BOSTON COLLEGE

Welcome to Father Joseph H. Casey's Home Page!!

Name: Father Joseph H. Casey S.J.


Electronic Mail: frcasey@bc.edu

Carney 214 - Tel . 23854
 
 

Philosophy of the Person I and II

Spring 2002


 
  • April 23 - Schedule of last 3 classes: 23: Quiz - start Abortion.  25: Quiz on Readings  Abortion  - Start Contraception  30: Quiz on Readings (pp. 107-113. but urge read also Study Aids,  pp.117-134) Contreaception  (Thus omit review of modes and Kierkegaard).
  •  

    •  

     
     
     

    April 9 - Reminder about paper on moraity of sexual conduct: No more than 5 pages, double space.  Topic: Choose either premarital sex or homosexual acts or the relation of marriage as a basic human good with the morality of sexual conduct. 1) State the issue  2) Give different positions  3) Grisez's position (apply criterion of morality, the first principle of morality, the modes of responsibility)  4) Evaluation: personal assessment of Grisez's positio.


    NEXT FEW CLASSES
    April 9- 16 Morality of Sexual Conduct

    April 11 -  Debate

    April 18 - Review of Chaps. 11- 13 - Paper due.

    April 23 - Quiz on Chaps. 11 - 13   And Abortion








    March 26 - Prayerful best wishes for this sacred season.
                       The debate may, hopefully, have made you aware of just what makes any act morally good or bad, what constitutes morality.  When we return I shall report another attempt of Grisez to explain, to identify this precise point.  Then we shall apply his ethics to some contemporary neuralgic issues.  Should  prove to be challenging.
     
     

    March 11 - Welcome back.  I hope you enjoyed and profited from the Spring vacation.
                       Schedule for next few classess: March 12 - Review Modes 1-7, start Mode 8.   March 14 - Mode 8 ; Prelect Chap. 13; Introduce Consequentialism
                       March 19 - Chap. 13    March 21 - Consequentialism   March 26 - Debate on Consequentialism.

                         Assignments: Paper on the 8 Modes due March 21.   Content: for each mode give Meaning, Justification, Evaluation

                                               Paper on Morality of Sexual Conduct  due after we review Chaps. 11-13.  Topics: A choice of one of the following: Permarital sex or  Homosexual acts or Relatiion of Marriaage as a basic human good with the morality of sexual conduct.
                                                                                                                                                                      Content: 1)State the problem  2) Give different positions (See Mappes and Zembaty in Readings)  3) Grisez's position (See Readings)  4) Evaluation: personal assessment of Grisez's position.

    Feb. 7 - Question Periods: Thurs. Feb. 14   3 p.m.  Carney 307      Fri. Feb. 15   1 p.m. Carney 009
                  3 p.m.  Carney 206         Tues.  Feb. 19.  3 p.m.  Carney 305.
                  Next  Tues. we shall try to finish Ques. 94.   Perhaps on Thurs. we shall review BNM.
     

    Feb. 5 - Quiz on Feb. 21   Matter for quiz: Descartes- Study Aid, p.96 Part One, #3     Part Two, #4   Part Four, #s 1,2,3,5                                                        Heidegger -  Study Aids p. 99, #s 1,3
                                                                        Thomas Aquinas  - Study Aids p. 99-100 Key Points I, A,B  II, III
                                                                                p. 100,Qu. 90, #s 1,2   Qu. 91, #1   Qu. 94, art. 2, #s3,4,5,6   Art. 4, #3  art. 5,#1   art.6  #s 1,2

    Those continuing course:  BNM:-Study Aids   Chap. 1, p.7,Primary Ques... #1    Chap. 2, p. 17, Ques...Arise, #s 8,9
    Chaps. 3,4  p. 25,#2,3    Chap. 6,pp. 32-3   #s 1,2,3,4,5;  p. 38-39,#VI      Chap. 7,pp. 50-1,#s 3,4,5,8
    Chap. 9,pp. 52-3, #s 2,3,6,7,8

    Dec. 11 -  This is the time to assimilate Grisez's ethics.  I wish you all well. -  Question Periods today at 4 p.m. and Thurs. at  2 and at 4 p.m. (Today in Carney 103 - Thurs. in  Carney 305). Papers and rewrites may be picked up at the Question Periods or outside Carney 214.  Do well in the exams and have a happy and holy Christmas or/and holidays.

