Philosophy 340

Global Ethics

 

Section 001                MWF 10-10:50am                  Whalen 2304                    Fall 2007

 

Overview:   This course surveys significant ethical challenges that are global in scope:   Are there such things as universal human rights or is morality ultimately relative to one's particular culture?  What duties, if any, do we have to the global environment?   Is it ever legitimate to use armed force to intervene in another country’s internal affairs?  Morally speaking, what can be said in defense of economic globalization, and against it?  Are global inequalities in wealth morally defensible?  If not, what can be done about such inequalities?  Is patriotism a morally defensible, or even morally valuable, attitude?  Or should we think of ourselves as “citizens of the world” first and foremost?

Instructor:  Craig Duncan  (cdunc@umich.edu)

Office hours and location:   Dillingham 213, Wed 12-1 and Thurs 11-12

Office phone:  4-3580

Email:  cduncan@ithaca.edu

Homepage:  www.ithaca.edu/faculty/cduncan

Coursepage:  http://webct.ithaca.edu

Course materials (and abbreviations):       

·        Peter Singer, One World:  The Ethics of Globalization (Yale University Press, 2002)

·        John Rawls, The Law of Peoples (Harvard University Press, 1999)

·        Two coursepacks, to be purchased from the instructor

 

Requirements
  • Two 5-7 page papers.  Each paper counts 15% toward your overall grade.  This first will due in-class on Monday, Sept. 17th.  The second will be due in-class on Monday, October 29th.  Extensions on the paper deadline will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances; extension requests must be made in writing (email is OK) well in advance of the deadline.  Papers not turned in on time will instantly receive a deduction worth one-third of a letter grade.  This deduction will increase daily, adding up to a full letter grade deduction for a paper 5 calendar days late, with steeper deductions thereafter at my discretion.  (Note: These policies also apply to the 8-10 page paper described below.)
  • One 8-10 page paper:  An 8-10 page paper is due in-class on Friday, December 14th.  The paper grade counts 30% toward your overall grade. 
  • A mid-term exam:  This will take place on Friday, October 5th in class.  It counts 20% toward your overall grade.
  • Participation:  Philosophy cannot be passively learned.  It requires active engagement, both with the texts and with individuals in the form of discussion.  For this reason class participation counts for 20% of your overall grade.  In order to get a good participation grade, you must have excellent attendance, do the assigned reading for each class period,  regularly take an active role in class discussions, AND prior to each class, submit your answer to a reading question posted on WebCT by the instructor.  (This will be explained in class; see also the WebCT instructions appended to this syllabus.)

 

Order of readings:

What follow is the order in which the book chapters will be read.  I will be supplementing the book chapters with photocopied articles and online readings.  (Note:  “CP” = coursepack; “W” = on WebCT.)

 

W  8/29     Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 1, “A Changing World” (optional reading)

 

Global Warming

F    8/31     Andrew E. Dessler and Edward A. Parson, “Climate Change: Present Scientific                                           Knowledge and Uncertainties” (CP)

M   9/3       LABOR DAY

W  9/5       Robert Socolow, Roberta Hotinski, Jeffrey B. Greenblatt, and Stephen Pacala,                                           “Solving the Climate Problem” (CP)

F    9/7       Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 2, “One Atmosphere”

M   9/10     [No new reading]

W  9/12     Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, “It’s Not My Fault: Global Warming and Individual Moral                      Obligations” (CP)

F    9/14     [No new reading]

 

Economic Globalization

M   9/17     Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 3, “One Economy,” pp. 51-77

                  First 5-7 page paper due

W  9/19     Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 3, “One Economy,” pp. 77-105

F    9/21     Paul Krugman, “In Praise of Cheap Labor” and “Enemies of the WTO” (CP)

                  William Greider, “Global Agenda” (CP)

M   9/24     Jagdish Bhagwati and Edward Goldsmith, “Is Free Trade Working for Everybody?”                                          (CP)

W  9/26     Brian Barry, “Capitalists Rule, OK?” (CP)

F    9/28     [No new reading]

 

Humanitarian Intervention

M   10/1     Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 4, “One Law,” pp. 106-127

W  10/3     Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 4, “One Law,” pp. 127-149

 

F    10/5     MIDTERM EXAM

 

Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism

Historical Background

M   10/8     Immanuel Kant, “Perpetual Peace” (CP)

W 10/10   Louis P. Pojman, “Kant’s Perpetual Peace and Cosmpolitanism” (CP)

 

Nations, Individuals, and Humanitarian Duties

F    10/12   Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 5, “One Community,” pp. 150-180

                  Jeffrey Sachs, “The End of Poverty” (W)

M   10/15   Peter Singer, One World, Ch. 5, “One Community,” pp. 180-195

                  Richard W. Miller, “Beneficence, Duty, and Distance” (W)

W  10/17   [No new reading]

 

F    10/19   FALL BREAK

 

The Debate over Patriotism

M   10/22   Leo Tolstoy, “Against the Insane Superstition of Patriotism” (CP)

W  10/24   Stephen Nathanson, “Problems for Anti-Patriots” and “A Reasonable Form of                                            Patriotism” (CP)

F    10/26   Richard Miller, “Cosmopolitan Respect and Patriotic Concern” (W)

                       

Global Justice

M   10/29   Jonathan Wolff, “Rawls’s Theory of Justice” (CP)

                  Second 5-7 page paper due

W  10/31   John Rawls, The Law of Peoples, Part I, sections 1-3

F    11/2     Rawls, Part I, sections 4-6

M   11/5     Rawls, Part II

W  11/7     Blain Neufeld, Civic Respect, Political Liberalism, and Nonliberal Societies (W)

