Teaching
Recent Teaching
Equality and Impartiality, Spring 2008
Moral and political philosophies are often structured in terms of equality and impartiality. We will examine the importance of these two concepts by discussing such questions as how the state should distribute or redistribute wealth, whether nationalism and patriotism make sense, and whether we should be impartial toward the needs of our loved ones as against needs of distant strangers. A significant part of the course will involve a close reading of classic works by Rawls and Nozick.
Core Value Seminar, Spring 2008
The goal of this graduate seminar is to survey some of the major trends in recent work on value theory. To that end, the course will be broken into three parts. In the first, we will read major texts on meta-ethics, broadly conceived; in the second, we will take up problems in normative ethics arising from consequentialism; and in the third section we will confront issues of future generations. We will conclude with a discussion of The End of the World. Texts will include the Darwall, Gibbard, Railton reader, Scheffler's Rejection of Consequentialism, and selections from Parfit's Reasons and Persons.
Other classes taught
- Contemporary Ethical Theory
- Proseminar in Philosophy, Politics and Public Policy
- The Ethics of Killing and Dying
Handouts
- Equality, Priority and Sufficiency PDF
- Rawls' Political Philosophy PDF
- Arguments for and against Abortion PDF
- Analyzing Arguments: Validity and Soundness PDF
- The Iran-Iraq War PDF
- Controversial Religious Texts PDF