    Nov. 15 - Question periods on Monday will be at 2 and at 3 p.m.  in Cushing 208.

    Nov. 13 - Repeating:  Quiz Tues. Nov. 20.  Question periods: Tues. and Thurs. of this week at 3 p.m. in Carney 010. Change: Instead of Friday, the Question period(s) will be on Mon. Nov. 19.

            MATERIAL FOR QUIZ: BNM, Chap. 2  Study Aids p. 16, #s 1-6      Page 17  Questions as Arise, #s 6 & 8
    P. 19, I, 3,b,c,d and 4.  P. 20 Introd.-  Link with Chap. 2   P.20  "Dualism and New Morrality," the quote.     P. 21, Link with Chap. 2      P. 22, Introd. paragrs. 1-4
    P. 23, "Playing for Time."   P. 23  "Moral Objectivity"  #s 1-6
                                                                    Chap. 6  Study Aids Page 32, Chap. 6, #s 1-5     P. 33, Further Questions, #s 8,14,15, 17   Pages 34-39 #s III, IV, VI.

            SCHEDULE OF REMAINING CLASSES (which we shall try to follow):
               Nov. 13 - Chap. 2, Chap. 7  (Rewrites due.)   Alert: Paper on Chaps. 7-9.
               Nov. 15 - Chap. 7.  Start Chap. 8

               Nov. 20 - Quiz      -   Chap. 8  (Study Aids  Pages 54-58 - 7th Plank)

                Nov. 27 - Chap. 9
                Nov. 29 - Chap. 9  (Study Aids p. 58 on - 8th Plank)

                Dec. 4 - Study Aids     Pages 68 on
                Dec. 6 - Debate - Also Readings page 125, Natural Law and Moral Inquiry

    Nov. 8 - Quiz on Tues., Nov. 20.  Question periods in preparation on  next Tues., Thurs. and Friday.
                   Tues. we start the core of Grisez's ethics:  Chaps. 7-9. Check Studay Aids for strategy .

    Nov. 1 - Note well that Tues. we shall debate moral relativism and start Chap. 2.  Check the syllabus  which refers to a quiz and to Chaps. 7-9.

    Oct. 30 -Tues. Schedule for next few classes: Chap. 6 - SA 42-45  Prelect Chap. 2
                  Thurs. Quiz   Kreeft Interviews 2,3,9
                  Tues. Nov. 6  Debate  and Chap.2  (Recommend Spitzer  44-49)

    Oct. 25 - Quiz One - Nov. 1. Question periods: Oct. 25 - 3 p.m.__ Oct. 26 - 11 a.m. and 2 p.m  _ Oct. 30 - 3 p.m.

            Material for Quiz:  (Thomas Aquinas included) Study Aids p. 7, Chap. 1 - Primary Questions  #1. A and B
                            pp. 7-8  Questions as Arise  # 1, B, #3. #5 amd A
                                           Kinds of Acts   #3

                            Fulfillment in Christ   Definition of free choice: p. 12 (2nd col.) paragr. 2  and p. 13 (1st col.) paragr. 2
                                                                   How free choice arises: p. 12 (2nd col.) paragr. 3-5
                                                                  Choice and external behavior: p.13 (1st col.) paragr. 5; p.14 (2nd col.) paragr. 2,3
                                                                  Choices last: p.13 (2nd col.) paragr. 2,3
                                                                   Proof: p.10 (1st col.) paragr. 4

                            Aristotle   Study Aids,  p. 105 Book III # 1,2 (How does Aristotle go about defining "voluntary act.")

