Moral impossibility 3800-NZ-S1-23-ang
The seminar will be devoted to exploring the concept of moral impossibility, i.e. of what – for moral reasons – lies outside the range of possibilities available in one’s choices. While the existence of logical, empirical and psychological impossibilities is widely recognized, moral impossibilities are more controversial. However, they seem to exist and include the actions which we simply don’t consider, those we cannot make moral sense of, and those we consider but cannot bring ourselves to carry out. If such “blocades” could indeed be explained in moral terms, it would shed a new light both on the apparent limitations of ethical systems and on the nature of moral conflicts. During the seminar, we will therefore work towards 1) coming up with the criteria for distinguishing moral impossibility from other obstacles encountered in practical deliberation and moving from deliberation to action, and 2) establishing whether a coherent conceptual framework for moral impossibility can be proposed. If both goals are at least partially achieved, we will examine the implications of our results for the broader ethical theory.
Rodzaj przedmiotu
Koordynatorzy przedmiotu
Efekty kształcenia
The student knows and understands
- the main directions and some of the most important new achievements in the field of ethics, (K_W05)
- selected tendencies and positions in the contemporary moral philosophy. (K_W06)
The student is able to
- analyze philosophical arguments, identify their premises and their theses, as well as establish the logical relations between them. (K_U03)
- identify advanced argumentative strategies in written texts. (K_U04)
- choose argumentative strategies, construct advanced critical arguments, respond to criticism in an innovative way. (K_U08)
The student is ready to
- identify the gaps in his or her knowledge and skills and look for remedies. (K_K02)
- participate actively in the social and cultural life of his or her community; he or she is interested in the new philosophical ideas in their connection to other aspects of the social life and encourages others to implement them. (K_K05)
Kryteria oceniania
Active participation in the discussion.
Preparing and giving one classroom presentation
Number of absences: 2
Literatura
Panizza, S., (2021), „Forms of moral impossibility”, European Journal of Philosophy 30 (1).
Anscombe, E. (1958). Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy, 33 (124), 1– 19.
Frankfurt, H. (1998). Rationality and the unthinkable. In The importance of what we care about. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, B., (1981), “Internal and External Reasons”, in Moral Luck, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nagel, Th. (1993), “Moral Luck,” in Moral Luck, ed. Daniel Statman (State University of New York Press): 57-61.
Annas, J., (2004), “Being Virtuous and Doing the Right Thing,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association, Presidential Address, 78 (2): 61–75.
Audi, R., (2009), “Moral Virtue and Reasons for Action,” Philosophical Issues, 19: 1–20.
Besser-Jones, Lorraine, and Michael Slote (eds.), 2015, The Routledge Companion to Virtue Ethics, New York: Routledge – selected essays.
Flanagan, O., and Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (1990). Identity, Character, and Morality (MIT Press) – selected essays.
McKinnon, Ch. (1999). Character, Virtue Theories, and the Vices (Broadview Press) – fragments.
Williams, B., (1981), „Persons, character, and morality”, Moral Luck, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, B. (1993). Moral incapacity. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 93, 59– 70.
McDowell, J., (1979), “Virtue and Reason”, Monist, 62: 331–50.
McDowell, J. (1998). Are moral requirements hypothetical imperatives? In Mind, value and reality. Cambridge, MA; London, England: Harvard University Press.
The list of readings may be expanded.
Więcej informacji
Dodatkowe informacje (np. o kalendarzu rejestracji, prowadzących zajęcia, lokalizacji i terminach zajęć) mogą być dostępne w serwisie USOSweb: