Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, any references to assessment tasks and on-campus delivery may no longer be up-to-date on this page.
Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.
Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students
Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Kelly Hamilton
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---|---|
Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
40cp at 1000 level or above
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
Is morality more a matter of reason or of passion? While we often think of strong emotions and desires as a threat to virtue, recent work in psychology and neuroscience has tended to support affect-based accounts of morality. This evidence suggests that moral judgments are intuitive, emotional judgments and that paradigmatically evil individuals such as psychopaths are deficient in empathy not in reason. Empathy or sympathy is commonly thought essential to the development of conscience, moral understanding, and morally good action. Yet most evil actions are not performed by psychopaths. We will critically examine philosophical and psychological literature on the contribution of a range of cognitive processes -e.g., memory, emotion, mindreading, planning and imagination - to moral competence and moral motivation. We will also examine the influence of social roles, identity, and disease or disorder in explaining both ordinary and extreme cases of wrongdoing. |
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
Assessment details are no longer provided here as a result of changes due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.
Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students
Active participation is assessed by a student's engagement in activities such as: discussions facilitated by the lecturer/tutor, contributions to online discussion forums, or general questions asked during lectures or tutorials and involvement in set activities. Participation is expected to be well considered and relevant to the unit of study.
The written assignments will be submitted electronically via Turnitin. This unit uses anonymous marking. A link to the Turnitin submission page will be provided on iLearn in the Assessments tab. Written assessments will be run through the Turnitin software which detects unoriginal work.
The online quizzes will be available on iLearn. Each quiz can only be undertaken once and has a time limit.
All assessments must be submitted on time unless an extension has been granted. Requests for extensions must be made in writing before the due date and will only be considered on serious grounds. To obtain an extension, you must submit a Special Consideration application.
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply - two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for written assignments submitted after the due date - and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments - e.g. online quizzes. For the oral tutorial presentation, the student must contact the tutor with the details of the outcome of the Special Consideration request within seven (7) days of the scheduled date of the presentation, in order to reschedule the presentation.
The University classifies a disruption to study as serious and unavoidable if it:
Students with a pre-existing disability/health condition, or prolonged adverse circumstances may be eligible for ongoing assistance and support. Such support is governed by other policies and may be sought and coordinated through Student Wellbeing and Support Services.
To submit a Special Consideration request, go to ask.mq.edu.au.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
Any references to on-campus delivery below may no longer be relevant due to COVID-19.
Please check here for updated delivery information: https://ask.mq.edu.au/account/pub/display/unit_status
All required readings and most supplementary readings are available from the library via Leganto, which should be accessed via the link on iLearn. There is no reader for this unit. A schedule of required readings and supplementary readings can be found on the PHIL2026 iLearn homepage. The student is responsible for gaining access to the readings. It is expected that you will have done the relevant reading before class.
This unit has an online presence on iLearn. Lectures are recorded and are available via Echo (on iLearn). Lecture slides and any other material you need will be available through the iLearn website. The student is expected to have access to a reliable internet connection throughout semester.
If the student has an inquiry, the first point of contact is the tutor. If the tutor is unable to assist, the tutor will forward the inquiry to the convenor.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
The unit schedule/topics and any references to on-campus delivery below may no longer be relevant due to COVID-19. Please consult iLearn for latest details, and check here for updated delivery information: https://ask.mq.edu.au/account/pub/display/unit_status
The lectures will take place on Mondays (12:00) and Fridays (12:00). Tutorials are scheduled for Monday and Fridays.
NB! This course is designed to develop independent research skills, and so students are required to read the required readings before the lectures. This means the quizzes are set before the lectures, and the tutorials will be concerned with the same material as the lectures. The schedule is arranged so that students can prepare for the following week's classes by reading the required readings over the weekend, completing the quiz that weekend, and then attending lectures and tutorials (or forum discussions for online students) to discuss the readings further.
Deadline: Short Essay due on Sunday 5 April.
Deadline: Major Essay due on Sunday 7 June.
Week |
Topic |
Tutorial/ Forum |
Quiz |
Assessment |
1. 24 Feb |
Introduction: moral judgement and moral motivation |
- |
Quiz 0 Quiz 1 |
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2. 2 Mar |
What is evil? |
Tutorial 1 |
Quiz 2 |
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3. 9 Mar |
Evil and bad morality |
Tutorial 2 |
Quiz 3 |
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4. 16 Mar |
Emotion-based accounts of moral judgement and moral motivation |
Tutorial 3 |
Quiz 4 |
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5. 23 Mar |
Reason-based accounts of moral judgement and moral motivation |
Tutorial 4 |
Quiz 5 |
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6. 30 Mar |
Testing the accounts: Psychopathy |
Tutorial 5 |
- |
Short Essay due 5 Apr |
7. 6 Apr |
Testing the accounts: Autism |
- |
Quiz 6 |
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Recess: 13 – 23 April |
||||
8. 27 Apr |
Mad or bad? |
Tutorial 6 |
Quiz 7 |
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9. 4 May |
What do we do when we lack conscience? |
Tutorial 7 |
Quiz 8 |
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10. 11 May |
Moral identity |
Tutorial 8 |
Quiz 9 |
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11. 18 May |
Moral responsibility and moral motivation |
Tutorial 9 |
Quiz 10 |
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12. 25 May |
Evil and responsibility |
Tutorial 10 |
- |
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13. 1 Jun |
Writing Week |
- |
- |
Major Essay due 7 Jun |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
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