                            Thomas Aquinas   Study Aids p. 105 Ques. 82  #1,2,3      Ques. 83  #1

    Oct. 11 - Today was one of the excitiing classes I've experienced for a long time.  One student wanted to expand the issue of free choice to God's forevision so that everything seemed predetermined.  Another questioned the Square of Opposition and contradictories.  A third challenged the entire approach to free choice, since everything is material  and whatever we think or choose is related to our chemistry.  There are answers to all these challenges.  But I normally do not have to address them.  Thank you to these students.  Makes teaching come alive.
                    Tuesday we shall address the kinds of actions we perform.  Then Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas on freedom.  Soon the debate: either Oct. 18 or Oct. 23.

    Oct. 4       We shall continue on the 3 Interviews in Kreeft and begin Chap. 1.  Once again a reminder that the paper on happiness is due Oct. 9.  Note the penalty for being late.

    Sept. 27  A reminder that the paper on happiness is due Oct. 9.  Question periods are provided as mentioned in class. - Monday we shall finish Chap. 4 and do Study Aids p. 25.  We shall also do Spitzer, the selected pages beginning with 65.  Thursday we should treat BNM's  Introduction and Kreeft:  Interviews 1,4,10.  A primary objective is to discuss what philosophy is.

    Sept. 20  A reminder that you should be working on your paper about happiness.  See date due and content expected in Syllabus. - We shall finish Book II and cover Book X  rapidly.  Then do Beyond the New Morality  , Chaps. 3-4.  It would be advantageous also to read Spitzer  on happiness. See pages assigned in Syllabus.

    Sept. 13  The groups should be settled. After some background on Aristotle we shall delve into his Nicomachean Ethics.  Taking Socrates' challenge seriously that "an unexamined life is not worth living,"  Aristotle will try to apply theoretical thinking to the challenge.  He will claim that there is one ultimate good all aim at and that is happiness.  But people disagree on what constitutes happiness.  He believes he can discover what true happiness consists in by identifying the characteristic activity of human beings.  If they perform that action according to virtue ("arete") they will be fulfilled .
                    We shall do Book I and move on to do Bk II on Tuesday.

    Sept. 6  Well, we have started well.  But it must be clear how necessary it is to come prepared if the discussion groups are to prove fruitful. Once drop/add is over and the class is stabilized we shall try to balance the groups in number and gender. If you have any particular preference for a group, let me know. Those groups will be permanent.  Please come to Tues. class having read the Apology and studied it in the light of the Study Aids.  I especially hope you will have checked the positions Socrates takes in his "real apology."  This part is the richest part and the most challenging part for your lives. For example, do you really accept the first three points he makes in the real apology?  And the 4th?

    Texts: Beyond the New Morality , Grisez and Shaw
               A Refutation of Moral  Relativism   Peter Kreef
               Healing the Culture                          Robert J. Spitzer, S.J
               Study Aids
                  Readings For Phil. of Person  I




                                                                                                                        OBJECTIVES. 

    I have to make clear from the beginning just what the objective of this course is.

    Philosophy of the Person is a core course and so you are being introduced to a new field of knowledge. As in any introductory ccourse there are at least two ways of proceeding. For example in Physics, a professor might take the position that few students will pursue Physics as a major and so opt to have the class learn a bit of the history of the science or some of the benefits civilization has reaped from the science. On the other hand he might take the position that students could profit from actually doing physics and so he teaches basic ideas of the science and has the class laboratory experiments. 

    In philosophy a professor may well take the position that he/she will expose the students to some of the great philosophers and treat the course more or less as a history of philosophy. 

    I take the position that students could profit from doing philosophy. I shall introduce you to a few great philosophers this semester, Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, but in relation to getting you to do philosophy.  I want  you to  learn to philosophize. In the second semester we shall do one of Descartes's works, return to Thomas Aquinas and touch upon Heidegger and Kierkegaard.

    Now  there are many divisions or branches of philosopy - theory of knowledge, epistemology, metaphysics, natural theology, cosmology and ethics. Since only two semesters are provided, we cannot cover all these branches. I believe the field closest to your lived experience is ethics - for everyone has been making ethical or moral decisions for years. You already have an ethics. You know what is right and wrong. You are trained to know and to do what is right and to know and avoid what is wrong. But at some point in your life you undoubtedly became very challenged on the views you have been trained in. And you faced the decision to embrace what you had been trained in, to reject all that or to modfy those values. 

