical debates about moral issues and what constitutes a good life: What is right, what is wrong, and why? How important are personal happiness, longevity, and success if one is to live a good life? When is it good for you to get what you want? To what extent are we morally obliged to respect the rights and needs of others? What do we owe the poor, the discriminated, our loved ones, animals and fetuses?
Fall 2008
Topics
- Introduction
- Hedonism
- Desire satisfaction and the good
- Objective goods
- Immortality
- Three moral theories
- Film: “ The Global Banquet: Politics of Food ”
- Film: “ Skin Deep ”
- Animal rights
- Consuming animals
- The value of nature
- Environmentalism
- The distant needy
- Famine relief
- Addressing structural injustice
- Racism: attitudes and structures
- Racist speech
- Hate speech
- Free speech and pornography
- Pornography and equality
- Film: “ Tying the Knot ”
- Sexual morality
- Homosexuality
- Gay and lesbian marriage
Readings
- DMI = Timmons, Mark, ed. Disputed Moral Issues: A Reader . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195177633.
- TWP = Bedau, Hugo. Thinking and Writing About Philosophy . 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. ISBN: 9780312396534.
- TWP, read pp. vii-ix and chapter 1. Chapter 2 recommended but not required.
- Read chapter 1, pp. 1-6, in DMI.
- Bentham, Jeremy. “Classic Hedonism.” In Morality Matters: Race, Class, and Gender in Applied Ethics . Edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, pp. 42. ISBN: 9780072840759.
- Nozick, Robert. “The Experience Machine.” In Morality Matters: Race, Class, and Gender In Applied Ethics . Edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, pp. 45. ISBN: 9780072840759.
- Brandt, Richard B. “Goodness as the Satisfaction of Informed Desire.” In A Theory of the Good and the Right . Revised ed. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998. ISBN: 9781573922203.
- TWP, read chapter 3.
- Kraut, Richard. “Desire and the Human Good.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 68, no. 2 (1994): 39-54.
- Nussbaum, Martha. “A Conception of the Human Being.” Chapter 1 in Sex and Social Justice . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780195110326. Skip sections I, II, and VII.
- Williams, Bernard. “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality.” Chapter 6 in Problems of the Self . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 82-100. ISBN: 9780521290609.
- TWP, chapter 5. Chapter 4 recommended but not required.
- Crocker, David. “Hunger, Capacity and Development.” Chapter 58 in Ethics in Practice . 2nd ed. Edited by Hugh LaFollette. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 9780631228349.
- Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Racisms.” Chapter 1 in Anatomy of Racism. Edited by David Theo Goldberg . Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780816618040.
- Frye, Marilyn. “Oppression.” In The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory . Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1983, pp. 1-15. ISBN: 9780895940995.
- Frye, Marilyn. “Sexism.” In The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory . Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1983, pp. 17-40. ISBN: 9780895940995.
- Garry, Ann. “Sex, Lies and Pornography.” Chapter 35 In Ethics in Practice . 2nd ed. Edited by Hugh LaFollette. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 9780631228349.
- Punzo, Vincent C. “Morality and Human Sexuality.” Chapter 24 in Ethics in Practice . 2nd ed. Edited by Hugh LaFollette. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 9780631228349.
- Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles . Book 3: 122.
- Lloyd, Elisabeth. “Pre-theoretical Assumptions in Evolutionary Explanations of Female Sexuality.” Philosophical Studies 69 (1993): 139-153.
- 25 · Gay and lesbian marriage · Calhoun, Cheshire. “Defending Marriage.” Chapter 5 in Feminism, Family and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement . Reprint ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780199257669.
- Annas, Julia. “Virtue Ethics.” Chapter 18 in The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory . Edited by David Copp. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780195325911.
- Harris, Luke Charles, and Uma Narayan. “Affirmative Action as Equalizing Opportunity: Challenging the Myth of “Preferential Treatment.” Chapter 46 in Ethics in Practice . 2nd ed. Edited by Hugh LaFollette. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 9780631228349.
- Loeb, Don. “Full Information Theories of the Individual Good.” Social Theory and Practice 21, no. 1 (1995): 637-658.
- Ezorsky, Gertrude. “Overt and Institutional Racism.” Chapter 1 in Racism and Justice: The Case for Affirmative Action . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780801499227.
- West, Robin. “The Harms of Consensual Sex.” The American Philosophical Association Newsletters 94, no. 2 (1995): 52-55.
- Mill, John Stuart. “Utilitarianism.” In Morality Matters: Race, Class, and Gender in Applied Ethics . Edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, pp. 47. ISBN: 9780072840759.
- Kant, Immanuel. “The Categorical Imperative.” In Morality Matters: Race, Class, and Gender in Applied Ethics . Edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, pp. 51. ISBN: 9780072840759.
- Aristotle. “Virtue Ethics.” In Morality Matters: Race, Class, and Gender in Applied Ethics . Edited by Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002, pp. 60. ISBN: 9780072840759.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2008
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.