There’s not too much to say at this point, as I spent most of the first class period introducing the class via the syllabus; I then introduced the six basic tenets of moral perfectionism in the final ten minutes, but we had no time to discuss them. I also began to introduce some technical terms that will need further elucidation in the coming weeks (terms such as “moment of crisis,” “authentic self,” “friend,” and “genius,” each of which will come to function as a piece of technical vocabulary for us). However, there are some things that are worth stressing and clarifying in this first blog post.
First, I repeatedly mentioned two previous iterations of this course, and I want to say a bit more about them in order to more fully clarify the nature of the course. I first taught the Moral Perfectionism course as a senior seminar at St. John’s University/The College of St. Benedict, which is a dual-campus residential Catholic liberal arts college in central Minnesota. (SJU is the men’s campus; CSB is the women’s campus; it is now a joint institution.) The senior seminar at CSB|SJU is an ethics seminar and all graduating seniors are required to take one; most faculty members teach one, and most are not philosophers or trained in the field of ethics. Students are assigned to sections in a largely random fashion, and each section contains a wide variety of majors. In the section that I taught, only one of the students (out of nineteen) was a Philosophy major; only one, if memory serves correctly, was an English major.
I say this in order to drive home the fact that one can benefit from this course without a substantive grounding in either Philosophy or English – although the course will build your knowledge and abilities if you do indeed have a solid grounding in either or both disciplines. It is, really, designed to function on many levels at once; thus, it can function at the level that you, the student, need it to function. This is, in my experience, true of most philosophical texts (with notable exceptions, such as Wittgenstein): you can read Plato and get a lot out of it whether you are a freshman, a graduating senior majoring in philosophy, a graduate student, or a Plato scholar. I first read Plato as a freshman in college, and I have read and reread his work continuously since then; I learn something new every time. Thus, whether this will be your first or fifth look at Plato, it will be valuable – and he will look different (not because he has changed but rather because you have).
With that in mind, while at my next position (at Newberry College, which is a residential Lutheran liberal arts college), I converted this senior seminar into an Introduction to Ethics course. I did so because the standard textbook-based Intro to Ethics that I had taught at Penn State (while a graduate student) and at CSB|SJU did not work at Newberry. At all. I needed to find a new approach. The converted Moral Perfectionism course worked fantastically. I believe that it worked precisely because the course can work on many levels – and it speaks to issues that actually engage most students (whereas textbooks often don’t engage most students). (Perhaps they will let me teach this Intro to Ethics course at ASU some day!)
In our case, the Moral Perfectionism course that I’m now offering is a seminar designed primarily for Philosophy minors and English majors, although some of you may be taking it as an elective out of interest. I anticipate that levels of preparation will vary considerably. Those who took my Wittgenstein course will perhaps find this course much less difficult; indeed, this might give you a chance to work on insights that that course generated. Those who are relatively new to Philosophy may well find it a challenge, and that challenge should come primarily with the writing. In other words, the concepts, texts, and films should be very approachable (as I’ve used them successfully in an intro course), but I will ask you to do some research and will push you to write and think much more than I would in an intro course. (With that in mind, I will have you writing frequently.)
In any case, I will try to pitch the course to three audiences: advanced students who should be working on a meaningful research project; beginning students who need to learn how to think and to do research on a text, philosopher, and/or concept about which they care deeply; and newly-minted experts in the philosophy of Wittgenstein – especially those who might be taking my Ethical Pluralism course next semester. In spite of this threefold pitch, keep in mind that I will apply a single set of grading standards; thus, those who are beginning will likely have to work a bit more on developing their awareness of how to write academically. I, of course, will help you to do that. And, as always, let me know how I’m doing in my attempt to pitch to you (insofar as you are one of these three audiences) or if I’m not pitching to you at all (insofar as you comprise some fourth audience of which I am unaware).
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