Instructor:

Richard Lee (Office hours)

Course number:

PHIL 5913 (SAFARI number: 02743)

Time:

T 3:30 p.m. - 5:50 p.m.

Room:

MAIN 326

Pre-requisites:

Graduate standing or permission of the instructor

Brief Description:

This seminar will focus on the possibility of moral dilemmas. What are moral dilemmas? Can there be any genuine moral dilemmas, as distinguished from situations in which it is difficult to know what to do? What accounts for this possibility or impossibility? What implications are there of the possibility or impossibility of genuine moral dilemmas for moral theory? We will look primarily at recent writings of philosophers on this topic. The main text will be a 1996 collection edited by Mason, but we will also look at several papers that predate that collection.

Text:

• H. E. Mason, editor, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• Materials to be placed on reserve
• Materials available on the web

Other information:

• Course Requirements
• Important Dates
• Reading Schedule
• Policies
• Term Paper and Presentations
• Short Paper Assignments
• Questions to Teacher