Unit Requirements and Expectations: Attendance

For internal students only:

Lectures: attendance at lectures is required. Absences must be supported by medical certificates or equivalent. You will only be eligible to pass the unit if you have attended at least 70% of the lectures.

Students can request an exemption from the lecture attendance requirement on the grounds of timetable clashes or for other reasons the unit convenor deems acceptable. Supporting documentation must be provided. Exemption requests must be made in writing (email) to the unit convenor by the end of week 2.

Tutorials: attendance at tutorials is required. Absences must be supported by medical certificates or equivalent. You will only be eligible to pass the unit if you have attended at least 80% of tutorials.

For external students: There is no on-campus session for this unit. External students are expected to contribute to the online discussion board on a regular basis. You will only be eligible to pass the unit if you have contributed to at least 80% of the weekly topics for discussion posted there.

Weekly Tutorial Responses

The weekly responses must show that the student has read and reflected on the relevant text in relation to the week’s topic. Responses will be recorded as either satisfactory (S) or not satisfactory (N). Responses that show little understanding of or engagement with the relevant text or which are vague, superficial or too short will be graded N. Responses that show a genuine attempt to understand the issues will be graded S, even if there are problems of understanding and interpretation. Weekly responses must be handed in at the end of the relevant tutorial or, for online students, on the day specified by your online tutor. Late submissions will not be accepted unless the delay is caused by illness or other unavoidable disruptions (see 'Extensions and Special Consideration').

Each tutorial is worth a possible 2 marks. Students will receive 1 mark for each satisfactory written response they submit and a mark out of 1 for attendance and participation. Note: students who attend every tutorial can still receive less than 10/ 20 for this section if their participation and written responses are inadequate. Individual comments will not be given, but the tutor will provide general feedback in tutorials or in the online forum for external students. The last tutorial of the semester (week 11) will be devoted to essay plans, so students will not be required to submit written answers to that week’s tutorial questions. Attendance and participation for this final tutorial will be worth 2 marks.

Assignment Submission

Assignments in this course will be submitted electronically, as Word documents. There is no need for a coversheet - the iLearn assignment submission (Turnitin) involves declaring your details and honesty in submitting your work. Please note, we do not accept submission by email attachment. 

Extensions and Special Consideration

Requests for extensions must, normally, be made in writing before the due date. Extensions of up to 3 days can be granted by your tutor if reasonable grounds are given, and some written documentation can be produced. Work load from other units, or from employment, are not considered reasonable justification. 

Requests for extensions of more than 3 days should be submitted via a Disruption to Studies Request, which is available in the ask.mq.edu.au portal. Your request should be accompanied by appropriate documentation, such as a medical certificate. Please see the Disruption to Studies policy in the list of policies at the end of this document for further details. 

Penalties for Late Submission

You will lose 10% of the value of the assignment for every 4 days that it is late. Work will not be accepted after 2 weeks from the due date unless you have submitted a disruption to studies request.

Required Reading 

All required readings and most supplementary readings are available from the library on e-Reserve. There is no reader for this unit. A week-by-week schedule of required readings and supplementary readings can be found on the PHIL226 iLearn homepage.

Technology Used and Required

We use an iLearn website. Lectures are recorded. Lecture slides and any other material you need will be available through the iLearn website. We recommend you have access to a reliable internet connection throughout semester.

Week 1: Introduction: Moral judgment and moral motivation

1. What are we doing when we make a moral judgment? How might moral judgment be connected to moral motivation?
2. The problem of the amoralist. Psychopaths as real life amoralists?

Week 2: What is evil?

1. The concept of evil
2. The moral significance of evil

Week 3. Evil and bad morality: Limited sympathy or limited rationality?

1. Ordinary evil.
2. Bennett: The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn

Week 4: Emotion based accounts of moral judgment and motivation in philosophy and psychology

1. Philosophy: Sentimentalism: Hume and the role of sympathy
2. Psychology: Experimental accounts

Week 5: Reason based accounts of moral judgment and motivation in philosophy and psychology

1. Philosophy: Kant: Reason and duty
2. Psychology: Kohlberg on moral development.

Week 6: Testing the accounts. Psychopathy and acquired sociopathy.

1. Do psychopaths make moral judgments?
2. Are psychopaths deficient in reason or in empathy?

Week 7: Testing the accounts: Autism

1. Morality and mind reading
2. Autism, empathy and moral agency

Semester break 14-28 September

Week 8: Mad or bad?

1. Disease and disorder
2. Is there a difference between bad character and psychological incapacity?

Week 9: What do we lack when we lack conscience?

1. What is conscience?
2. Conscience and moral agency

Week 10: Moral identity

1. Moral identity and moral motivation
2. A no self view of evil

Week 11: Moral Responsibility and Moral Motivation

1. Moral emotions and responsibility
2. Reason and responsibility

Week 12: Evil and Responsibility: Can someone be evil but not responsible?

1. Psychopathy and responsibility
2. Evil and responsibility