Universität Wien

180136 SE Reasons (2022W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 14.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Wednesday 25.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this course, we focus on several debates concerning various types of reasons in meta-ethics, normative ethics and philosophy of action. Most philosophers distinguish at least between normative reasons and motivating reasons. Roughly, normative reasons are reasons that favor or justify an action, whereas motivating reasons are reasons the agent takes to favor or justify her action and that guide her behavior. The nature of reasons is related in important ways to philosophy of action, to (normative) ethics, to political philosophy and the philosophy of law.
We will look at questions such as:
- What different types of reasons are there and what role do they play in various theories?
- What exactly are normative reasons?
- Are normative reasons necessarily connected to motivation (internal vs. external reasons)? Are normative reasons subjective or objective?
- How are normative reasons connected to concepts such as rationality or value?
- How do reasons connect with epistemology? Are there purely epistemic reasons?
- How do reasons relate to (human) action? What is the nature of motivating reasons and explanatory reasons? Are such reasons psychological states?

Assessment and permitted materials

Assignments:
- Reading questions (mandatory but not graded)
- Two short writing assignments (20%)
- A detailed outline of the essay you plan to write (20%).
- Essay (60%)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

It is recommended that students have some basic knowledge of value theory and philosophy of action in general.
Your essay will be graded according to the following criteria:
- Knowledge/understanding of primary literature
- Quality and motivation of hypothesis
- Structure of essay
- Quality of argumentation
- Support/Use of Secondary Literature
- Quality of introduction
- Quality of conclusion

The final grades are distributed as follows:
1: 87-100 points
2: 75-86 points
3: 63-74 points
4: 50-62 points
5: 0-49 points

Students must complete each assignment at a satisfactory level in order to pass the course.
Students are expected to be present at 80% of the meetings and hand in reading questions for 80% of the meetings.
By signing up for this class, the student consents to having all their writing assignments checked by the plagiarism-software Turnetin on Moodle.

Examination topics

Reasons. Value Theory. Meta-ethics. Philosophy of Action

Reading list

To be announced in the first class. The reading list will consist of articles and selected passages of books.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 07.10.2022 15:49