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BLHS 100 02 Introduction to Ethics FALL 2014

Class begins: Sept 1 Class ends: Dec 15 Last Day to Withdraw:

TBA

How is what is morally good—related to what is known to be true and experienced as compelling? Can leadership for a more just and humane world benefit by appreciating how film contributes important truths about what is morally good? How is a more just world related to a better self?

CLASS LEARNING TOOLS: - Instruction is in class for weekly reading, written assignments and in class viewing assignments - We view some dozen films (selections) and read great texts - Each week students bring to class questions from texts and posted readings - Three on-line discussion topics, one short research paper, student contributions mandatory - One Final Research Presentation - TWO GUEST LECTURERS and TWO Visits (Holocaust Museum and “Newseum”) . A colleague from Washington’s prestigious American Film Institute and Georgetown University’s Film and Media Studies program will be joining us for a guest lecture. -Grades available on-line

COURSE PROFILE

This course provides clear, straightforward content, an abundance of examples, detailed real-life ethical issues and current films. With CLASSROOM instruction on this syllabus—also posted on the INTERNET, this course provides a general background for all students in different programs.

We use great literature and films to examine different kinds of moral reasoning.

We introduce you to philosophical reasoning about morality (what one should do or be), ethics (why), the meanings of moral terms (called meta-ethics) in a variety of applied ethical issues (good character, global health, justice, environmentalism, etc. war) and disciplines (bioethics, business ethics)

We use great literature and film as resources.

We learn how to interpret such literature and film (“How to read a text” & “How to read a film”).

LIST OF FILMS and Great Literature

Dr. Farmer’s Remedy: 60 Minutes (2011) with Plato’s Republic (360bce) Contagion (2011) with Mill, Utilitarianism (1863) Philadelphia (2007) with Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) A Man For All Seasons (1960 book, 1966 film) with Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

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Seven Up (1964/71) and 56 UP (2012) with Georgetown Honor Pledge, (2014) The Mission (1986) with Life According to Saintly Precepts (1688, UNESCO) Gandhi (1982) with King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963) Romero (1989) with Romero, The Violence of Love Schindler’s List (1993) with “Responsibility to Protect” (2005) Killing Us Softly (2010) with Psychology of Women Quarterly (2011) An Inconvenient Truth (2006) & Promised Land (2013), Congressional Research Service, Hydraulic Fracturing (2013)

COURSE CONTEXT : How can great literature and film help me understand ethics?

Media, power and social justice are connected. Film has many historic elements that are distinctively “American” (e.g. Hollywood, New York) but is now a global medium. As audiences we experience dramatic stories (plots), costumes, lighting, camera angles by assembled appeals to our many senses: visual, hearing (aural), linguistic and symbolic.

Together we ask questions (interrogation) about how others are portrayed (representation) to produce conviction (constructed knowledge called rhetorics) about groups of people (ethnography) using cultural imaginaries (called poetics).

CONSIDER:

Can one person make a more just world amidst poverty and disease?

Can character be known or taught? (Seven Up/42-Up)

Be the change you wish to see. [Gandhi]

To oppress the poor is to insult the Creator; to be kind to the needy person is to honor the Creator. (Proverbs 14:31)

Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9)

That which you want for yourself, seek for mankind. (Conversations of Muhammad)

Do not offend others / As you would not want to be offended (Buddhist Udanavarga 5:18)

Everything you should do you will find in this: Do nothing to others / That would hurt you if it were done to you.(Hindu Mahabharata 5:1517)

The world is evil, not because of evil people, but because of people who watch evil and do nothing about it… We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes and our ravages. But our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to fight them in ourselves and in others. (Albert Camus).

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for those who are good to do nothing. (Sergei Bondarchuk's Soviet film version of Tolstoy's book "War and Peace”)

Instructor Information:

Name: William J. Buckley

E-mail: wjb22@georgetown.edu Phone Number: 301-471-3782

Contact Hours: email Campus Mail Box #: TBA Course Information:

Credits: 3

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On-campus Meetings: MONDAY, 6:30-10:25 PM

On-campus Exams: BELOW

**IN CASE OF INCLEMENT WEATHER

Make-Up Class will be Held On-Line (Details TBA)

Pre-requisites: NONE Co-requisites: NONE Learning Goals:

After completing this course, a student should have a sophisticated understanding regarding the following key issues:

What is ethics, morality, the meaning of ethical terms (meta-ethics) and applied ethics ?

