Original version: http://homepages.udayton.edu/~barnes/361-index.html


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
RELIGION AND CONTEMPORARY VALUES
CORE Religion Seminar   [Overview of course]
Rel. 361.    Fall, 2000,  University of Dayton.
A capstone course for the integrated CORE program,  22 students.
    Instructor:  Michael Horace Barnes, Ph.D.
   Office: HM 466.   Regular hours: MTWThF 11:00 - 1:00. 
      Other times by appointment. 
      Campus phone 92034.    [Home phone: 223-3300]
      Email:   barnes@udayton.edu 
   Calendar: classes, assignments   Assignments explained  Classes held so far
   FINAL EXAM INSTRUCTIONS   

THEME
The course will look at four different kinds of religious moral visions or ethics, relating each to current moral topics. 
       1) divine command morality;
       2) community tradition morality; 
       3) natural law or deontological ethics; and 
       4) consequentialist ethics in light of basic religious values. 
Each of these may take different positions on a moral issue, or may take a similar position but offer different justifications.  The topics to be examined will include 1) human rights, using the UN declaration on human rights as one of the texts, 2) diversity, focusing on the University of Dayton diversity statement as a core example, and four or more other major current issues.  The students will select these four.  They might include, for example, capital punishment, or  abortion, or  sexual orientation, or cloning, genetic engineering, and reproductive technologies.

COURSE STRUCTURE:
--The first third of the course will review theories of morality and moral development, with some specific examples.  This will end with an Exam on the materials covered.
--The remainder of the course will consist of research work by the students leading to class presentations, in one of two forms (see the assignment page for more on these).  These will be focused on specific moral issues.  Students will locate relevant articles and chapters to read, using library and internet resources.
--There will also be two joint sessions in Sears Recital Hall for all third year CORE students, on October 10 and 31.

TEXTS:
Multiple handouts.  By the second half of the course the student assignments will include responsibility to select texts for the rest of the class to read.

EVALUATION:
There will be two exams, one major research project, and a number of assigned postings to a threaded discussion page.  See the assignment sheet for specifics.

Plagiarism: I encourage you to study together when that is useful.  If the two members of a pair for class presentations wish to work together or at least consult each other, that is fine, but that is not a requirement.  I expect in fact that many times those paired will not agree with each other in the positions they take. That is good; it leads to deeper analysis.  The important thing is that in the end your reports or writings must be your own work, in your own words.  Plagiarism will result in a zero for the assignment.  [It can result in an "F" for the entire course.]  See the student handbook, pp. 37-39, for more on plagiarism and related issues.  Attend especially to the problem of using paraphrases of others' ideas without attribution.  And, of course, never quote without quotation marks and attribution.

Special Problems: Please inform me of any special needs or disabilities. 


Overview of the Course
     This is called a capstone course because it is one of the three courses a student in the CORE program may take to complete the program. (The other two are philosophy courses.) CORE is a two and a half year program composed of ten humanities courses.  The faculty teaching these courses meet regularly during the year and twice for larger workshops in order to describe their course content to one another and find ways of helping students see relations among the courses.  The first year of the program begins with a 12 credit two-semester integrated history, philosophy, and religious studies course.  The second year features a common English course on tragedies, as well as a social science course and a religious studies or philosophy course.  The underlying theme for all of these courses is the UD general eduation theme, "what it means to be human."  The precise focus of the CORE program is "human values in a pluralistic culture."  After two years of prior CORE courses, the students in this capstone have a common wealth of materials to draw upon, from Socrates to Sartre.  They have also become accustomed to work and argue with one another.  In this capstone course they will lead most of the class sessions, providing reading materials for the other students and priming the discussion pump with their initial presentations.           [Return to the top of the page]

 This page last revised by MHBarnes,  September 6, 2000