Philosophy 2133 F

   Virtue Theory

       Fall 2007

 

Larkin 200                                                                                                                                           Professor Gopal Sreenivasan

Tuesday 12-3                                                                                                                                       Jackman Building  425

                                                                                                                                                            gopal.sreenivasan@utoronto.ca

 

 

 

Provisional Reading Schedule

 

 

September 11   Introduction.  No reading.

 

S 18                 Adams, A Theory of Virtue (Oxford, 2006), chh. 1-3

                        Hurka, “Virtuous Acts, Virtuous Dispositions,” Analysis 66 (2006): 69-76

 

S 25                 Hurka, Virtue, Vice, and Value (Oxford, 2001), chh. 1-2

 

October 2        Hursthouse, On Virtue Ethics (Oxford, 1999), ch. 8

 

O 9                  Adams, ch. 4

                        Driver, Uneasy Virtue (Cambridge, 2001), chh. 3-4

 

O 16                Adams, chh. 5-7

 

O 23                Ross and Nisbett, The Person and the Situation (1991), chh. 1 & 5

                        Doris, “Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics,” Noûs 32 (1998): 504-30

                        Doris, Lack of Character (Cambridge, 2002), chh. 2-3

                        Harman, “Moral Philosophy Meets Social Psychology,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 99 (1999): 315-331

 

O 30                Adams, chh. 8-9

 

November 6     Sreenivasan, “Errors About Errors:  Virtue Theory and Trait Attribution,” Mind 111 (2002):  47-68

 

N 13                McDowell, “Virtue and Reason,” Monist (1979): 331-50

                        Badhwar, “The Limited Unity of Virtue,” Noûs 30 (1996):  306-29

Irwin, “Practical Reason Divided:  Aquinas and his Critics” in Cullity and Gaut (eds.) Ethics and Practical Reason (1997), ch. 7

 

N 20                Adams, chh. 10-11

 

N 27                Sreenivasan, Emotion and Virtue, ch. 3

 

December 4     Adams, ch. 12

                        Sreenivasan, ch. 11

 

 

Readings

 

Most of the readings will be available, at least one week in advance, as something to photocopy.  The rest, i.e. some of the journal articles, will be available online.

 

If you are definitely interested in the topic, I recommend that you simply buy the Adams book, though I have not ordered any.  OUP direct and Barnes&Noble are cheaper than Amazon.ca.

 

 

Grades

 

If you would like a grade in this course, you will have to write a term paper (20 pages).  In that case, you must observe the following dates:

 

            October 30:                  One page topic proposal, due by e-mail attachment.

            November 23:              Draft of term paper, due by e-mail attachment.

            December 17:               Final version of term paper, due on dead trees.

 

You will get comments back on your draft, to which you should attend in preparing the final version.  You will get the comments at least one week before the final deadline and at most two weeks before.

 

 

Office hours

 

Tuesdays 4-5.   I will also hold office hours by appointment.

 

 

 

 

11 September, 2007