Course Objectives

In recent Western moral philosophy, "virtue ethics" has been undergoing a renaissance: many philosophers have been attracted to this approach to ethics that emphasizes a person's character and cultivated dispositions, rather than a rule-centured approach to right and wrong. Since the virtue ethics approach was more popular prior to the 20th century, philosophers have looked back to a variety of historical thinkers for inspiration, including Aristotle, Hume, and Nietzsche. In this course, we will explore the merits of drawing on thinkers from the Confucian tradition to develop virtue ethics. In what ways do Confucian thinkers lend themselves to being understood as virtue ethicists? What new stimuli might Confucianism offer to contemporary philosophers who so far have only drawn on Western sources? Is it fruitful to talk about a contemporary version of Confucianism that can enter into dialogue with both contemporary Western virtue ethicists and their critics?

Readings and Position Papers

The course will revolve around the reading and discussion of both contemporary works and classical (and a few early-modern) texts from China and Europe. It is vital that you come to class having read the day's assignment, ready to discuss or ask questions about its key points. In the interest of preparing you for such discussion, each week each student must post one position paper on the course BlackBoard by 10 a.m. on Friday morning. In this paper you will briefly assess the reading(s) for that class and state one or more positions on questions raised by the readings. You might choose to concentrate on issues you find particularly compelling, or mysterious, or maddening. These positions are of course preliminary: we will all, I expect, revise our views after in-depth discussion in class (and afterward).

Readings will be from three books that I have ordered through Broad Street Books, and numerous articles and book chapters available through Electronic Reserve. The books are:

• Jennifer Welchman, ed., The Practice of Virtue
• Ivanhoe and Van Norden, eds., Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy
• Paul Woodruff, Reverence

On-Line Discussion

In addition to in-class discussion, we will all have the opportunity to take part in further discussions via BlackBoard, a web-based discussion forum. This should provide opportunities to float ideas, ask questions about difficult passages, and pursue issues in more depth than we have time for in class. I will respond to questions when appropriate, but I hope that you all will strive to help one another out by offering your own answers whenever possible.

Participation in BlackBoard discussion is required, and the requirement is simple: everyone must post at least one message a week—on top of your pre-class position paper. You can certainly post more than one message, and you can post at any time throughout the week.

Papers

Three writing assignments are required for the course: two 4 page papers and a 15 page research paper. I will suggest topics for the first two, but you are also free to develop your own topic, perhaps based on postings you have made on WebBoard. The paper topics will be assigned and papers due as follows:

Each short paper will count for 1/6 of your final grade. The research paper will count as 3/6. The remaining 1/6 will come from my weekly assessment of your performance both in-class and on-line.

My office is Russell House 216; my office hours will be Tuesday 1:30-2:30, Wednesday 3:00-4:00, and Friday 11:00-12:00. I'm happy to find another time to meet with you if these times won't work; just speak to me after class.

My phone number is x3654; my email address is "sangle@wesleyan.edu."