PHIL 105 – Contemporary Moral Issues (Spring 2020)

Tom's Office Hours: MW 1pm-2pm and by appt., Weidensall 316

Contemporary Moral Issues Reading Schedule

Read each of the readings assigned for the day before you come to class! The links on this page will take you directly to the reading, though you will need a password for some of them, which I'll provide to you in class.

Week Starting	Monday	Wednesday

20-Jan	Introductions, Overview, and Organizing the Class	Continue Organizing the Class
27-Jan	Relativism and Moral Discourse: Rachels, "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism"	Relativism and Moral Discourse: Harman, "Moral Relativism Explained"
3-Feb	Thinking Systemically about Forms of Oppression Frye, "Oppression" Kate Manne on the Ezra Klein Show	Thinking Systemically about Forms of Oppression Frye, "Oppression" Kate Manne on the Ezra Klein Show
10-Feb	Epistemic Injustice and #MeToo McKinnon, "Epistemic Injustice" Me Too is a movement, not a moment \| Tarana Burke #Metoo: how it's changing the world \| The Economist	Epistemic Injustice and #MeToo McKinnon, "Epistemic Injustice" Me Too is a movement, not a moment \| Tarana Burke #Metoo: how it's changing the world \| The Economist
17-Feb	Mass Incarceration as a Form Oppression Stone-Mediatore, "How America disguises its violence: colonialism, mass incarceration, and the need for resistant imagination"	Mass Incarceration as a Form Oppression Stone-Mediatore, "How America disguises its violence: colonialism, mass incarceration, and the need for resistant imagination"
24-Feb	Refugees and Narratives - Power of Language Tirell, "Genocidal Language Games"	FIRST PAPER/RECORDING DUE on SUNDAY at 11:59PM Refugees and Narratives - Political Use of Narratives Gotlib, "Refugees, Narratives, or How To Do Bad Things with Words"
2-Mar	Refugees and Narratives - Political Use of Narratives Gotlib, "Refugees, Narratives, or How To Do Bad Things with Words"	Gun Rights, Self-Defense, and the Common Good Huemer, Gun Rights as Deontic Constraints
9-Mar	Spring Break - No Class	Spring Break - No Class
RESTART 23-Mar	Welcome Back Discussion
30-Mar	Data Privacy, Location Tracking, and Listening Devices Optional Background Reading: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/opinion/internet-privacy-project.html	Data Privacy, Location Tracking, and Listening Devices Assigned Readings: https://philpapers.org/archive/VLITIA.pdf https://philpapers.org/archive/VOLPAA-2.pdf https://philpapers.org/archive/BRUWTD-3.pdf
6-Apr	Discussion of Ethical Issues Around Covid-19	Discussion of Ethical Issues Around Covid-19
13-Apr	Climate Change: Personal Responsibility or Collective Action	SECOND PAPER/RECORDING DUE on SUNDAY at 11:59PM Climate Change: Personal Responsibility or Collective Action
20-Apr	Climate Change: Procreation (1) Should we be having kids in the age of climate change? (2) Population Engineering and the Fight Against Climate Change - Hickey, et.al. (3) Whose job is it to fight climate change - Kukla and Kukla-Manning	Climate Change: Procreation
27-Apr	Climate Change: Resource Allocation and Global Poverty	Climate Change: Resource Allocation and Global Poverty