Introduction to Value Theory
Course-description:
Every day we are confronted by decisions about how to act. One of the important considerations
that often goes into our decision-making process is what moral characteristics our options seem
to us to have. But what does it really mean for an action to be morally right or wrong, and how
do we know? Is rightness and wrongness automatically out there in the natural world, or is it in
our minds or constructed by our societies? In this class, we will look into these and other
questions surrounding our moral practices.
By the end of this class, you should be able to:
 Read and understand philosophical texts
 Accurately reconstruct and explain the arguments of others, even when you do not agree
with their conclusions
 Think critically about philosophical arguments and issues and construct arguments of
your own, in discussion and in writing
Requirements:
 Attendance at all classes, along with participation in discussion and group work
 Readings finished before class, with 1-2 sentence responses emailed to me by 4pm the
day before class
 Completion (on time) of 2 explanatory essays (2 pages each), 2 critical essays (5-7 pages
each), and a final exam
Readings:
There is one required textbook for this class: Ethics: Essential Readings in Moral Theory
by George Sher. There will also be some supplementary readings, which will be uploaded
for online access.
Other Policies:
Plagiarism: Every student in this course is expected to abide by this university’s
Academic Code of Integrity. Any work submitted for academic credit must be the
student's own work. If you are ever unsure about whether what you are doing counts as
plagiarism, just come talk to me or send me an email before you turn your assignment in,
and we can make sure you are producing your own work—not somebody else’s. There is
no penalty at all for talking to me about whether your paper counts as plagiarism before
you hand it in!
Deadlines: Writing about philosophy can be challenging. If you need a deadlineextension on your work, don’t panic—just ask! As long as you let me know that you need
an extension at least two days before the paper due date, we will probably be able to work
something out. Outside of extensions, all work needs to be turned in on time. Late work
will receive a mark-down of half of a letter grade for every day it is late.
Electronics: My default is to disallow the use of electronics during class. I will allow
students to bring laptops and tablets, however, on days when we are using the
supplemental readings that I post online. If you would like to be able to take notes on an
electronic device regularly or would like to request any other type of exception to this
policy, please send me an email or come talk to me, and we can discuss the possibility!
Grading:
 Participation (attendance, discussion): 10%
 Homework/Groupwork (emails, in class group work): 10%
 Essays (2 Explanatory Essays (10% each), Critical Essay 1 (15%), Critical Essay 2
(25%)): 60%
 Final Exam: 20%
Some Readings, Arranged by Topic:
Metaethical Questions
Plato, “Euthyphro”
Shafer-Landau, “Tolerance” (from Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?)
Sinnott-Armstrong, “Moral Skepticism”
Korsgaard, “The Authority of Norms”
Nagel, “The Objectivity of Ethics”
Ayer, “The Emotive Theory of Ethics”
Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Values”
Moral Theories
Bentham, “Pleasure as the Good”
Mill, “Utilitarianism”
Williams, “A Critique of Utilitarianism”
Kant, “Morality and Rationality”
Langton, “Maria von Herbert’s Challenge to Kant”
Green, “The Secret Joke of Kant’s Soul”
Nussbaum, “Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelean Approach”
Nietzsche, “Beyond Morality”
Doris, “A Situationist Theory of Character”
Held, “Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory”
Moral Responsibility and Motivation
Feinberg, “Psychological Egoism”
Singer, “Famine, Affluence and Morality”
Wolf, “Moral Saints”
Thompson, “A Defense of Abortion”
Frankfurt, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”
Stawson, “Freedom and Resentment”
Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”