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This is the web page for course 24.120 Moral Psychology given by Richard Holton at MIT, Fall Semester 2007.
The class will take place on Monday and Wednesday mornings, 9.30 - 11.00, in 56.162.
Assessment will be by means of three short papers (5-7 pages) and the class presentation and write-up (25% each). At least one paper (normally the first) will be revised and resubmitted.Assignment One (due 10 October 2007)
Assignment Two (due 7 November 2007)
Assignment Three (due 14 December 2007)
Week One: Egoism
- Wednesday Sep 5th [Handout 1]
- Bishop Butler Fifteen Sermons Sermon XI
Week Two: Egoism and the Belief-Desire Theory
- Monday Sep 10th [Handout 2]
- E. Fehr & U. Fischbacher 'The Nature of Human Altruism' Nature 425 (2003) 785-91 [On-line]
- Wednesday Sep 12th [Handout 3]
- M. Smith 'The Humean Theory of Motivation' Mind (1987) JSTOR
Week Three: Intention
- Monday Sep 17th [Handout 4]
- M. Bratman, 'Taking Plans Seriously'
Further Readings
- Bratman, 'Intention and Means-Ends Reasoning' Philosophical Review (1981) JSTOR; 'Two Faces of Intention' Philosophical Review (1984) JSTORBratman's position is developed more fully in his Intention, Plans and Practical Reason (Harvard University Press, 1987). (For a quick way into this, see the review by David Velleman in the Philosophical Review 1991, JSTOR)
For an alternative view that tries to accommodate intentions within a belief/desire framework see Michael Ridge 'Humean Intentions' American Philosophical Quarterly 1998
- Wednesday September 19th[Handout 5]
- David Velleman, Chapter Four of Practical Reflection (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989)
Rae Langton Intention as Faith in Action and Agency, ed. Helen Steward (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
- Wednesday September 26th [Handout 6]
- D. Davidson, 'How is Weakness of the Will Possible?' in his Essays on Actions and Events (Oxford, 1980)
Week Five: Weakness and Strength of Will
- Monday October 1st [Handout 7]
- G. Watson, 'Skepticism about Weakness of Will', Philosophical Review 1977, JSTOR
Lloyd Humberstone. 'Wanting, Getting, Having' Philosophical Papers 19 (1990)
R. Holton, 'Intention and Weakness of Will', Journal of Philosophy 1999 JSTOR
- Wednesday October 3rd [Handout 8]
- George Ainslie 'A Selectionist Model of the Ego: Implications for Self-Control' forthcoming in N. Sebanz and W. Prinz (eds.) Disorders of Volition (MIT Press).
R. Holton 'How is Strength of Will Possible?' in S. Stroud and C Tappolet (eds.) Weakness of Will and Practical Irrationality (Oxford University Press, 2003). [Acrobat version]
M. Muraven and R. Baumeister, 'Self-Regulation and Depletion of Limited Resources: Does Self-Control Resemble a Muscle?', Psychological Bulletin 126 (2000) pp. 247Ð59. Available from the Baumeister/Tice Lab Homepage (follow the link to 'Lab Publications', then scroll down to the heading 'Ego Depletion') Further Reading
- M. Bratman, 'Planning and Temptation' in Faces of Intention.
Samuel McClure et al Separate Neural Systems Value Immediate and Delayed Monetary Reward Science 306 (2004) 503-7
George Ainslie and John Monterosso A Marketplace in the Brain?, Science 306 (2004) 421-3.Week Six: Rationality
- Wednesday October 10th [Handout 9]
- G. Kavka, 'The Toxin Puzzle', Analysis 43 (1983), pp. 33-6.
