PHIL 235 - Stephen Darwall’s The Second-Person Standpoint

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

Stephen Darwall’s The Second-Person Standpoint is a landmark contribution to contemporary moral philosophy. Darwall’s book aims to explain how moral obligation is possible, by grounding it in the relations between individuals. Darwall argues that fundamental ethical concepts, including the concept of a person itself, along with the concepts of human rights and human dignity, presuppose that we have the authority to make claims on those toward whom we stand in a second-person relation. We engage in a careful reading of this important book, as well as some philosophical responses to it. Mr. Seidman.

Prerequisite: one 100-level course in Philosophy.

Second six-week course.

Two 75-minute periods.