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Chat

…on the Virtual Section, our featured attraction. Something on your mind? Post a message and see what happens.
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Contact

The Prof: Ellen Comisso, Dept. of Political Science, SSB 377, ecomisso@ucsd.edu

Your TAs:

Mon 12-12:50 Celeste Beesley craymond@ucsd.edu SSB 343

Mon 1-1:50 John Jacobson JeJacobs@ucsd.edu HSS 8088

Wed & Thur 8-8:50 Erick Ramirez ejramirezd@gmail.com HSS 8089

Wed 4-4:50, 5-5:50 Sarah Aikin saikin@ucsd.edu HSS 7055

Fri 3-3:50 Celeste Beesely craymond@ucsd.edu SSB 343

Fri 4-4:50 John Jacobson JeJacobs@ucsd.edu HSS 8088

Each other: virtual section
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Assignments and Tips

View sample questions for the final, part I, part II

View the syllabus
Check out course reserves
Learn to use Turnitin.com
Get tips on writing papers
Get help writing papers
First Paper Topic
View the second paper

Lecture Outlines

War: When to Fight

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Stuff to Read: Some Required, Some Optional, All Interesting and Provocative

Moral Standards, Moral Judgments
--Stanley Fish, Condemnation without Absolutes
--Kant, Mill, and the Brain, Study Finds Brain Injury Changes Moral Judgment
--Moral judgment: a product of reason or instinct?

Abortion
--Current discussion: “Personhood: Where to Draw the Line”
--Roger Werthheimer, “Understanding the Abortion Argument”
--John Tierney, “Men’s Abortion Rights”
-- Abortion in the US: factual info
--"Japan women called baby machines"
--Abortion and Crime

War
--Michael Gordon, "War, Meet the 2008 Campaign"
--Thomas Friedman, "A War for Oil?"
"Thinking about Iraq I"
"Thinking about Iraq II"
--Colin Powell, “We Will Not Shrink from War”
--J. Mearsheimer and S. Walt, “Keeping Saddam Hussein in a Box”
--Background: Iraq timeline
--And have you seen the iRack?

Terrorism
-- Osama bin Laden’s view
-- Battle of Algiers, historical background of film
--Battle of Algiers: Hero or Villain?
--Battle of Algiers: War in Iraq preview or a different kind of conflict?
--Not something entirely new and different: Jihadists and anarchists

Torture
--Unforgivable Behavior, Inadmissible Evidence
--Re-engineering tried and true methods?
--Look again, not quite as good as you think
--The Geneva Convention against Torture
--Abu Ghraib: political effects
-- Prison abuse update, 2/17/07
--“How to lose friends and alienate people”
--NY Times, Shame at Guantanamo

Business Ethics
--Are Sweatshops Necessary? Ask Elmo...
--Joe Nocera, “Enough Shame to go Around on China”

Preferential Treatment/Affirmative Action
--Thomas Sowell, “Affirmative Action: A Worldwide Disaster”
--George Fredrickson, “Still Separate and Unequal”

General Links
--Lawrence Hinman’s Ethics Updates Page (includes links and comments on many of our topics)
--On-line Encyclopedia Britannica (Try searching “relativism,: Deontological ethics,” “Sartre,” etc.
--Less authorized but usually OK for starters, Wikipedia