Life and Death


Course# V83.0017, Second Session, Summer 2007



Course description:

This course will focus on the metaphysics and ethics of death. We'll begin with metaphysical questions: what exactly is death? Is it the only way that life can end, or only one of several options? Is it the sort of thing it is even rational for us to fear? Does the idea of survival after death make sense? Later on, (after a crash-course in ethical theory) we'll move on to specific issues in ethics, including euthanasia, abortion and the question of the moral status of animals. No background in philosophy is required, but the discussion will be focused and rigorous.


The required books are:

For those interested in the more abstract ethical issues we'll touch on, I recommend: I know that at least the Feldman is easy to get online for a lot less. If you do buy your books online, make sure to get the third edition of Ethics in Practice.



Course Documents


Syllabus

A guide to reconstructing arguments


Handouts:

Week 1
The meaning of 'death' 		Week 2
Why not to fear death 		Week 3
Why to fear death 		Week 4
The right to die 		Week 5
Abortion and death penalty 		Week 6
Death of animals
6-26 Handout 7-02 Handout 7-09 Handout 7-17 Handout 7-23 Handout 7-30 Handout
6-27 Handout 7-03 Handout 7-10 Handout 7-19 Handout 7-24 Handout
 7-31 Handout
6-28 Handout 7-05 Handout (by Jon Simon) 7-11 Handout 7-25 Handout
7-12 Handout 7-26 Handout


Problem Sets and Study Guide:

Problem Set #1 Problem Set #2 Problem Set #3 Problem Set #4 Final Study Guide



Links

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Entry on Life
A fairly detailed discussion of attempts to define 'life' within the scientific community in the 20th century.

Jim Pryor's guides to reading and writing philosophy. Strongly recommended.

Fred Feldman's own website.
Contains a number of papers related to his Confrontations with the Reaper. He's also selling a motorcycle.

A readable version of some chapters from Locke's Essay.
For those with an interest in metaphysics, and a historical bent, chapter xxvii of Book II (especially sections 1-9) might be useful with respect to the metaphysical issues in Chapter 6 of Feldman's book.

This is something weird.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Kant's moral philosophy.
Good background for the various references to Kant we'll encounter (in Velleman's articles in particular).

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on rights
Jeff Sebo recommended this - the notion of a right comes up a lot in the material we're covering in the second half of the class.






Things To Look At