M. Bratman 'Toxin, Temptation and the Stability of Intention' in Faces of Intention pp. 58-90.
Week Seven: Resolve, Addiction
- Monday October 15th [Handout 10]
- J. Broome, 'Are Intentions Reasons? And How Should We Cope with Incommensurable Values?', in C. Morris and A. Ripstein (eds.), Practical Rationality and Preference: Essays for David Gauthier (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) pp. 98-120. Online version
R. Holton 'Rational Resolve' forthcoming in The Philosophical Review [Acrobat version]
- Wednesday October 17th [Handout 11]
-
Gideon Yaffe, Recent Work on Addiction and Responsible Agency
Week Eight: Addiction II, Freewill I
- Monday October 22nd [Handout 12]
- Robinson, T.E. & Berridge, K.C. Addiction. Annual Review of Psychology, v. 54, pp. 25-53, 2003
Berridge and Robinson 'The Mind of an Addicted Brain' Current Directions in Psychological Science 4/3 (1995)
G. Watson, 'Disordered Appetites' in his Agency and Answerability (NB this pdf isn't blank as it first appears: rotate 90 anticlockwise)
-- 'Excusing Addiction' Law and Philosophy 1999
- Wednesday October 24th [Handout 13]
- Frankfurt Harry Frankfurt Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person Journal of Philosophy 68 (1971)
Gary Watson 'Free Action and Free Will', Mind 96 (1987)
Week Nine: Free Will II
- Monday October 29th [Handout 14]
- Harry Frankfurt Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility
- Wednesday October 31st [Handout 15]
- Strawson 'Freedom and Resentment' Proceedings of the British Academy, 48 (1962) 1-25
Watson, 'Responsibility and the Limits of Evil' D. Schoeman (ed.) Responsibility, Character and the Emotions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)
Susan Wolf, 'The Importance of Freewill' Mind 90 (1981)
Week Ten: Free Will III
- Monday November 5th [Handout 16]
- Robert Kane 'Two Kinds of Incompatibilism' Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50 (1989)
- Wednesday November 7th [Handout 17]
- Richard Holton 'The Act of Choice', Philosophers' Imprint 6 (2006)
Week Eleven: Free Will IV
- Wednesday November 14th [Handout 18]
- D. Wegner and T. Wheatley 'Apparent Mental Causation' American Psychologist 54 (1999).
D. Wegner 'Precis of The Illusion of Conscious Will'
- A Mele, Free Will: Action Theory Meets Neuroscience (on Libet's work)
Week Twelve: Identification and Autonomy
- Monday November 19th [Handout 19]
- Frankfurt, 'Identification and Wholeheartedness'
Frankfurt, 'The Faintest Passion'
Scanlon, 'Reasons and Passions', Contours of Agency, eds. Buss and Overton
Moran, 'Frankfurt on Identification', Contours of Agency, eds. Buss and Overton
- Wednesday November 21st [Handout 20]
- Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (1987). 'The support of autonomy and the control of behavior', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1024-1037.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78. Further reading:
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). 'The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior', Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.
Week Thirteen: Self-Deception, Moral Psychology I
- Monday November 26th [Handout 21]
- A. Mele, 'Real Self-Deception', Behavioural and Brain Sciences 20, 1997 pp. 91-136. Electronic Version (Note: this is a pre-print, and doesn't include the peer commentary that appeared with the printed version).
R. Holton, 'What is the role of the self in self-deception?' Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 2000/1. Acrobat version
- Wednesday November 28th [Handout 22]
- Shaun Nichols Norms with Feeling, Cognition 84 (2002)
Joshua Greene et al, The Neural Bases of Cognitive Conflict and Control in Moral Judgment, Neuron 44 (2004)
Week Fourteen: Moral Psychology II
-
Monday December 3rd
- Possible visit from Liane Young and Fiery Cushman of the Harvard's Moral Sense Test
- Wednesday December 5th [Handout 23]
- Jeanette Kennett, Autism and Empathy Philosophical Quarterly July 2002, vol. 52, pp. 340-357.
Adina Roskies, 'Are ethical judgements intrinsically motivational? Lessons from acquired sociopathy'
Joshua Greene et al, The Neural Bases of Cognitive Conflict and Control in Moral Judgment, Neuron 44 (2004)
Week Fifteen: Moral Psychology III
- Monday December 10th [Handout 24]
- Jonathan Haidt 'The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail'
- Wednesday December 12th [Handout 25]
- John Doris 'Persons, Situations and Virtue Ethics', Nous 32 (1998)
Daryl Bem On the Uncommon Wisdom of our Lay Personality Theory
Rachana Kamtekar Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of our Character Ethics 114 (2004)
Last updated July 4th 2007