What is your opinion about how “a human ought to live?”

What are the major classical ethical theories?

Are ethical rules objective or subjective?

What is the proper relationship between self and society?

What is the relationship between ethics, religion, and science?

What it the relationship between ethics and politics?

How is moral knowledge understood as objective, subjective and inter-subjective?

Can character be known or taught as better or worse?

What are the recommended theories for teaching morality to children?

Are there better and worse methods of decision-making for ethical questions?

What are main modern and contemporary interpretations of the major ethical theories?

How is film used to disclose, express and public argue about ethics?

Instructional Methods:

This course is taught in the classroom and uses the INTERNET. Selected readings, class discussion and the presentation of INTERNET materials will facilitate student learning. Additionally, a variety of on-line research assignments will prompt the student to become a more active learner. How is this course organized:

This course is organized into a series of weekly assignments listed on the Syllabus AND Blackboard website. These are due during the week indicated unless a different deadline is shown. Text(s) and Course Materials:

Ethics: Theory and Practice by Jacques Thiroux and Krasemann, Prentice Hall; 11 edition (2011) ISBN-10: 0205053149 ISBN-13: 978-0205053148

Kidder, Tracy, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. Random House Trade Paperbacks ISBN-10: 0812973011 ISBN-13: 978-0812973013

LECTURE NOTES—including a detailed outline of each chapter of the text are available online at the GU Blackboard course website as a packet. COURSE MATERIALS ON BLACKBOARD TBA.

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Copies of the text will be available at the Georgetown bookstore; one copy will be placed on 4-hour reserve at Lauinger Library. You are free to purchase the books wherever you wish, but be sure to get the correct editions. You can be sure that you have the correct edition if the ISBN on the back cover matches what is listed above. You must have access to the textbooks by the first week of class; extensions to assignments will not be granted because you do not have access to the textbooks. Progress Report:

By the end of the 6th week of the semester, you will have an opportunity to evaluate your progress in this course and decide if you need to make any adjustments (additional study, tutoring, conference with instructor) to assure your success in this course. Evaluation Methods:

Tests / Papers / Projects / Participation

Point Value Final Grade Scale

Midterm Exam 10 % 100pts

Chapter Multiple Choice Practice Quizzes 1.5pts @ X 6= [Re-takeable online]

9 % 90

Perfect Quiz Score Bonus 10% 10

3 In Class Discussion Topics (15@) 45% 450

Final Research Presentations 25 % 250

Participation 10% 100

Peer Assessment 10% 100

Total Points 100% 1000

Determination of Final Grade

to 69% = D plus

Note: The instructor reserves the right to adjust the scale as needed

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Topical Outline.

Week 1: SEPT 1 How Can We Be Moral in a World of Global Poverty and Disease?

1. Introductions

2. COMPLETE Ethics Self-Questionnaire

3. FILM: Dr. Farmer’s Remedy: 60 Minutes: Can one person make a more just world amidst

poverty and disease?

4. Plato, The Republic (c. 360 BC) (Handouts/selections POSTED)

5. Chapter 1, Ethics: Theory and Practice by Jacques Thiroux and Krasemann

6. TOPIC: WORLD AS IT IS: POLITICS, WEALTH, SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND DISEASE:

Can a person be a hero and make a difference? Begin reading Dr. Paul Farmer’s Biography

“Mountain’s Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

7. How do movies work? (Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 1, selections POSTED)

8. ETHICAL TERMS AND CATEGORIES: How is Morality different from Ethics, and “Meta-

Ethics, ” “Character Ethics“ and “Applied Ethics” (Business Ethics and Bioethics)?

(Handouts/Reading, selections POSTED )

Week 2: SEPT 08: What is an Ethic of Results or Consequences?

