Special Topics In Ethics Ii

The fundamental questions in ethical theory are these: What actions ought I to do? Why ought I to do these actions? In introductory courses, the notion of an action in these questions is largely taken for granted. But clearly not all doings are up for deontic assessment - e.g., rolling in your sleep, the kick of a leg when struck near the knee, and coughs. But some cases are less obvious - e.g., smoking when addicted, stealing when a kleptomaniac, and being paralyzed by recalcitrant fear. As these examples show, we need an answer to the following question: What class of actions are up for deontic assessment? We will examine various answers in this course. And each of these answers has important implications for ethical theory.