F    11/9     Rawls, Parts III and IV

M   11/12   Martha C. Nussbaum, Capabilities Across National Boundaries (CP)

W  11/14   Thomas Pogge, Eradicating Systemic Poverty: Brief for a Global Resources Dividend                                  (CP)

F    11/16   [No new reading]

 

11/19-11/23     THANKSGIVING BREAK

 

Human Rights and Cultural Diversity

M   11/26   Online handout on cultural moral relativism (W)

                  Ruth Benedict, “Anthropology and the Abnormal” (CP)

W  11/28   Martha Nussbaum, “Women and Cultural Universals” (CP)

M   12/3     Jon Mandle, “Human Rights” and “Challenges to Human Rights” (CP)

                  Optional recommended reading:  James Nickel, Human Rights (W

W  12/5     United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (W)

                  Makau Mutua, A Noble Cause Wrapped in Arrogance (W)

                  Mary Ann Glendon, Foundations of Human Rights: The Unfinished Business (W)

F    12/7     [No new reading]

M   12/10   Martha Nussbaum, Religion and Women’s Rights, pp. 81-102 (CP)

W  12/12   Martha Nussbaum, Religion and Women’s Rights, pp.102-117 (CP)

F    12/14   [No new reading]

                  8-10 page paper due

 

Teaching Policies: 

 

Attendance 

 During classtime I will often introduce material that is not covered in the reading assignments.  You will be held responsible for knowing this material.  If you do not come to class, you will not know this material, and your performance on essays and exams will suffer.  So come to class.  Also, attendance is a significant part of your class participation grade.  Unexcused absences will hurt your participation grade.  Note, too, that very good attendance by itself does not guarantee a high participation grade; participation during class is necessary too.  For example, someone who had perfect attendance but who rarely volunteered comments in class would probably get no higher than a C+ participation grade. 

 

Academic Conduct

Students are expected to conform to the Standards of Academic Conduct printed on pages 116-118 of the 2001-2002 Student Handbook.  Please familiarize yourself with these standards.  Violations will be reported to the Ithaca College Conduct Review Board.  Additionally, you will receive a grade of zero on any assignment that is not completed according to these standards.

Plagiarism is one very serious violation of these standards.  I will not tolerate it.  There are good reasons for my zero-tolerance policy—reasons well summarized by the philosopher Hugh LaFollette, from whom I quote below:

  

“Why Shouldn't I Plagiarize?

(1) It undercuts the aims of education. If you plagiarize you will not learn the skills you should learn – you are merely copying someone else's words and ideas – and that you already knew how to do.

     (2) It is theft. And all theft is wrong, whether it is theft of an idea or an object.

(3) You harm other students. By plagiarizing you make professors more suspicious of students. This encourages them to make assignments that are plagiarism-proof rather than ones that are educationally sound.

(4) You will get caught. Think about it for a minute: if you plagiarize from a good source – one that is likely to help your grade – the prof may well know (or can easily find) the source. And if your writing style drastically changes from sentence to sentence or from paper to exam, that will be obvious to even a causal observer. To plagiarize well – to plagiarize in a way that is likely to land you a decent grade and minimize the chance you will get caught – you would have to know the material so well, that it would be easier – and more educationally beneficial – to write the essay yourself."[1]

Classroom Behavior.

      I care about your education, and I put a lot of time into preparing lectures and classroom activities.   Hence it is disrespectful not to give me your attention in class.  If you cannot do this, please stay home. 

 

Special Needs

      If you have a special need owing to an identified disability, please let me know.  I am happy to work with you together with the office of Academic Support Services for Students with Disabilities.  You should contact them at x4-1005.

 

 

Responding to Reading Questions via WebCT

 

 

To access and reply to the reading questions, login to the WebCT coursepage (courses.ithaca.edu).  Scroll down beneath the title area until you see a discussion icon (a picture of a thumbtack) labeled  “Reading Questions and Discussion.”  Click on this.  This will take you to the discussion page of WebCT.

 

This discussion page has several general topics, e.g. “Reading Questions – Introduction,” “Miscellaneous Thoughts / Questions,” and “Discussion Items.”  In addition to these, before each class period I will post a new topic containing the questions for that day.  For example, the first reading questions will be found under the topic heading “1/25 Reading Questions.”  Click on this topic heading and then read the entry from me to see the questions.

 

I’m not expecting a polished, essay-length answer to the questions; I simply want to know your thoughts on the subject, and to be sure you have understood the reading material.  You will not receive individual grades on each of your answers, but in computing your overall course grade I will take into account the extent to which you have participated conscientiously in this activity and shown good understanding of the readings; this will be a significant part of your participation grade.

 

I recommend that you compose your answers in Word first and save the document, so that there will be no risk of losing your answers through some WebCT or internet mishap.  To submit your answers, read the post from me with the questions, then click “reply” and paste your answer from Word into the text box (or compose it there if you want to risk this).  Click the “Post” button to submit your reply.  Note: After you click the “Post” button, WebCT will not automatically display your posting; click the update button to see your post.  Don’t click “Post” again or it will send it twice.

 

An important rule:  Post your own answers before reading posts from other students.  (Obviously I can’t enforce this rule, but as you are honest students I trust we can do this on the honor system.)

 

 


[1] From the website of Hugh LaFollette (http://www.etsu.edu/philos/classes/hhl/plagiari.htm).