1. View: FILM Contagion (2011)

2. Read Mountains Beyond Mountains to page 179

3. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863) (Handouts/selections Posted with posted film

questions)

4. Read chapter 2, Ethics: Theory and Practice by Jacques Thiroux and Krasemann,

(Teleological) Theories of Morality

5. What are the form and principles of film? Michael Goldberg, (University of Washington)

“Some Suggestions, ‘How to Read a Film’”

http://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/students/readafilm.htm (& Handouts/Bordwell and

/Thompson, Ch 2 selections POSTED).

5. Read “Mission of Georgetown University” (Handouts/Posted)

6. Read: Paul Farmer, “Health, Healing and Social Justice: Insights from Liberation Theology,”

(Handouts/Selections Posted)

7. TOPIC: For a more healthy world—how must many effectively cooperate; persons, societies,

governments, private sectors, public sectors?

Week 3: SEPT 15 What is an Ethic of Duty? Do persons have a right to health?

1. FILMS: Compare selected multimedia from Medline, WHO and UNAIDS with Philadelphia

(2007) on TB and HIV/AIDS & Global Public Health (Handouts/Selections Posted)

2. Finish Mountains Beyond Mountains. Discussion

3. Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)

(Handouts/selections POSTED )

4. Read chapter 3, Ethics: Theory and Practice by Jacques Thiroux and Krasemann,

Nonconsequentialist (Deontological) Theories of Morality

5. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 25 :29-46 ; MBM (185, 187), Read Luke’s Story of Lazarus in

Chapter 16.

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6. How are duties and rights related to stories? How is film a story (called film “narrative” in

Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 3, selections POSTED)?

7. TOPIC: CLASS DISCUSSION: Farmer and Kidder: How can one bridge the ideal and real?

Do persons have a right to health? Social Justice in pursuit of the common good

Week 4 SEPT 22 What is An Ethic of Character/Virtue?

1. FILM: Robert Bolt, A Man For All Seasons (1960 book, 1966 film) (Handouts/selections,

video and study questions)

2. THIROUX, CHAPTER IV , Virtue Ethics

3. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (c. 350 BC) (Handouts/selections POSTED)

4. Chart of Aristotle’s Virtues

5. How do films depict types of heroic and anti-heroic stories? (Handouts/called expressionism,

montage, epic and elegy, in Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 12, selections POSTED)

6. TOPIC: Can one be good in a world of compromises?

Week 5 SEPT 29 Can Character be Known or Taught?

1. Films/Documentary: Seven Up (1964/71) and 56 UP (2012, Selections). The premise of the

film (series) was taken from the Jesuit motto, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will

give you the man", based on a quotation by Jesuit Francis Xavier.

2. Thiroux, Chapter XII, “Lying, Cheating, Breaking Promises and Stealing”

3. How do films depict types of heroic and anti-heroic stories nurtured by communities? (How are

stories of character related to cultural contexts; e.g. German expressionism, Soviet montage,

Greek epic and elegy, etc in Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 12)

4. READ: Georgetown Honor Pledge (Handout/Posted)

5. TOPIC: POSTED ASSIGNMENT: COMPARE GU Student Academic Honesty Policy with

one other School and NAME at least two differences.

Week 6 OCT 06 Neo-Colonialism

1. FILMS: The Mission (1986)

2. Discussion of “The Mission” http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/d/268/whm.html

3. Which movie scenes most dramatically depict neo-colonialism and responses? What does it

means to “put it all into a shot” (called “Mise-en-Scene”, Handouts/ Bordwell and

Thompson, chapter 4, selections POSTED).

4. EXTRA READING Handouts/POSTED : Jesuit Missions in the Americas. The “Paraguay

Reductions.” Donnelly, S.J., John Patrick. Jesuit Writings of the Early Modern Period.

Boston: Hackett, 2006, 111-130; Burke, S.J., Kevin and Burke-Sullivan, Eileen. The Ignatian

Tradition. Collegeville: Liturgical press, 2009, 53-60

WEEK 7 OCT 13 Justice and Neo-Colonialism

1. Film: Gandhi (1982) King (I Have a Dream)

2. Which sections of each film display camera shots of dramatic speaker-actions—and audience

reactions—as complex artistic constructions that vividly position each person (“framing”) or

hold audience attention (“the long take”)? (Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 5,

selections POSTED). How does this drama help us understand “Justice” or “Neo-

colonialism”?

