Introduction to Ethics

May 2, 2013

Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:

From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 12:31 PM
To: PHIL160{57808}Sp13
Cc: Bednar, Kate; jeremydelong@sbcglobal.net; Marsh, Andrew
Subject: test 3 scores posted to Blackboard

Dear students,

I have graded the test you took yesterday and I have posted the scores in the online gradebook at the Blackboard site for our course. The scores include a curve of 18 points.

In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here is some statistical information. The average of the scores was 79.2 and the scores had a standard deviation of 12.2. Of the 169 scores, there were 129 within one standard deviation of the mean (i.e., between 67 and 91.4), 19 above that range, and 21 below it.

In class on Monday, I will discuss the test more and your answer sheets will be returned to you.

Best,

Professor Eggleston

April 5, 2013

Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:

From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Friday, April 05, 2013 5:59 PM
To: PHIL160{57808}Sp13
Cc: Bednar, Kate; jeremydelong@sbcglobal.net; Marsh, Andrew
Subject: test 2 scores posted to Blackboard

Dear students,

I have graded the test you took this past Wednesday and I have posted the scores in the online gradebook at the Blackboard site for our course. The scores include a curve of 18 points.

In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here is some statistical information. The average of the scores was 78.2 and the scores had a standard deviation of 14.5. Of the 175 scores, there were 119 within one standard deviation of the mean (i.e., between 63.7 and 92.7), 33 above that range, and 23 below it.

I will discuss the test more in class on Monday.

Best,

Professor Eggleston

February 24, 2013

Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:

From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 7:48 PM
To: PHIL160{57808}Sp13
Cc: Bednar, Kate; jeremydelong@sbcglobal.net; Marsh, Andrew
Subject: test 1 scores posted to Blackboard

Dear students,

I have graded the test you took last Wednesday and I have posted the scores in the online gradebook at the Blackboard site for our course. The scores include a curve of 10 points.

In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here is some statistical information. The average of the scores was 77.6 and the scores had a standard deviation of 13.1. Of the 174 scores, there were 114 within one standard deviation of the mean (i.e., between 64.5 and 90.7), 31 above that range, and 29 below it.

I will discuss the test more in class on Monday.

Best,

Professor Eggleston

January 15, 2013

Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:

From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 4:22 PM
To: PHIL160{57808}Sp13
Cc: Bednar, Kate; jeremydelong@sbcglobal.net; Marsh, Andrew
Subject: Introduction to Ethics - introductory information

Dear students,

Hello. I’ll be your professor for PHIL 160, Introduction to Ethics, and I am writing to you today in order to give you some information that you might find useful as you gear up for the semester.

First, as you probably know, you have to be enrolled in one of our course’s twelve discussion sections as well as being enrolled in the lecture portion of the course. Your first class will be the lecture at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, January 23, in 1005 Haworth, and then you will attend your first discussion section (in some other room, specific to your discussion section) sometime between that day at 1 p.m. and the following Monday at 10 a.m. Then there will be lectures that Monday and the following Wednesday at 11 a.m., and so on.

Second, you will need to buy the textbook I have ordered for this course. It’s Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Concise Edition, 2nd edition, by Barbara MacKinnon (Wadsworth / Cengage Learning, 2013), ISBN 978-1-133-04974-6. I have asked the KU Bookstore to stock this book and you can also buy it elsewhere, including online.

Third, I have set up a web site for the course, at http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/ethics12. I’ve posted the syllabus there (though I will also hand out hard copies on the first day of class) and I may post other things on the course web site as the course progresses. There won’t be anything there that you’ll be responsible for prior to our first class, so you don’t have to worry about it right away. I just wanted to go on and give you the URL.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to seeing you at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, January 23, in 1005 Haworth.

Best wishes,

Professor Eggleston

Textbook information (as of January 2, 2013)

For this course you will be required to read most of the book Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Concise Edition, 2^nd edition, by Barbara MacKinnon, published by Cengage Learning (ISBN 978-1-133-04974-6). Be sure to get the concise edition (this same title is sold in a non-concise edition), and be sure to get the 2^nd edition of the concise edition. I have asked the KU Bookstore to order this book.

Course description (as of January 2, 2013):

This course provides an introduction to those problems of philosophy that are problems of moral philosophy, or ethics. We will begin by examining certain problems that arise when we try to make moral judgments: problems such as the role of religion in morality (e.g., “What’s right is just what God says is right”), cultural relativism (“What’s right for us is not necessarily right for them”), and psychological egoism (“People are always out to do what’s best for themselves anyway”). Second, we will consider several important theoretical approaches to ethics that attempt to provide general principles to guide our thinking about specific questions of right and wrong. In the third and final part of the course we will consider more concretely several important moral issues: euthanasia, abortion, economic justice, and environmental ethics. Throughout, the course will be guided by the goals of (1) enhancing understanding of the central concepts and principles of ethics and (2) improving ethical reasoning, decision-making, and behavior.