PHIL 296 - Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory

FDR: HU
Credits: 3 credits in fall-winter-spring, 4 in spring

A consideration of selected issues in philosophy. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2022, PHIL 296A-01: Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory: Authority (3). In this seminar, we will analyze issues surrounding the justification of political authority in modern and contemporary political philosophy. When is a political authority or the state morally legitimate? When is the state morally justified in coercing members of society subject to its authority to do what they otherwise might not want to do, from paying taxes to registering for potential military conscription? The state might have authority if people consent to its government or because it provides benefits (i.e., the benefits following from the rule of law and maintenance of public order and security). If the state or a political authority is legitimate, and has the moral right to rule, people might have duties to obey the rules and laws it issues. However, there might be cases where the state has de facto authority, in that it has the power to enforce its laws or rules, but is illegitimate, and so people have no moral duty to obey it. (HU) Zapata.

Winter 2022, PHIL 296A-01: Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory: Daily Ethics of Social Trust (3). This seminar looks at the effects of our daily behavior on social trust. What makes someone trustworthy in the eyes of others? How do political leaders and institutions build trust? By what mechanisms do we lose trust in our friends, communities, and values? We will consider social trust in relation to some of today’s most pressing ethical, existential, and political issues. These include the role of reputation and social recognition, the social dynamics of belief in science and experts, the moral demands of hospitality, and the ways in which unfair economic practices and discrimination impair social trust. I hope that by the end of the term we will all have a better understanding of how our modern daily lives are capable of upsetting trust in our fellow citizens, institutions and values, and the global community at large. (HU) Quinonez.

Fall 2021, PHIL 296A-01: Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory: Philosophy of Education (3). Students compete ferociously for the opportunity to pay large sums of money for the privilege of attending Washington and Lee University. The value of the educational experience they receive is usually taken to be self-evident. Less obvious, however, is the nature of education itself. What is education? Which purposes can and should it serve? Which curricular and extra-curricular programs best accomplish those purposes? These questions about the nature of education are essential to philosophy, and also to the history and future of W&L. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle philosophers have sought to determine the educational practices most conducive to human wisdom and flourishing. American liberal arts colleges offer a distinctive form of educational experience, and thus a distinctive response to this philosophical challenge. Students will read and discuss classic texts in the philosophy of education in close conjunction with materials concerning the emergence and present practices of liberal arts colleges in America. Special attention will be paid to W&L, and students will be encouraged to reflect upon their own educational goals and choices in light of the philosophical works that they read. (HU) Dudley.

Fall 2021, PHIL 296B-01: Seminar in Ethics and Value Theory: Daily Ethics of Social Trust (3). This seminar looks at the effects of our daily behavior on social trust. What makes someone trustworthy in the eyes of others? How do political leaders and institutions build trust? By what mechanisms do we lose trust in our friends, communities, and values? We will consider social trust in relation to some of today’s most pressing ethical, existential, and political issues. These include the role of reputation and social recognition, the social dynamics of belief in science and experts, the moral demands of hospitality, and the ways in which unfair economic practices and discrimination impair social trust. I hope that by the end of the term we will all have a better understanding of how our modern daily lives are capable of upsetting trust in our fellow citizens, institutions and values, and the global community at large. (HU) Quinonez.