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3. READ: Gandhi Reader, Handouts/Selections Posted (Playing the English Gentleman, Advent

of Satyagraha, What is True Civilization, Face to Face with Ahimsa, Passive Resistance),

4. READ: King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (Handouts/selections POSTED)

5. Is active resistance to injustice by nonviolence simply un-realistic or actually another name for

cowardice?

WEEK 8 OCT 20 Justice and Neo-Colonialism

1. Film: Jesse Jackson, 1988 DNC Speech (Selections); Film: Romero (1989) (Selections)

2. Which sections of each film display camera shots of dramatic speaker-actions—and audience

reactions—as complex artistic constructions that vividly position each person (“framing”) or

hold audience attention (“the long take”)? (Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, Chapter 5,

selections POSTED). How does this drama help us understand “Justice” or “Neo-

colonialism”?

3. What are different kinds of Rights?: Hollenbach, Claims in Conflict (Handouts/selections

POSTED )

4. READ: Oscar Romero: “The Violence of Love” (Handouts/Selections POSTED)

5. READ: “The Power of Narrative” About the Evolving Memory of Oscar Romero by Jeanette

Rodriguez and Ted Fortier in Cultural Memory: Resistance, Faith and Identity Austin:

University of Texas Press, 2003, 55-83 (Handouts/Posted)

6. READ: “Faith and Social Conflict,” Gustavo Gutierrez, pp. 156-161,

(Handouts/SELECTIONS POSTED) from Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation: History,

Politics, and Salvation (15th Anniversary Edition) (New York: Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988).

7. TOPIC: What is the “Preferential Option for the Poor”?

Week 9 OCT 27 Genocide: Who Must Protect Whom Against Mass Murder?

[=WEEK 1 on Schindler’s List, depends on scheduled tour of Holocaust Museum]

1. FILM: Schindler’s List (1993)

2. Read Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally (Handouts/selections posted)

3. TOPIC: What is the significance of the “girl in the red coat”?

4. Many question whether or how horror can be re-presented or narrated. Review the final scene:

“I could have done more…”: How is space, time, cause and effect told when a story

(“narration”) concerns mass murder? That is—what decisions about a film’s rhythm, space

and continuity are made that influence camera shots (whose viewpoint), sounds (what voices

or noises), what interruptions, what emotions? How does film editing show Oscar Schindler’s

shift from being in charge to being afflicted? Who is responsible for mass murder?

(Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 6, selections POSTED)

5. What ethical justifications and counter-arguments exist regarding the United Nation’s

“Responsibility to Protect” (RtP 2005)? Do these impose any national or personal obligations

on individuals? Read (Selections): [UN] Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of

Genocide, http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/adviser/responsibility.shtml

6. VISIT to Holocaust Museum: Guided Tour

Week 10 NOV 03 Genocide: Who Must Protect Whom Against Mass Murder?

[=WEEK 2 on Schindler’s List, depends on scheduled tour of Holocaust Museum]

1. FILM: Schindler’s List (1993)

2. Read Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally (Handouts/selections posted)

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3. TOPIC: What is the significance of the “girl in the red coat”?

4. Many question whether or how horror can be re-presented or narrated. Review the final scene:

“I could have done more…”: How is space, time, cause and effect told when a story

(“narration”) concerns mass murder? That is—what decisions about a film’s rhythm, space

and continuity are made that influence camera shots (whose viewpoint), sounds (what voices

or noises), what interruptions, what emotions? How does film editing show Oscar Schindler’s

shift from being in charge to being afflicted? Who is responsible for mass murder?

(Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 6, selections POSTED)

5. What ethical justifications and counter-arguments exist regarding the United Nation’s

“Responsibility to Protect” (RtP 2005)? Do these impose any national or personal obligations

on individuals? Read (Selections): [UN] Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of

Genocide, http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/adviser/responsibility.shtml

6. VISIT to Holocaust Museum: Guided Tour

WEEK 11 NOV 10 How and What Does Consumer Society Teach Us to Love?

1. Film, Jean Kilbourne, Killing Us Softly 4 (Handouts/Outline Posted)

2. Read Thiroux, Chapter 6, Freedom Versus Determinism

3. What kind of genre is most advertizing? (Handouts/See Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 9,

the “Western, the Horror, the Musical, etc. SELECTIONS POSTED). Was writer Simon de

Beauvoir accurate: Does consumer society socialize women to “still dream through

the dreams of men“ (Beauvoir, 1974, 161)?

