FALL
2007 HONORS COURSES
HONR 228Z Action and Responsibility
Monday/Wednesday, 2-3:15p.m.
Dr. Patricia Greenspan, Department of Philosophy
Credit may not be earned for both HONR 228Z and
PHIL 282.
If a kleptomaniac, as someone with a mental illness,
is unable to help stealing something, and in that sense can’t be held
responsible for stealing it, is that because her action is causally
determined by an irresistible impulse? But don’t the laws of nature
determine everyone’s actions? Does that mean none of us is responsible
for what we do? And what should we say about mentally ill offenders
who do serious harm to others, such as pedophiles or psychopaths? Can
we afford to let everyone off the hook – or if not, how can we make
reasonable distinctions? And what sense can we make of our ordinary
feeling of control over what we do?
This course will discuss two related issues concerning
responsibility for action that need to be disentangled from each other,
in the paragraph above as elsewhere: the philosopher’s traditional question
of free will versus determinism and the question whether certain lawbreakers
should be excused from responsibility on grounds of insanity. Understanding
the first issue, of free will versus determinism, will help us understand
why the second one, of insanity versus moral responsibility, is not
really an instance of it, in the way that both popular discourse and
some of the legal criteria for insanity seem to suppose.
Assignments: Written work for the course will consist
of a series of short essays ranging from a paragraph to a few (3-5 double-spaced)
pages, assigned roughly every other week. Some will be given as expository
quizzes, to be sure students are catching on to the main concepts of
the course and interpreting the readings correctly, but as the term
proceeds the topics will call for more original and/or critical thought.
However, the emphasis throughout the course, following our readings,
will be on intricate analysis and argument rather than large-scale but
loosely constructed world-views.
Readings will include selections from:
Robert Kane, A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will
Carl Elliott, The Rules of Insanity
along with further readings on specific topics (e.g. extracts from Aristotle,
essays by contemporary philosophers) to be supplied by the instructor.
CORE: Humanities ( HO)
