Syllabus Chaminade University of Honolulu 
Course Name and Number:  Introduction to Ethics (PH 105-90) Fall 2007

Instructor's name, phone and email: 
Dr. Mark Brasher    381-6080 (8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Hawaii Time [check first, do not call at, for example, 2 a.m. or you will lose points]).
mark.brasher@adjunct.chaminade.edu

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. This is for course content questions and discussion.  For problems connecting to webct, problems with your ID/password, or other computing problems contact  jnakason@chaminade.edu, 739-8327 (Jon Nakasone, IT, Chaminade).  The secretary for the evening/online program is Donna Yoshimura (dyoshi@chaminade.ed) at 735-4755.

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 WebCT discussion board

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. 

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.  Students may opt (by the end of week5) to do a term paper, then the points for the final are split between the final and the term paper. In order to do the paper students must discuss a topic with the instructor week 5. Develop an outline and submit a draft by week 7. Students are responsible for keeping copies of all submitted work, uploading blank or damaged files will not earn credit.

DEADLINES: To receive credit for your work, you need to upload your answers or post on the webboard by the deadline (each week: Sunday 11:55 p.m., Hawaii time).  You may submit up to 1 assignment late, within 7 days if you inform the instructor.  Any further late work will not receive credit. 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.  For credit, students must post a reply to the instructor’s weekly question by Saturday midnight and reply to another student by Sunday midnight.  (It’s okay to post both on/by Saturday if you are able, but everyone should have made at least their first post by Saturday night so class members will find student posts to respond to by Sunday night.)

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.   The broad introductory course presents a number of different topics to the student which cannot be mastered simultaneously.  The work is divided into 10 separate weeks worth of work in order to afford a realistic opportunity to the student to master each topic. 

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.

CORRECTIONS:  Your weekly uploaded answers will be checked and returned to the same assignments area in WebCT for you to review in case there were any corrections.  Be sure to look at any corrections on these assignments and ask about any you do not understand.  The final exam will be based on the main topics, these weekly questions are also about the main topics, so being able to answer the weekly questions is a good predictor of your ability to answer the final exam questions.  

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. .   Be sure that you have access to your chaminade email address  (firstname.lastname@student.chaminade.edu). If you do not, you must contact Chaminade during week 1 of the course to get access to it.

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 no 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.   

Note that all work must be in by the day of the final exam and no incompletes with extended deadlines will be possible, beyond the 10 weeks of the course,  except in the most extreme circumstances with documented evidence and completed paperwork.  The date of the final exam is published before registration on all registration announcements and on the syllabus and online, it is your responsibility to be available to take the final on that day/time. The time/work requirements for courses are stated on the Chaminade website and in this course syllabus. Students who do not have time to follow a course should not register for a course.  (If you are working full time and taking many other courses this does not mean you may expect to do less work in this course, it is a full credit university course.)   Incompletes will not be used to lengthen course terms beyond their standard ten weeks. 

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.

FINAL EXAM/COURSE GRADE: You must inform the instructor where you take your exam, failure to do so may result in receiving an "F" on the exam.  If you do not take your exam on the main campus there may be a delay of 1-2 weeks for Chaminade to get the exam to me, sometimes 3-4 weeks. If you take your exam off-campus expect this delay in getting your grade.  If I do not have your exam and you have not informed me where you are taking it I cannot track it and will automatically list it as an "F".  I will grade the exams I have and post the grades as soon as possible. I cannot do so before Chaminade gives the proctored off-campus exams to me in the first place. 

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
		
10/1-10/7	WEEK 1  Introduction to the course
		
10/8-10/14	WEEK 2  Introduction to the topic of Ethics.  Read Chapter 1.
		
10/15-10/21	WEEK 3  Consequentialist (teleological) theories. Read Chapter 2.
		
10/22-10/28	WEEK 4  Nonconsequentialist (deontological) theories. Read Chapter 3.
		
10/29-11/04	WEEK 5 Absolutism versus relativism. Read Chapter 4.
		
11/05-11/11	WEEK 6 Freedom versus determinism. Read Chapter 5.
		
11/12-11/18	WEEK 7 Reward and punishment. Read Chapter 6.
		
11/19-11/25	WEEK 8 Setting up a moral system. Read Chapter 7.
		
11/26-12/02	WEEK 9 The Taking of Human Life. Read Chapter 8.
		
12/03-12/08	WEEK 10  Review.  No new reading: review weeks 2-9.
		
12/08		Final Exam  You must email the instructor in advance where you will be taking the exam, if the instructor is not informed you may receive an "F". 
	 On-line work for the course is archived to CD-ROM and graded exams and papers are kept on file for at least two years.
This syllabus describes all of the requirements for the course and the due dates of all work. If you have any questions about any of the information contained within it, ask the instructor immediately.  If you lose your syllabus you should call the base Chaminade coordinator or Evening Program office at the main campus and ask for the instructor’s phone number and call the instructor immediately to ask about work due and to request a new syllabus, the loss of the syllabus does not excuse one from any deadlines.  The instructor's phone number is available from Chaminade, so there is no reason for a delay contacting the instructor.  Be sure to write down the email address and phone number of the instructor. It is your responsibility to keep track of these and maintain contact throughout the course.

PRINT AND SAVE A COPY OF THIS SYLLABUS FOR YOUR REFERENCE
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