22/3/2017 Syllabus|EthicsinYourLife:Being,Thinking,Doing(orNot?

)|LinguisticsandPhilosophy|MITOpenCourseWare

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HomeCoursesLinguisticsandPhilosophyEthicsinYourLife:Being,Thinking,Doing(orNot?)Syllabus

Syllabus
COURSE HOME CourseMeetingTimes

Seminars:1session/week,1.5hours/session
SYLLABUS
Prerequisites

CALENDAR Therearenoprerequisitesforthiscourse.

CourseDescription
THIS COURSE AT
Whatisyourresponsibilitytotheglobalpoor,thehomeless,thedisenfranchised?Isthedeathpenaltymorallypermissible,andifso,underwhat
MIT conditions?Isitpermissibleforthestatetocontractwithforprofitprisons?Whatsacrifices,ifany,shouldwemaketoprotecttheenvironment?
Whatisourrighttouse"naturalresources,"suchaswater?Isnuclearenergyworththerisk?Whatmoralandpoliticalissuesarerelevantwhen
wechoosewhattoeat?
READINGS ThiscourseisaseminarmadepossiblethroughacollaborationbetweenRadiusandthePhilosophysectionofMIT.Theseminarisaplaceto
buildrelationships,shareresources,exploretoolsforsolvingethicalproblems,andgainskillsforclarifyingyourpersonalandvocational
principles.Topicscanvarydependingonexpressedinterestsofthegroupandcurrentcriticalissuessuchaspoliticalchangeandmovements,
ASSIGNMENTS environmentaland/orhumancatastrophe,globalconflict,andlocaltopics.

Requirements
QUESTIONS FOR
DISCUSSION ClassParticipation
Eachseminarmeetingwillincludeinteractiveteachingonaparticulartopic,designedtoequipstudentsforreflectionandaction.Studentsare
expectedtoattendeveryseminar.Ifyoucannotmakeaseminar,pleasecontactoneoftheinstructorsbeforehand.
DOWNLOAD COURSE Events
MATERIALS Duringthesemester,studentswillbeexpectedtoattendthreeRadiuseventsorpublicforumsorotherpertinentpubliclectures,films,plays,
paneldiscussionsofferedatMITandbeyond.Thosewhoareunabletoattendaneventrecommendedbyaninstructormaysubstitutean
alternativeeventapprovedbyoneoftheinstructors.

OutsideofClass
Studentswillbeexpectedtobeindialoguewithoneanotheronlinebetweenmeetingsthroughtheclasswebsite.Thisisanexcellentwayto
continueanddeependiscussionbegunduringclass.

ReadingandWriting
Thereisverylittlerequiredreading,butlinkstorecommendedreadingsandotherresourcescanbefoundintheReadingssection.Studentsare
encouragedtoreadthesuggestedmaterialandexploreadditionalresourcesforinformation.
Studentsarerequiredtosubmitthreeshort(roughly250300word)reflectionpapersoverthecourseoftheterminresponsetotheoutside
eventsyouattend.Thereflectionsaredueatintervalsduringthesemester.

Presentations
Duringthelastclassoftheterm,eachstudentwillgivea57minutepresentationontheirownethicalperspective,asdevelopedoverthecourse
oftheterm.
Thereisnofinalexam.

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22/3/2017 Syllabus|EthicsinYourLife:Being,Thinking,Doing(orNot?)|LinguisticsandPhilosophy|MITOpenCourseWare
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