4. READ: (Handouts/POSTED) Conley, T. D.; Ramsey, L. R. (31 August 2011). "Killing Us

Softly? Investigating Portrayals of Women and Men in Contemporary Magazine

Advertisements". Psychology of Women Quarterly 35 (3): 469–478

5. TOPIC: Does Advertizing Market Body Shame?

Week 12 NOV 17 Is Environmentalism an Ethics of Consequences, Duties or Character?

1. FILMS: An Inconvenient Truth (2006) & Promised Land (about fracking, 2013)

2. Read Thiroux chapter 16, Environmental Ethics

3. What kind of “new films” are emerging (animated, experimental and documentary films,

Handouts/Bordwell and Thompson, chapter 10, SELECTIONS POSTED)

3. Compare “Natural Gas Extraction-Hydraulic Fracturing” (EPA) and “Hydraulic Fracturing”

(Earthworks) [POSTED]. Compare and read “Summary” and “Conclusion” (34-35) Adam

Van et al., “Hydraulic Fracturing: Selected Legal Issues, Congressional Research Service”

(11/12/13). (Handouts/POSTED).

4. Do environmentalists overstate their case?

WEEK 13 DEC 01 How Does Film Give Us New Ways to Think About Ethics?

1. STUDENTS Together or in Groups, STUDENTS SELECT one or two films to VIEW,

PRESENT and ANALYZE for CLASS DISCUSSION: either historic or contemporary:

2. FOR EXAMPLE from Chapter 12 of Bordwell and Thompson: entitled- “Film Form and Film

History” (Handouts/Selections POSTED)

3. TOPIC: Questions include those for film viewers and film makers. How is an ethic of character

understood? How are ethics of action represented?

4. Readings to be posted include selections from Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson, Film

Art, 10th Ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2012)

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WEEK 14: DEC 15 FINAL EXAM: TEN MINUTE INDIVIDUAL ORAL

PRESENTATIONS on Philosopher, Leader, Issue or Film (Details TBA)

Reading Assignments

· Read background material and prepare a ten minute oral presentation on a modern ethical

philosopher, writer, or political leader. Select authors, topics or film from the following

background material:

· Any reading assignment or additional reading listed on Blackboard;

· List of modern ethical philosophers on Blackboard;

· List of modern ethical leaders on Blackboard; or

· List of Nobel Peace Prize/ Film Award Winners winners on Blackboard.

ORAL PRESENTATION (Ten Minutes)

· Introduction and why you chose this person or topic (30 seconds)

· Biography of writer or main proponent of theory (2 minutes)

· Summarize the main ethical point the writer makes in the selection (3 minutes)

· List key facts, key issues, list ethical theories applied, conclusion

· Analyze strength and weaknesses of the writer’s conclusion (2 minutes)

· State your opinion (2 minutes)

· Conclusion (30 seconds)

· Be prepared to answer questions from class and instructor

NOTE: Outline is not a contract. Your instructor reserves the right to make changes to this outline as needed. http://registrar.georgetown.edu/academic-calendars/current-year/

Student Services

A variety of services are available to assist students in succeeding at BALS. Learn more about these services http://scs.georgetown.edu/academic-affairs/resources Students with Disabilities Disabilities: If you believe you have a disability, contact the Academic Resource Center at 202 687-8354 or arc@georgetown.edu for further information. The Center is located in the Leavey Center, Suite 335. The Academic Resource Center is the campus office responsible for reviewing documentation provided by the students with disabilities and for determining reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and university policies.

Participation Policy:

(1) The class participation policy is designed to support the learning process. (2) To maintain the highest quality of academic work, you are expected to participate

fully in all course activities. (3) Even in case of serious illness, emergency, religious holidays, or participation in

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official college functions, you remain responsible for informing the instructor and for completing the requirements of the course. Make-up activities can be arranged at the discretion of the instructor.

