Office: 330A RC

Office Hours MTWR 9-10 AM

 

In this course we will examine some of the major strands of twentieth century thought concerning the nature of morality. The debates reflect some of the main trends of this century’s philosophy, including positivism, existentialism, pragmatism, the influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein, and most recently, feminist and communitarian theories. We will focus on large questions such as: is morality relative to one’s culture or whether it should be fundamentally the same for everyone?; if morality is relative to culture, can it be anything more than mere personal opinion and preference?; and if there are moral facts, then how do we know them? This will be an abstract and challenging course that deals with large questions. Students will be encouraged to investigate how these issues are relevant to modern controversies in society today, such as animal rights, abortion, our duty to help starving people in other counties, and our right to interfere with other cultures whose practices we see as wrong.