PHIL 860.001 – Research Seminar in Moral Theory

Instructor: Thomas E. Hill, Jr. This course meets R 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. in CW 213.

In this seminar we will focus on several topics that are familiar in ordinary moral experience and raise important questions in normative ethical theory.  These will probably include several, if not all, of the following: ethical ideals beyond duty, how we should conceive of virtue, whether we always choose under the guise of the good, weakness of will and hypocrisy, self-regarding virtues and responsibilities, respect and appreciation, and how compromise and deviation from standard virtues may be justified in severely non-ideal conditions. Readings of selected essays and texts (posted on Sakai) from classic and contemporary sources, including among others Kant and Hill.  Intended for graduate students.  Assignments: participation, several short papers and a term paper.  As this is my last seminar before retirement, my aim to raise questions that I have especially captured my attention for many years, to consider contemporary responses, and to lay out some of my own broadly and critically Kantian thoughts about them.