Unit name | Ethics and Literature |
---|---|
Unit code | PHIL30094 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Burch-Brown |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
none |
School/department | Department of Philosophy |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will explore central topics within ethics, through critical engagement with a range of literary sources and philosophical texts. Drawing on plays, short stories, novels, and essays, the course will explore subjects like retribution and revenge; interpersonal conflict and reconciliation; moral responsibility and free will; and the nature of happiness and the good life.
The central questions we ask may include: what premises are used by agents to justify seeking revenge and retribution, and what competing pictures of justice are agents assuming when arguing for or against forgiveness? What circumstances must hold for agents to be morally responsible for what they do? To what extent are we the authors of our actions? Finally, turning to happiness and the good life: what makes a human life go well? In what ways do external circumstances like poverty and poor relationships constrain human prospects, and what circumstances promote human flourishing?
The final part of the course will involve applying some tools of textual analysis commonly used in the study of literature, to think about rhetoric, composition and dramatic form in philosophical writing.
At the end of the unit, students will be able to:
1. articulate, compare and critique alternative theoretical accounts of moral responsibility, retribution, and forgiveness
2. understand competing approaches to thinking about happiness and its relationship to the good life
3. think critically about some of the ways that social circumstances either promote or discourage human flourishing.
Students will have:
4. engaged thoughtfully with several classic works of literature and philosophy, and will be able to:
5. articulate their central themes.
Finally, they will be able to:
6. analyse both literary and philosophical pieces through close attention to text, compositional structure and rhetoric.
12 x 1-hour lectures + 12 x 1-hour seminars.
Summative assessment in three forms:
No formative essays – instead, the instructor will use the weekly journal as a chance to give feedback on progress.
The journal, essay and exam will assess ILOs 1-4: (1) knowledge of the philosophical literature; (2) critical understanding of central concepts and approaches; (3) ability to philosophically analyse the main arguments in the literature; (4) skills in philosophical writing and argumentation.
In addition to lectures and seminars, we will have a series of movie nights, with possible screenings including Shakespeare’s The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Kushner’s Angels in America, and Hank Rogerson’s documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars.