PHIL 760.001 & 002 – Advanced Studies in Moral Theory

Instructors: Margaret Shea and Alex Worsnip. This course meets W 12:20 – 2:50 p.m. in PE 2066.

This seminar will explore a cluster of questions about how (if at all) our ignorance and uncertainty—both about morally-relevant descriptive facts and about moral facts themselves—affect what morality requires of us. Topics will include at least some of the following: objectivism vs. perspectivism about moral obligation; whether moral ignorance exculpates; how we ought to take account of moral uncertainty; epistemic dimensions of moral luck; epistemic conditions on moral responsibility; internalism vs. externalism about moral norms; the relationship between epistemic and moral duties; and actualism vs. possibilism about moral obligation. We’ll read work by at least some of the following: Krister Bykvist, Peter Graham, Elizabeth Harman, Renee Jorgensen, Benjamin Kiesewetter, Zoe Johnson King, William MacAskill, Gideon Rosen, Chelsea Rosenthal, Andrew Sepielli, Holly Smith, Declan Smithies, Brian Weatherson, and Michael Zimmerman.