    How does one go about making such a decision?  By docile trust in your parents and teachers?  By rebellion and by following peer pressure or media pressure?  This course will  offer you  a reflective grasp of ethics which can empower you to make that decision intelligently and responsibly. 

    In order to equip you with the insights, principles and method which empower you to make an intelligent and responsible decision we shall focus on Germain Grisez's Beyond the New Morallity. Grisez is one of the outstanding ethicians living and writing today.  In my judgment he may prove to be one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. 

    To explain one approach to ethics will prove to be difficult and so there are costs to this way of teaching the Philosophy of the Person.  We simply will not have time to expose you to a variety of ethical approaches.  We shall confront relativism and proportionalism, but not at great length.  Besides, getting you to do philosophy, do philosophical ethical thinking limits time for dealing with the history of philosohy. 

    Personally I am convinced you will profit more by learning to do philsophy and to have the opportunity to reflect upon your moral values than by a cursory acquaintance with a number of great philosophers. 

    Lest you find yourself disappointed, it is important you understand from the beginning what the objective of this course is. 

    Doing philosohy in the first semester will consist of learning the basic ideas and fundamental principles and method.  In the second semester we shall fill out these basic ideas and then truly get into the laboratory by testing these ideas, applying them to very important and pertinent issues, like assisted suicide, abortion, sexual conduct.   The primary objective in studying these issues will be to test how well you understand the ethics we have studied.  But obviously you will also clarify your judgment about the issues.  You may, in fact, discover that you cannot accept the ethics if you find yourself convinced that it is wrong in its application. But you should then be able to identify what in the ethics you must deny or reject. 

    I believe this course can be stimulating, enlightening and personally helpful.  It should be clear that you cannot in two semesters have the experience of doing philosophy and reading a lot of philosophers. 

    Classes will involve lecturing and discussions.  Daily the class in small groups will  engage in discussing the material being covered.   Teaching Assistants acting as facilitators will make this possible.

    To be estalished:

    that we possess freedom of self-determmnation (cc. 1-2);

    that to be happy consists in being complete as a person;

    that to be complete one must leave him/herself as open as possible to the fullest range of human goods, must make and live out harmonious and morally good commitments (cc. 3-4);

    that to be a person is to be both individual and social and to so need community for fulfillment that everyone belongs to many different societies and, as a result, has a number of different roles (c.5);

    that since relativism is false, there must be objective moral standards (c.6);

    that happy and complete living coincides with moral living ; and

    that the criterion of moral goodness is inclusivistic choosing (choosing in a completely reasonable way) and that the first principle of morality is "In voluntarily acting for human goods and avoiding what is opposed to them, a person should choose and otherwise will those possibilities, and only those, which it is compatible with integral human fulfilment to will" (cc.7-9)

    Takingall this as established, in the second semester we will follow Grisez as he expands this criterion and the first principle of morality into 8 modes of responsibility, guidelines for moral evaluation of our actions, and addresses the problem of ambiguous action (cc.11-13). After treating the moral obligation of social duties, he outlines the way to incoporate into our lives this approach to happy, fulfilling moral living, taking account of moral education, the proper understanding of progress, social reform, the role of religion and the structuring of one's commitments.

    To test our understanding of Grisez's ethics we shall study how it applies to contemporary pertinent moral issues: assisted suicide, abortion, sexual conduct.

    In addition we shall peek into Descartes, Discourse on Method; Heidgger, Memorial Address on Thinking , Thomas Aquinas on the Natural Law, and sections of Kierkegaard.

    ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

    AB, Boston College, Ph L, Weston College, STL, Weston College, PH D, Gregorian Univ., Rome, Post graduate studies at Harvred Univ, New Yor Univ. Yale Univ.

    Recent publication: God Is: From Question to Proof, to Embracing the Truth

    Work in process: Morality of Life and Sex Issues.
           Ambitioned: Intellectual Presuppositions for Generation X.