Unit information: Ethics and Literature in 2014/15

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

Description including Unit Aims

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.

Intended Learning Outcomes

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.

Teaching Information

12 x 1-hour lectures + 12 x 1-hour seminars.

Assessment Information

Summative assessment in three forms:

• Essay (2,000 words) 40%.
• Exam (2 questions in 2 hours) 50%.
• Weekly journal 10%. Students will be asked to submit 10 entries in total over the course of the term, generally on a weekly basis prior to seminars. Entries should be 300-500 words. The student should use the journal entries to give a brief summary of one of the week’s readings, and then to reflect freely on the reading. For instance, in what ways is the author’s argument persuasive, and in what ways is it unpersuasive? What further questions does it raise, and how does it fit in with other material from the course?

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.

Reading and References

• Aristotle, Poetics.
• David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Principles of Morals.
• Harry Frankfurt, 'Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting it Right'
• Daniel Haybron. (2010). The Pursuit of Unhappiness. Oxford: OUP.
• Shakespeare, William. (2008 [1940]). Merchant of Venice. London: Vintage Classics.
• Shakespeare Behind Bars (documentary).
• Austen, Jane. (2004 [1811]). Sense and Sensibility. London: Penguin.
• McEwan, Ian. (2010). Solar. London: Vintage.
• Watson, Gary (2004). Agency and Answerability. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Fischer, John Martin and Mark Ravizza. (1993) Perspectives on Moral Responsibility. London: Cornell University Press.

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.