Course Objectives

To use literary works to explore the ethical concerns that shape humanistic inquiry.

Expectations

In order to accomplish this objective, students must read the selected works of literature with a critical eye and discuss their ideas in the classroom. Active student participation in our small seminar discussions will be crucial to the outcomes of this class. Some of the works on the list of required readings are very long and difficult, and students need to come to class prepared to discuss them.

Students will receive grades based on an in-class presentation, an annotated bibliography, a working draft and a final draft of a research paper that analyzes the ethics of a chosen work from the reading list.

Your grade will depend primarily on your written work and the understanding of the material that you convey through that work. A command of standard written English and the ability to present an argument will also contribute to the determination of your grade. Any infractions against UMD's Scholastic Dishonesty provisions in the Student Conduct Code as stated in the UMD catalogue will receive serious attention and appropriate penalties.

Academic dishonesty tarnishes the reputation of the University of Minnesota Duluth and discredits the accomplishments of its students. Because the university is committed to providing students every possible opportunity to grow in mind and spirit, it must insist on an environment of trust, honest, and fairness. Consequently, all members of the academic community must regard any act of academic dishonesty as a serious offense. In keeping with this ideal, this course will adhere to UMD's Student Academic Integrity Policy, which is available online at "http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity/". This policy sanctions students engaging in academic dishonesty with penalties up to and including expulsion from the university for repeat offenders.

Individuals who have any disability, either permanent or temporary, which might influence their capacity to perform in this class, are encouraged to inform me at the start of the semester. I can make special adaptations of teaching methods, assignments, materials, or testing as required to provide for equitable participation in the course. The Disability Resources Center is also available to assist students with disabilities. It is located in 258 Kirby Student Center and on the web at "http://www.d.umn.edu/access/".

Grade Breakdown

Participation includes attendance, peer-editing and other informal elements that may come up along the way.

Required Texts

Boyle, T. Coraghessan. A Friend of the Earth. New York: Penguin, 2001.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. 1880. The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volkhonsky. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1990.

Márquez, Gabriel García. In Evil Hour. 1979. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Dutton/Plume, 1998.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Boroff. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.

Twain, Mark. 1890. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Random House, 2001.

Additional Readings

Many of these books will soon be on reserve in the library and may be helpful as you pursue topics pertaining to this course.

Kant, Immanuel. The Moral Law; Or, Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Trans. Brendan E. Liddell. Bloomington, IN: Indiana U. P., 1970.

Kaufmann, Walter, ed. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. New York: Meridian, 1956.

Kerner, George C. Three Philosophical Moralists: Mill, Kant, and Sartre; An Introduction to Ethics. New York: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Marcuse, Herbert. Studies in Critical Philosophy. Trans. Joris De Bres. Boston: Beacon P., 1973.

Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. Ed. Samuel Gorovitz. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.

Nash, Roderick. The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics. Madison, WI: U. of Wisconsin P., 1989.

Poster, Mark. Sartre's Marxism. New York: Cambridge U. P., 1982.

Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. Philadelphia: Temple U. P., 1986.

Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 1979.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Essays in Existentialism. Ed. Wade Baskin. New York: Citadel P., 1968.

------"On Genocide." Ecocide in Indochina: The Ecology of War. Ed. Barry Weisberg. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1970.