Students

PHIL226 – The Moral Psychology of Good and Evil

2019 – S1 Online

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Lecturer
Jeanette Kennett
Lecturer, Tutor
Daphne Brandenburg
Convenor, Lecturer, Tutor
Kelly Hamilton
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(12cp at 100 level or above) or admission to GDipArts
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
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, leading to action which is weak-willed or compulsive, recent work in psychology and neuroscience has tended to support a sentimentalist account 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 rationality. They know what is wrong but they just don't care. They are bad not mad! Empathy or sympathy seems to be 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 including memory, emotion, mindreading, planning and imagination to moral competence and moral motivation and reconsider whether limited rationality or limited sympathy is the key to understanding a range of moral failings and impairments. We will also examine the role of disease or disorder in explaining both ordinary and extreme cases of wrongdoing.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

General Assessment Information

Assessing Active Participation

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.

There is a minimum requirement: The student is only eligible for a participation grade if s/he participates in at least 60% of the tutorials. If s/he fails to meet this requirement, s/he will automatically be given a zero grade for participation.

Assignment Submission

The written assignments will be submitted electronically via Turnitin. There is no need for a coversheet, and we request that you omit your name from the document. 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.

Extensions and Penalties for Late Submission

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. See below for details on how to do that.

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.

Special Consideration Policy

The University classifies a disruption to study as serious and unavoidable if it:

  • could not have reasonably been anticipated, avoided, or guarded against by the student; and
  • was beyond the student's control; and
  • caused substantial disruption to the student's capacity for effective study and/or completion of required work; and
  • occurred during an event critical study period and was at least three (3) consecutive days duration; and/or
  • prevented completion of a final examination.

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 Campus Wellbeing and Support Services.

How to submit a Special Consideration request?

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Participation 10% No Continuous
Tutorial Presentation 10% No As per schedule
Quizzes 15% No Sunday before relevant lecture
Short essay 25% No 07/04/2019
Major essay 40% No 09/06/2019

Participation

Due: Continuous
Weighting: 10%

An important part of philosophy is engaging in active dialogue with others. This mark is allocated based on your participation in tutorials/forum discussions throughout the semester. Note that this is a participation grade, not an attendance grade.

INTERNAL students must attend and contribute to class discussions for at least 6 of the 10 tutorials to be eligible for the participation mark. If you do not participate in at least 6 tutorials, you will receive a zero grade for participation. You may participate in online forum discussions but this will not count towards your participation mark.

EXTERNAL students must participate in at least 6 different weekly online discussion forums within a week of the relevant lectures to be eligible for the participation mark. This means that since the lectures are on Monday and Wednesday, the deadline for forum participation will be the following Sunday at midnight (11:59pm). If you do not participate in at least 6 different weekly online discussion forums in time, you will receive a zero grade for participation. In order to qualify as participating for a particular week, you will have to respond to at least two forum discussions, and to at least two other students’ responses (so at least four posts per week).

If you meet this minimum requirement, your participation mark will be awarded on the basis of overall quality of your participation throughout the semester. A rubric will be supplied on the iLearn page to show how the tutors will be weekly grading participation.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.

Tutorial Presentation

Due: As per schedule
Weighting: 10%

Each student will be required to give a short presentation in tutorials. This presentation will be based on one of the required readings, and will be approximately 5 minutes (about 500 words). The presentation should cover the following material:

  1. A brief summary of the relevant reading;
  2. A brief critical analysis of the main argument of that reading;
  3. A brief critical response to the argument in the reading;
  4. A single discussion question that you would like to discuss in the tutorial.

External students will undertake the presentation via a forum post, by uploading an audio or video file of their presentation.

For each tutorial, there will be two presentations (unless the class has more than 20 students). In order to determine the schedule of presentations, a Doodle poll will be created for each class and students will be required to choose their preferred presentation time. Presentations will be scheduled on a first come, first serve basis, and the onus is on the student to ensure that they have scheduled a time for their presentation. Should the student fail to do so, a zero grade for the tutorial presentation will be given. Should the student be unable to do the presentation on the scheduled date, s/he will have to apply for Special Consideration and liaise with the tutor to arrange an alternate date for the presentation.

A rubric will be provided on iLearn to indicate how the presentations will be graded.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

Quizzes

Due: Sunday before relevant lecture
Weighting: 15%

Online quizzes test comprehension and understanding of the required readings. There will be 10 online quizzes worth a total of 15% (or a maximum of 1.5% for each of the 10 quizzes). There will be 5 questions each week. You can attempt each quiz online once and there is a time limit. The quizzes will be schedule for the same weeks as the tutorials.

Note: The quizzes will be open for one week BEFORE the Monday lecture, and the deadline for each quiz will be Sunday 11:59pm (the night before the lecture). For example, the quiz for Week 2 (What is evil?) will open on Monday Week 1, and will close on Sunday Week 1. The lectures for Week 2 will be on Monday and Wednesday. This is to ensure that you have read the required readings before your tutorials and come to the lectures and tutorials prepared for class discussion. This also allows you to develop your independent reading skills, as you can evaluate whether or not you are reading closely enough.

As this is a timed assessment, no late submissions will be accepted.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.