(4) Class Participation affects your grade. Consult the website section on Graded Activities for more details

Time Commitment for Academic Success

At GU BALS, students are expected to invest a minimum of number of hours of ”time on task” per credit. For example, in a 3-credit course, you should expect to spend 300 minutes per week or about five hours per week—of average total time reading, writing, and group work. This homework workload refers to time outside of class-time. It complies with a federal regulations regarding credit for student assignment requirements.

Email Policy:

With the exception of a few students, all GU students receive and are expected to use their email address for correspondence with faculty and staff at the college. Email is an instructional tool essential to student-instructor and student-student communication. In the Blackboard environment by default, your email address is available to all students in this course. However, students are permitted to use email addresses of other students in this course only for the purpose and the duration of this course. The instructor can be expected to respond to regular student email inquiries (grades, posted assignments, and tests excluded) within the time frame of 24 to 48 hours

Academic Integrity: Learning Mistakes vs. Wrong Choices

We use SafeAssign in the online (Blackboard) component of this course. This plagiarism prevention service is used in accordance with Georgetown’s Honor System. Georgetown’s Honor System aims to define, develop and sustain a community of learning where trust develops good character—because we distinguish “mistakes” from “wrong choices”. Facing any challenge or problem—you are never alone—your instructor is your advocate—not surrogate—and many resources are available (http://scs.georgetown.edu/academic-affairs/resources). Even personal problems aren’t ignored but faced with good solutions; conflicts aren’t avoided but engaged with successful resolutions; tensions aren’t dissolved unless resolved; questions unasked remain unlearned future tasks. Please help us help you. Scholars are free, arguments are honest, conversations have direction here. Why? Because correction, criticism, suggestion and recommendation are always welcome without acrimony. Argument and conversation seek wisdom not victory. We do not fear mistakes…but welcome them as opportunities to learn because we are surrounded by colleagues who are committed to our honest well-being. “To avoid rash judgments, everyone should be careful to ‘interpret

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insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words and deeds in a favorable way.’” (Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 22). This freedom to learn—helps us name bad choices when they are wrong. Work in this course is subject to the provisions of Georgetown’s Honor System. Good learning cultivates trust and character that are violated by wrong actions. Cheating, plagiarism, false citation, false data, inappropriate use of electronic media—are wrong, have been confronted and have resulted in failure. As a student, it is your job to practice academic honesty at ALL times. Make sure that all sources, particularly Internet sources, get proper credit for quotations, paraphrases, and ideas. All students are expected to follow Georgetown’s honor code unconditionally. I will assume you have read the honor code material located below, and in particular have read the following documents: Honor Council Pamphlet, “What is Plagiarism?”, “Sanctioning Guidelines,” and “Expedited Sanctioning Process.” Submitting material in fulfillment of the requirements of this course means that you have abided by the Georgetown honor pledge: “In the pursuit of the high ideals and rigorous standards of academic live, I commit myself to respect and uphold the Georgetown Honor System: To be honest in any academic endeavor, and to conduct myself honorably, as a responsible member of the Georgetown community, as we live and work together.” A confirmed case of academic misconduct will result in a grade of F for the course. More information about this http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/honor/system/53519.html

EXTREME WEATHER AND OTHER EMERGENCIES During inclement weather or other emergencies on a day we are scheduled to meet face to face, check the University’s website or call 202-687-7669 for information on whether the university is open. If the University is open, this class will meet. If the University is closed, this class will not meet. Due dates for written assignments submitted through Blackboard will no be changed due to inclement weather. The university recently has acquired the capability to send text messages and recorded messages about emergencies to cell phones and other mobile devices. Sign up on MyAccess.

Policy Accommodating Students’ Religious Observances The following is university policy: Georgetown University promotes respect for all religions. Any student who is unable to attend classes or to participate in any examination, presentation, or assignment on a given day because of the observance of a major religious holiday or related travel shall be excused and provided with the opportunity to make up, without unreasonable burden, any work that has been missed for this reason and shall not in any other way be penalized for the absence or rescheduled work. Students will remain responsible for all assigned work. Students should notify professors in writing at the beginning of the semester of religious observances that conflict with their classes. In accordance with this policy, students for whom the schedule of this course will cause conflicts with a religious observance should notify Dr. Buckley in writing (e-mail is acceptable). Dr. Buckley will make reasonable accommodations for all conflicts identified by this date. In line with this policy, requests for accommodations submitted after ____,

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will not be considered, and oral requests will not be considered at any time.

