Syllabus Chaminade University of Honolulu Course Name and Number: Introduction to Ethics (PH 105-90) Fall 2005 Instructor's name, phone and email: Dr. Mark Brasher 381-6080 (8 a.m. - 8 p.m.) markbrasher@hotmail.com Office Hours: Students may e-mail or telephone the instructor. The instructor will respond as soon as possible. If an extensive consultation is necessary, an appointment may be made in advance by e-mail or phone. Course description: The study of the concepts of good and bad, right and wrong, has a long history. This course will study the origins and legitimacy of our standards of conduct and character and will discuss modern studies, which consider the compelling and unconditional overtones of ethical demands. The course will also discuss the ways in which we talk to children and young people about what is right and wrong. Course objectives: By the end of the course, the student should be able to: - Identify and explain the major approaches to ethics. - Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the major approaches. - Define vocabulary essential to ethical explanations. - Identify and evaluate ethical situations using a consistent approach. Course texts: -Textbook = Ethics. Theory and Practice (8th ed) by Jacques Thiroux (ISBN 0131830023) -Instructor's lecture notes: on the course website Class Requirements: This course involves 6 components. The first four are weekly activities: 1. Reading the instructor's notes on-line 2. reading the week's assignment in the textbook. 3. answering the exercise questions about the current week's reading at the end of the assigned chapter and uploading answers to webct. 4. reading and posting on the webboard Besides the weekly work, there will also be: 5. Term paper (optional: see 2 alternative grading patterns for the course, below) 6. Final Exam on the topics discussed in the course. Students must also complete a short survey about the course during week 8, this is not optional, it is used for the continued improvement of the course content and format. (Current students benefit from previous students' completing of this survey.) ASSIGNMENTS: Each week, students will read the instructor's on-line notes on the current topic. Then they will read the topic in the textbook while answering the exercise questions at the end of each assigned chapter (and upload their answers in webCT). Then they will log on to the discussion board and read and post responses. At the end of the course there will be a final exam on the 8 topics we have examined. DEADLINES: To receive credit for your work, you need to upload your answers or post on the webboard by the deadline (each week: Sunday midnight, Hawaii time). You may submit up to 1 assignment late, within 7 days. Any further late work will not receive credit. Rationale for this policy: In order for you to participate in the group discussions and complete all of the work for the course, you need to read/answer/post each week in a timely manner. Most students are not motivated to submit work regularly and on time if there are no negative consequences for not doing so. For this course you will need to do the work and submit it by the scheduled dates. The deadlines for the entire course are in the schedule, plan backwards from the due date to give yourself enough time to complete the assignments. ALTERNATE FORMAT: In the very unlikely event of a website malfunction at webct.chaminade.edu, the course will temporarily switch to an "e-mail based" format and the instructor will email you the week's notes, questions and run an email discussion. CONDUCT: Student conduct throughout the course is regulated by the code of conduct printed in your Student Handbook and the Chaminade University College Catalog. Basically, the code requires that everyone in the classroom (or on-line) treat each other with respect. Additionally: students must never present another's work as their own (plagiarism) or cheat in any way. Students failing to abide by the code may be reprimanded, expelled from the course, or from the university, as appropriate to the situation and provided for by the policies of Chaminade University. There is also an introduction to conduct on a university webboard that applies to all of your postings on the webboard. PLAGIARISM CONTROL: Any paper submitted for the course will be checked through turnit.com to ensure there is not plagiarism contained in it. If plagiarism is found, the student will fail the course and the evidence will be turned over to the Chaminade University Academic Dean with a recommendation that the plagiarizer be expelled from the university. ABSENCES: Regular participation is required by every student throughout the ten week term. However, a hospital emergency, unexpected duty or some other circumstance may briefly interfere with your participation at some point during the term. If this occurs, you need to contact me as soon as possible, arrange to make-up your missing work and to post your missing posts on the webboard. If you do not contact me and inform me I cannot know what you are doing and will record zero credit for the missed work. If you continue in the course, you will still need to complete all of the missing work, it is not "waived," any unfinished or missing work will reduce your course grade. (Also: the final exam will include questions about each topic we discuss, so you will still need to study each part.) If your work is regularly late or you are not participating at all, a deficiency notice may be sent in and I will recommend you drop the course in order not to receive a failing grade on your permanent transcript. Work must be completed within 7 days of the original deadline. No student can make up more than 1 week excused work, beyond this no make up credit is possible. Note that all work must be in by the day of the final and no incompletes with extended deadlines will be possible. MAINTAINING CONTACT: It always remains the responsibility of the student to maintain contact with the instructor. If you lose access to webct you need to contact Chaminade and correct the situation as soon as possible. You should print and save a copy of this syllabus with the contact information and requirements on it, for your reference throughout the ten week course. Ceasing to communicate, without withdrawing from the course may lead to a deficiency notice and/or a failing grade for the course. FAIRNESS IN GRADING: In order for each student to be fairly graded, each must be graded on an equal basis. If some students do their work on time in the ten weeks, sometimes getting higher or lower credit as they work to meet the deadline, while other students receive extensions and complete the work over many more weeks, it is fundamentally unfair. This is a 10-week course, do the work and get graded on your performance during those 10 weeks, like every other student. Do not ask for exceptions to be graded differently than other students. MAINTAINING COPIES: Throughout the course you need to keep a copy of any work you submit or any work returned to you. Every reasonable measure has been taken to ensure the preservation of e-mail, webboard and other coursework but it always remains the student's responsibility to also keep a copy of each assignment and each assignment returned to them. If you opt in for a term paper, make multiple copies on multiple locations (hard disk, floppy) to ensure you do not lose your work. Work cannot be re-sent to students later if they lose their own copy of that work. GRADING SCALE: Option 1 (no term paper) / Option 2 (with term paper) weekly answers: 25% / weekly answers: 25% webboard posts: 25 / webboard posts: 25% - - - / term paper: 25% final exam: 50% / final exam: 25% total: 100% / total: 100% SCHEDULE 10/3-9 WEEK 1 Introduction to the course 10/10-16 WEEK 2 Introduction to the topic of Ethics 10/17-23 WEEK 3 Consequentialist (teleological) theories 10/24-30 WEEK 4 Nonconsequentialist (deontological) theories 10/31-11/6 WEEK 5 Absolutism versus relativism 11/7-13 WEEK 6 Freedom versus determinism 11/14-20 WEEK 7 Reward and punishment 11/21-27 WEEK 8 Setting up a moral system 11/28-12/4 WEEK 9 The Taking of Human Life 12/5-10 WEEK 10 Review 12/10 Final Exam NOTE: This syllabus describes all of the requirements for the course and the due dates of all work. This syllabus is a kind of contract between the instructor and students making clear the obligations and rights of each. If you have any questions about any of the information contained within it, ask the instructor immediately. Print and keep a copy of this syllabus.