Cass J Weller
Development of moral thought from Hobbes through Nietzsche, with particular emphasis on the ethical writings of Hume, Kant, and John Stuart Mill.
In this course we study moral theorists of the 17th and 18th century primarily in the British Empiricist tradition. We examine their treatment of the moral relations among individuals and the relation between the individual and civil society as a whole. One goal is to achieve a clearer understanding, if not a resolution, of the issue between those who say that morality and civil society are in some sense unnatural and those who say that participating in some form of moral and political community is partly constitutive of human nature. Another, related, goal is to assess the arguments offered by the authors we read for and against the proposition that the duties imposed by morality are reducible to the duties of narrow self interest. In addition to questions concerning the nature and authority or justification of specifically moral claims we will also mine these authors for their views on reasons for action in general.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Class assignments and grading
Reading, discussion in class and on newsgroup (5%), two short (5-7 pp.) papers ( 25% each), weekly written answers to questions on assigned reading (5%), and a final exam (40%).