Exam Policy

Late exams will not be given unless in the case of a documented emergency (e.g., a sudden acute illness or a death in the family). When possible, notify the instructor BEFORE missing an exam so that arrangements can be made.

Quizzes

Quizzes on assigned readings to date, prior lectures, and/or prior class activities and discussions may be given at the start of the class period. This is to ensure that you do the readings and are prepared to participate in class discussions and activities. .

Projects

Projects must be turned in at the start of the class period on which they are due. After that time, projects will not be accepted. In the case of a documented emergency (e.g., a sudden acute illness or death in the family), arrangements for an extension can be made on a case-by-case basis. Keep in mind that you are given ample time to work on and complete the projects once the projects are assigned, so do not wait until the last minute to work on them!

Course Requirements

(1) Read Carefully Before You Write : Careful reading and note-taking of assigned materials for class decisively determines how much you will enjoy and gain from this exciting learning experience. Study questions, and text outlines are available. What you do in preparation for class is as important as what we do in class. Past students who have enjoyed this exciting course the most report that their greatest success in meeting course objectives comes not from “taking time” to do the readings, but instead learning how to “make time” to do the readings when they are alert. Please ask for help to improve reading, writing and comprehension; advice is available from the instructor, the writing center and online. We all want to help you enjoy this exciting course.

(2) All Required Material: Each student is responsible for all the material covered in class, Each student is responsible for obtaining any handouts, viewing audiovisual materials, and learning of announcements for any class missed. Missing a class will not be a valid excuse for "not knowing." (3) Common Sense Absence Policy: GU policy does not permit the Instructor to count a student who is absent as present. Student attendance is expected at all meetings of our course. Careful note of student attendance and participation is taken. If a student misses more than two class sessions, the Instructor will consult with the Associate Dean about whether the student should be given a failing grade. In the (unlikely) event of inclement weather, note that there may be scheduled make-up classes on at the end of the semester.

Select Bibliography

Blessing, Kimberly. Movies and the Meaning of Life. Open Court. 2005. Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, 10th Ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2012)

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Falzon, Christopher. Philosophy Goes to The Movies (Routledge, 2nd edition, 2007) Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing About Film. Second Edition.

HarperCollins: 1994. Farmer, Paul (Author) , Gustavo Gutierrez (Author) , Michael Griffin (Editor) , Jennie

Weiss Block (Editor), In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez New York: Maryknoll, 2013

Fumerton, Richard and Diane Jeske. Introduction to Philosophy through Film London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Hagin, Boaz, Sandra Meiri, Raz Yosef, Anat Zanger, Just Images: Ethics and the Cinematic. Cambridge, 2011.

Hollenbach, David. Claims in Conflict: Renewing and Retrieving the Catholic Human Rights Tradition. Paulist, 1979.

Kidder, Tracy, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. Random House Trade Paperbacks ISBN-10: 0812973011 ISBN-13: 978-0812973013

Kowalksi, Dean. Moral Theory at the Movies Rowman and Littlefield, 2012. Litch, Mary. Philosophy Through Film. Routledge, 2nd edition, 2010. Miller, Jacqui. Film and Ethics: What Would You Have Done? Cambridge Scholars

Publishing, 2013. Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and

Theory of Film and Media. Revised Edition (Oxford U. Press: 1981). Prince, Stephen. Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film. New York: Pearson,

2012. Stadler, Jane. Pulling Focus: Intersubjective Experience, Narrative Film, and

Ethics. Continuum. 2008, 2012 Thiroux, Jacques, and Kieth Krasemann, Ethics: Theory and Practice by Jacques

Thiroux and Krasemann, Pearson; 11 edition (2011) ISBN-10: 0205053149 ISBN-13: 978-0205053148

USCCB, The Challenge of Peace (1983) and subsequent docs at http://old.usccb.org/sdwp/international/TheChallengeofPeace.pdf

Wolf, Susan and Christopher Grau, Understanding Love: Philosophy, Film, and Fiction. Oxford, 2013.

Worcester, Thomas, S.J., ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Jesuits Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

(BALSETHICS EthicsFall2014e)