Quiz POSTPONED until NEXT Friday  (11/16): on the moral theories we’ve discussed, related readings, homosexuality and maybe a lil’ bit on morality and religion. MORE DETAILS FORTHCOMING. 

Study guide due Wed 11/14, both online and in hardcopy. 

A group project assignment:

Create your own group of 3 or 4 students. If you cannot find a group, you will be assigned to one.

Create a webpage or blog (on Blogger, Wordpress, Google Sites, wherever) where you present and evaluate at least five arguments for the view that homosexuality is wrong.

You must also explain the methods that you will use to evaluate these arguments, in terms of finding conclusions, finding premises, making the arguments valid and identifying whether the arguments are sound or not (including using counterexamples to try to argument that general moral premises are false). On your page(s), you must:

Identify what you mean by the claim that 'homosexuality is wrong'; this might be different for different arguments.
Identify at least five arguments for that conclusion: pick arguments that you think are interesting, common and/or influential.
State these arguments in logically valid form.
For each argument, explain whether each premise is true or false and so whether the argument is sound or not.

Your webpage/blog should have an introduction and a conclusion and so forth.

The purpose for this assignment, instead of a paper, is for you to construct a public teaching tool to help people better find and evaluate moral arguments and then apply it to the issue of homosexuality. (Your teaching tool can, and probably will, be used with other issues later in the semester!).

Due in 2 weeks, Monday, Nov. 12. Please email Dr. Nobis the URL and bring a printout of the page to class!

Richard Feldman on “Simple Moral Arguments”: http://sites.google.com/site/nobisphilosophy/feldman-simple-moral-arguments.pdf 

Argument worksheet: http://sites.google.com/site/nobisphilosophy/homosexuality-arguments.pdf

or
http://aphilosopher.googlepages.com/homosexuality-arguments.doc

http://aphilosopher.googlepages.com/homosexuality-arguments.pdf

Today:
- "Cultural relativism" in Elements of Moral Philosophy
- Female genital mutilation; article: "What's Culture Got to Do with it? Excising the Harmful Tradition of Female Circumcision"  from the Harvard Law Review

Friday:
- please read, in the Right Thing to Do, "Our Sexual Ethics" by Bertrand Russell and
"Monogamy: A Critique". Be prepared to discuss!

Monday: 
TBA: video by John Corvino on homosexuality.


Wednesday:
Read and write a detailed summary or outline of these readings below and reaction to their arguments and main claims:
- Elements of Moral Philosophy, Ch. 3, the sections on "Are there proofs in ethics?" and "The question of homosexuality"
- The Right Thing to Do, A Few Words About Gay Marriage. Andrew Sullivan
- The Right Thing to Do, Same-Sex Marriage and the Argument from Public Disagreement, David Boonin
These should be turned in in class, in hardcopy, and via Turnitin.

As mentioned, a contemporary philosopher named Tom Regan is someone who critiques Kant's ethics yet builds upon it in constructing an arguably better moral theory. So that you might be more familiar with how Regan does this, here is an extra credit reading and writing assignment on an article (that is a short version of a book) called "The Case for Animal Rights." The article is available here:
http://ethicsandanimals.googlepages.com/regancase_for_animal_rights.pdf
and


Also: http://www.ebah.com.br/content/ABAAAenWQAG/the-case-for-animal-rights


Your assignment is this:
1. Read the article carefully, following all of Vaughn's advice on reading.
2. Write an essay (not merely notes or a summary) where you explain (a) Regan's main goals and conclusions of his essay and (b) reviews each moral theory that Regan discusses and explains his objections to the theory and (c) explains how Regan argues that (some) animals have moral rights.

If you do the assignment, do an excellent job!

Due next Friday, Nov. 2 in class and on Turnitin.com

Also, considering checking out Youtube for videos with Tom Regan, Google his name and check out Google scholar for discussion of his work.

