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Dowling College PHL 042A Ethics Dr. Christian Perring

Summer Session  60937 MTWR 5.30-7.25 p.m.

• First Paper Topic

This course has a couple of main goals:

1. To introduce you to some important current debates in ethics, and to some of the most historically influential views in ethics.
2. To develop your skills at forming your own moral views as rationally and carefully as possible.

• This requires that you become able to read the work of different writers and understand what the writers are trying to say, how they argue for their view, and how the view in question compares to the views of other thinkers.
• You need to be able express the writer's argument in your own words, and to be able to correct other people's mistakes in explaining the argument.
• Then you need to be able to assess the argument for its strengths and weaknesses, and engage in discussion with other people about those strengths and weaknesses.
• Finally, you need to be able to formulate your own views on the topic in question, and be able to argue for your own view as effectively as possible. You need to be able to explain and defend your views in discussion with other people.

The form of the teaching will be lectures in which discussion is encouraged and sometimes insisted upon, combined with some occasions where the class will split up into smaller discussion groups, and also will have structured debates.

The reading assignments for each class will be about 5-20 pages. (You need to read any piece of philosophy at least twice before you will really begin to understand it.) There will be 7 quizzes during the semester that will make up a total of 15% of your grade. Each student will have to do a presentation, which will be worth 15%. In addition there will be one 3-page paper (10 %),  and one 6-page paper (30%). Students will be required to write a draft of the final paper.  Class participation, is worth 5% of your total grade. Attendance in class is worth 10% of your grade. If you attend all but one class, you get the full 5%, and for every class missed without legitimate excuse after that you lose 3%, and this can go into the negative.

All writing assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. It is your responsibility to make sure you have your own copy of any draft or paper that you hand in, in case the copy you give me gets mislaid.  Your written work should be in grammatical English, with correct spelling; persistent errors will reduce your grade. You are expected to read assignments before each class and be ready to discuss them. You may be called on in class to explain one of the readings. Out of class work should average about 15 hours per week.

Journal: After each class, you should spend at least 15 minutes reflecting on the topic discussed, and you should write several sentences (at least 150 words) summing up what you learned and your opinion about the issues that we discussed, or raising concerns you have about the class. You will hand in this writing each week. You can either do this in a book journal or on a disk, with each entry clearly dated.  I will assess this work for its thoroughness, thoughtfulness and creativity. Worth 15% of your grade.

By the second class (May 25), you should give me your top three preferences for which presentation you would like to do.  The presentation topics are listed in the schedule below.   By the fourth class (May 27), I will let you know which presentation you will do. In your 15-20 minute presentation, you need to summarize different ethical ideas on the topic you are presenting on, and also give some commentary about those ideas. You will be assessed according to a checklist of criteria, which will include the research you did, how effectively you explained the ideas, and how well you managed to generate class discussion.
 

Book: Thirteen Questions in Ethics and Social Philosophy, Second Edition, edited by Bowie, Higgins and Michaels. (HBJ, 1998)

Schedule (dates are only approximate, and texts may be changed)

Links

Confidentiality and Truth Telling

• Senate Bill 1360 - Medical Records Confidentiality Act of 1995
• Medical/Psychiatric Records, the EMR and the Ethical Challenge of Confidentiality, by Maria T. Lymberis, M.D. (1996)
• Review of Reporting Requirements for Psychiatrists (in Massachusetts), by James T. Hilliard, Esq.
• Men of Zeal: Snoops and Paparazzi, by Herbert S. Sacks, M.D.
• Computerized Patient Records Said to Threaten Confidentiality
• The Newest Federal Privilege: Jaffee v. Redmond and the Protection of Psychotherapeutic Confidentiality, by Paul A. Lombardo, Ph.D., J.D.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center: Medical Record Privacy
• Jaffee v. Redmond: Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege in the Federal Courts, by Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D.
• Jaffee v. Redmond Decision
• APA Confidentiality Issues
• PROFESSIONAL DISCLOSURE OF FAMILIAL GENETIC INFORMATION, by ASHG Social Issues Subcommittee on Familial Disclosure
• Starbright


Sexuality

• Teen Sexuality in a Culture of Confusion
• Infoseek list of sexual harassment sites
• Yahoo sex crimes site list
• Looksmart sexual harassment site list
• Looksmart rape and sexual assault site list
• Snap sex crimes site list
• The Antioch College Sexual Offense Prevention Policy
• Deb Price / The Detroit News: Animals show homosexuality is natural

Affirmative Action

• Proposition 209, by James Taub, NY Times, May 2, 1999

Existentialism Life and Times of Simone de Beauvoir

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sexuality and Force Date Rape: Feminism, Philosophy, and the Law, edited by Leslie Francis, Pennsylvania State Univ Press, 1996	Debating Sexual Correctness: Pornography, Sexual Harassment, Date Rape, and the Politics of Sexual Equality, edited by Adele M. Stan, Delta Books, 1995	Sexual Consent, by David Archard, Westview Press, 1998
Confidentiality and Truth Telling Psychotherapy and Confidentiality: Testimonial Privileged Communication, Breach of Confidentiality, and Reporting Duties, Ralph Slovenko	Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era, Mark A. Rothstein (Editor)

• Health Care and Information Ethics: Protecting Fundamental Human Rights, Audrey R. Chapman (Editor)
• AIDS/HIV and Confidentiality: Model Policy and Procedures, Sharon Rennert
• Confidentiality Versus the Duty to Protect: Foreseeable Harm in the Practice of Psychiatry (Issues in Psychiatry), James C. Beck (Editor)