Lecture Notes

UNIT ONE: HARM

Week 1

The Experience Machine

Theories of Well-Being

Week 2

Why Death Is Not Bad

Why Life is Not Good

Week 3

The Non-Identity Problem

Boonin's Solution to The Non-Identity Problem

Defining 'Harm' (Norcross's Contextual Account)

Week 4

Doing Away With Harm

Presentations 1-6 (My Notes)

UNIT TWO: THE DDA

Week 5

Intro to Nonconsequentialism

(Euthanasia and) Rejecting the DDA

In Defense of the DDA

Week 6

Making vs. Allowing (Bennett)

Quinn's DDA

Withdrawing Aid (McMahan)

Week 7

Presentations 7-12 (My Notes)

Week 8

Vaccination

Famine Relief

Against Singer (Strong vs Weak Allowing)

UNIT THREE: THE DDE

Week 9

Intro to the DDE

The Problem of Closeness

Closeness as Constitution (Fitzpatrick)

Week 10

Quinn's DDE

Thomson's Doctrine (and the Trolley Problem)

The Doctrine of Triple Effect

Week 11

Thomson's Turnaround

Self-Sacrifice, Self-Defense, and Human Shields

Presentations 13-15 (My Notes)

EPILOGUE: SOME ADDITIONAL PUZZLES

Week 12

Past vs Present Wrongs

A Paradox for Deontology

The All or Nothing Problem

Week 13

Collective Action (Moral Mathematics)

Week 14

Causal Impotence and Climate Change

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