68th Annual Family Institute Conference
October 14-17, 2012

Schedule

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Sunday, October 14
2:30-4:50pm Wheeler Hall Rm. 214F	FACES Advisory Board Meeting
5:00-5:50pm Executive Conference Center Banquet Rooms	Pre Event Meet & Greet / Reception with VIP’s
6:00-8:30pm Executive Conference Center Banquet Rooms	Welcome Banquet and Opening Plenary Hosted by President Dr. Robert Franklin, President of Morehouse College Keynote: Michael Kimmel
Monday, October 15
9:00am-5pm Motorola Lobby	Conference Registration
9:00-10:30am Executive Conference Center Meeting Rooms A-F	Concurrent Sessions Moderators: Critical Thinking Leaders Session I:  The Power of Teaching Entrepreneurship to Black Children. Presenter: Ms. Samora Sobakwe-SoDaye Session II: The Masculinity Project. Presenters: Mr. DeWayne Powell and Mr. Daniel Edwards Session III: Transitions in Manhood: A Global Perspective Presenter: Dr. Mohanty Purna; Lineal Regeneration: Managing the Assets of Masculinity. Presenter: Mr. Charles Williams
11:00-12:30 Bank of America Auditorium	Plenary Session Men and African American Families Panelists: Michael Messner; Jennifer Hammer, Adia Harvey-Winfield, and Armon Perry
12:30-1:30pm	****LUNCH on your OWN ***
1:00-2:50pm Wheeler Hall Rm. 214F	Film Screening “Tough Guise” written by Jackson Katz Open forum discussion to follow Moderator: Dr. Anne Borden and Dr. M. Bilal King
3:00-5:00pm Bank of America Auditorium	Plenary Session Religion and Sexuality: The Role of Religion in Understanding Sexuality Panelists: Dr. Harold Bennett, Rev. Ernest Brooks, Mr. Chavis Jones. Moderator: Dr. Josef Sorett
6:00-8:00pm Bank of America Auditorium	Film Screening of “Hoodwinked”: What Black Men Think. Open forum discussion to follow Moderator: Mr. Janks Morton
Tuesday, October 16
9:00-5:00pm   Motorola Lobby	Registration
10:45-1:00pm African American Hall of Fame	Conference Luncheon Men Stopping Violence against Women Panelists: Dr. Anne Baird; Dr. Cynthia Neal Spence; Dr. Halbrook Polite, and Mr. Ramesh Kathanadhi (Men Stopping Violence)
1:00-2:15pm Executive Conference Center Meeting Rooms A-F	Concurrent Sessions Moderators:Dr. Fred Knight Session IV: Resonant Echoes: From Morehouse Men and Mentors-Benjamin Mays, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr. -21st Century issues of Personal Identity among Men at Morehouse. Presenters: Professors Dr. Kipton E. Jensen, Dr. Sam Livingston, and Dr. Illya Davis, Kyle Moore (student), Chavis Jones (student), and Katanga Johnson (student) Session V: Black Male Fathers: A Workshop. Presenter: Dr. Narviar Barker
2:25-3:40pm Executive Conference Center Meeting Rooms A-F	Plenary Session Black Masculinity and Health Outcomes Panelists: Dr. William L. Jeffries IV, Dr. Robert Aronson, and Mr. Robert B. Peterson
3:50-5:05 Executive Conference Center Meeting Rooms A-F	Concurrent Sessions Moderators:Dr. Fred Knight Session VI. Faculty interaction with campus diversity: Moderators: Dr. Linda Zatlin and Mr. Tre'vell Anderson; Discussants: FACULTY of Morehouse College (Faculty Session) Session VII. Integrating Masculinities and Sexualities into the Classroom. Presenters: Dr. Nathan Nobis; Dr. Anne Borden Gender Differences in Navigating Guyland. Presenter: Dr. Donald Gregory
6:30-9:00pm Ray Charles Performing Arts Center	Theatrical Presentation: “Emergency” Obie Award Winner Daniel Beaty Performance is 80 minutes and an informed discussion will follow the play.
Wednesday, October 17
10:00-11:50am Bank of America Leadership Auditorium	Anna Harvin Grant Student Paper Competition The First, Second, and Third Place student winners will present their work in a plenary session. Student Presenters TBA
12:00-1:00pm	Lunch on your own
1:00-2:30pm Wheeler Hall Rm. 214F	Word on the Campus: Student Dialogs What does it mean to be a “Man” at Morehouse College in the 21st Century? Moderator: Devon Lambert   Closing Remarks: Dr. Michael Hodge, Chair Department of Sociology, Morehouse College

Note the update below!

For Monday, Oct. 8: detailed summary or outline of Vaughn, Chs. 5 and 6 Due in class in hardcopy and via Turnitin.

Wednesday we will conclude our discussion of Kant's ethics.

For Friday, Oct. 12: PAPER, that should be informed by the guidance from Vaughn. 

Please write a paper where you:
- explain what moral theories are and what they do;
- states and explains the utilitarian moral theory OR states and explains Kant's moral theory;
- presents at least one objection (from class or the book) to the utilitarian moral theory OR  at least one objection to Kant's moral theory: note: an objection is an argument for the conclusion that the view is false.
- explains how utilitarians OR Kantians would respond to these objections
- explains which view YOU think is the better moral theory - utilitarianism, Kantianism (or some combination of them??) and WHY.

* Note: If you would like to do both Utilitarianism and Kant's ethics, as the previous version of this assignment required, you are free to do so!

3-5 pages. This should be clear, well organized, grammatical, with an introduction. And it should conform to all the guidance on writing from Vaughn.

Recommended: read this too: http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html 

For Wednesday (and Friday) we will discuss the Elements of Moral Philosophy's two chapters on Kant's ethics. Please read those for Wednesday, as was mentioned last Friday.

Stay tuned for more assignments!