Short essay

Due: 07/04/2019
Weighting: 25%

All students will be expected to complete an 800-1000 word short essay, comparing the views of Hume and Kant on moral judgement and moral motivation. This task will be assessed according to the following criteria: content, structure, argument and critical analysis, written expression, and referencing. A detailed task outline and a marking rubric will be supplied on the iLearn page to indicate how the essay will be graded.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

Major essay

Due: 09/06/2019
Weighting: 40%

Students will be expected to complete a 1600-1800 word major essay, analysing a case study of evil using the relevant concepts introduced in the unit. Essay writing tests your ability to synthesise material from a range of readings and to express, analyse, and structure key ideas and arguments clearly, logically, and systematically. It also tests your ability to develop your own view, and to argue for that view in a cogent and sustained way. Students will be expected to draw on and incorporate research from the relevant unit readings as well as two or three extra sources. The task will be assessed by the following criteria: content, structure, argument and critical analysis, quality of research, written expression and referencing. A detailed task outline and a marking rubric will be supplied on the iLearn page to indicate how the essay will be grade. Essay questions will be released on 29 April 2019.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

Delivery and Resources

Required Reading 

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 PHIL226 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.

Technology Used and Required

This unit has an online presence on iLearn. Lectures are recorded. 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.

Contacting the Teaching Staff

If the student has an inquiry, the first point of contact is the tutor (Daphne or Kelly). If the tutor is unable to assist, the tutor will forward the inquiry to the convenor.

Unit Schedule

The lectures will take place on Mondays (11am) and Wednesdays (11am). Tutorials are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday.

Online quizzes will close on Sunday 11:59pm BEFORE the Monday lecture.

Week 1 (25 Feb): 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?
  • No tutorial.
  • Quiz for week 2 open.

Week 2 (4 Mar): What is evil?

  1. The concept of evil
  2. The moral significance of evil
  • Tutorial 1.
  • Quiz for week 3 open.

Week 3 (11 Mar): Evil and bad morality: Limited sympathy or limited rationality?

  1. Ordinary evil.
  2. Bennett: The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn
  • Tutorial 2.
  • Quiz for week 4 open.

Week 4 (18 Mar): 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
  • Tutorial 3.
  • Quiz for week 5 open.

Week 5 (25 Mar): Reason based accounts of moral judgment and motivation in philosophy and psychology

  1. Philosophy: Kant: Reason and duty
  2. Psychology: Kohlberg on moral development.
  • Tutorial 4.
  • Quiz for week 6 open.

Week 6 (1 Apr): Testing the accounts. Psychopathy and acquired sociopathy.

  1. Do psychopaths make moral judgments?
  2. Are psychopaths deficient in reason or in empathy?
  • Tutorial 5.
  • No quiz.

Deadline: Short Essay due on Sunday 7 April.

Week 7 (8 Apr): Testing the accounts: Autism

  1. Morality and mind reading
  2. Autism, empathy and moral agency
  • No tutorial.
  • Quiz for week 8 opens (until 28 April).

Semester break: 15 - 26 April.

Week 8 (29 Apr): Mad or bad?

  1. Disease and disorder
  2. Is there a difference between bad character and psychological incapacity?
  • Tutorial 6.
  • Quiz for week 9 open.

Week 9 (6 May): What do we lack when we lack conscience?

  1. What is conscience?
  2. Conscience and moral agency
  • Tutorial 7.
  • Quiz for week 10 open.

Week 10 (13 May): Moral identity

  1. Moral identity and moral motivation
  2. A no self view of evil
  • Tutorial 8.
  • Quiz for week 11 open.

Week 11 (20 May): Moral Responsibility and Moral Motivation

  1. Moral emotions and responsibility
  2. Reason and responsibility
  • Tutorial 9.
  • Quiz for week 12 open.

Week 12 (27 May): Evil and Responsibility: Can someone be evil but not responsible?

  1. Psychopathy and responsibility
  2. Evil and responsibility
  • Tutorial 10.
  • No quiz.

Week 13 (3 Jun)

  • No lectures.
  • No tutorials.
  • No quiz.

Deadline: Major Essay due on Sunday 9 June.

 

Policies and Procedures

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:

Undergraduate 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).

Student Code of Conduct

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​

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Active Class Participation

All students are expected to participate in tutorial discussions. If the student is likely to experience difficulties in this, s/he is requested to liaise with the tutor to determine the best way to accommodate the student.

Policy on Children in Class

As a commitment to students who may be carers and as a commitment to diversity, the teaching staff for this unit will allow the following:

  • All exclusively breastfed babies are welcome in class as often as is necessary.
  • For older children, in the case of unforeseen disruptions to childcare arrangements, the child is welcome to attend the class with the parent. This is not intended as a long-term arrangement but as a solution to possible problems that may prevent the parent from attending class.
  • In all cases, we request that the parent and child sit near the door so that they can easily step outside should the child need some attention that may disrupt the other students. Breastfeeding is not considered a disruption.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.

Assessment tasks

  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in analyzing and critically evaluating philosophical arguments at an intermediate level.
  • You will develop skills in managing study projects effectively.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.
  • Clarity of thought, clarity of verbal expression, clarity of written expression and exposition.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • You will acquire an understanding of important moral concepts such as conscience, duty, evil, and character at an intermediate level.
  • You will acquire knowledge of a key philosophical debate between rationalism and sentimentalism at an intermediate level.
  • You will understand in an applied way, how contemporary philosophical and psychological research can together contribute to our knowledge of the capacities necessary for sound moral judgment and moral motivation.
  • You will be able to apply the conceptual knowledge gained to provide a careful analysis of cases of wrongful action.

Assessment tasks

  • Participation
  • Tutorial Presentation
  • Quizzes
  • Short essay
  • Major essay