I need a paper compare the thoughts of J. S. Mill and Confucianism about the good wills of actions and results of actions. The paper should be 1800 – 2400 words.
final_paper_proposal.docx
phil119_su2.pdf
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1: A statement of your proposed project
In my final paper, I would like to compare the though of J. S. Mill, which is covered by the class
material, and the thought of Confucianism, a Chinese ancient philosophy which focus on the good
wills of actions instead of the results of actions.
2: A statement of how your project intersects with the concerns of the course
By compare with these two kinds of philosophy, I think that I can have an overall view of how to do
things right with proper ethics.
3: At least 5 proposed sources, at least 2 of which must be print sources.
⚫
“The Analects” – This is the book written by the students of Confucius, the great philosophy in
ancient China who is considered as the founder of Confucianism, to record the thoughts and
sayings of Confucius.
⚫
“Spring and Autumn Annals” – This is the book written by Confucius himself. Confucius has
express his thoughts through the book by comment some historical events in Spring and
Autumn period, the period he lived in.
⚫
“Utilitarianism” – The book written by J. S. Mill, a representative philosophy of Utilitarianism.
⚫
“Utilitarian Confucianism: Ch’en Liang’s Challenge to Chu Hsi” – In the Song Dynasty in
ancient China, philosophers of Confucianism began to consider whether they should focus on
the results or good wills. This book is written about the discussion between two of the
representative philosophers of Confucianism.
⚫
http://www.china001.com/show_hdr.php?xname=PPDDMV0&dname=AHFTB41&xpos=5 This is the website of an article about Mill’s thought.
PHIL 119: Ethical Leadership
Syllabus
Credits:
3
Prerequisites:
None
Delivery:
Web (ANGEL, http://cms.psu.edu)
Dates:
See the Calendar tab in ANGEL.
Instructor:
See the Orientation folder in ANGEL.
Note on Email: Please use Course Mail (ANGEL Email) for all private correspondence with the
instructor. Only use the psu.edu email address above in an emergency.
Note on Response Time: Your instructor will reply to your questions, concerns, and comments
in a timely manner, not to exceed TWO business days.
Course Overview
“He that outlives this day and comes safe home will stand o’ tiptoe when this day is named.” -Shakespeare (Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3)
Description
In politics, business, education, and society more generally we depend on leaders not only for
their special expertise, but also for their integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness. Leaders are
called upon to distribute important resources and to make difficult decisions on behalf of others,
so we expect our leaders to be fair and just. Leaders also influence the conduct of others as they
set examples for their followers. We expect our leaders to lead ethically and to encourage ethical
conduct in others. A leader should be able to identify ethical challenges, be capable of analyzing
them and imagining possible solutions, and be motivated to do the ethically right thing. In other
words, we expect our leaders to possess a high degree of moral literacy.
Many of you will hold leadership positions at some point. One of the main goals of this course is
to assist you in responding to ethically challenging leadership situations by introducing you to
the framework of moral literacy and helping you to develop the capacities it involves. After an
introductory module on Moral Literacy, you will hone the skills it involves through engaging
with philosophical texts that articulate ethical theories, with literary texts that present ethical
challenges, and with contemporary discussions that bear on ethics and leadership in our own
contexts. .
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In this course, we will look at a number of very different texts: some are classics of moral
philosophy, some are dramatic depictions of leaders in action, and some are modern examples of
both good and bad leadership. Throughout, I invite you to draw parallels between fictional
examples, modern cases of ethical leadership and the philosophical theories we have studied.
The main goals of the course are as follows:
1. Learn how to identify, analyze and respond to challenging situations in an ethical way.
2. Learn some of the main ethical theories and apply them to resolve ethical dilemmas in
leadership cases in various disciplines.
3. Engage in critical and respectful discussion with your peers on the basics of effective and
ethical leadership.
4. Integrate a practice of moral literacy and ethical leadership in your own life.
Hopefully, this course will be more than an academic exercise: my goal is to confront you with
serious issues that you will face both in and out of the classroom. Ultimately, I hope that it will
help to make you more thoughtful, more effective, and more human leaders and followers.
Objectives
•
•
•
•
•
•
Moral Literacy: Students will learn a certain set of skills to help them identify, analyze and
respond to ethically challenging situations.
Ethics Content: Students will learn several key concepts and ideas in ethics. In addition to
learning the main ethical theories, students will also engage in discussions of plausibility of
these theories.
Ethical Leadership Content: Students will work on cases of modern ethical leadership in
various disciplines and apply their skills of moral literacy and knowledge of ethics to discuss
these cases.
Critical Reading, Thinking, & Reasoning Skills: Students will learn to critically read and
interpret philosophical texts. They will gain critical reasoning skills by assessing the quality
of arguments in terms of their validity, strength, cogency, soundness, etc.
Dialogue & Formal Expression: As most issues in ethics tend to be controversial and
emotionally charged, students will develop their ability to engage in respectful conversation
with others. Students will thus be encouraged to formulate their views on ethical issues by
providing reasons for their position and criticizing alternatives by objecting to the arguments
supporting these positions.
Articulation & Writing Skills: Students will develop the capacity to respond to various
arguments concerning ethical leadership in a rigorous and articulate way. They will learn
how to summarize issues in ethical leadership in a succinct, charitable, and illustrative way
and learn how to critically respond to arguments by raising objections and supporting their
views with reasons.
Organization
This course is divided into 4 modules of varying length, from 2-6 lessons. Each will include
some combination of primary and secondary readings, discussions, video lectures, film, and
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writing assignments. The specific content and deadlines for each lesson is included on the course
schedule, which is available on Angel.
Online Learning & Attendance
This course has been developed to promote asynchronous learning. The instructor and students
do NOT meet on a designated day and time each week. For each lesson, there is a timeframe to
complete all activities and assignments, and you may work at your own pace within that
timeframe. However, you must adhere to the deadlines outlined on the calendar. (See the
Calendar tab in ANGEL. Or check the Orientation folder under the Lessons tab.) You should
log into the course daily to check for updates, review lessons, and participate in activities.
“It is best to be both feared and loved; however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared
than loved.” -Niccolò Machiavelli, (The Prince)
Synchronous instruction vs. Asynchronous instruction
This course is an asynchronous course. This means that you do not have to meet on a
designated day and time for instruction. The pace of this course is entirely up to you. However,
it is the responsibility of the student to adhere to all deadlines and due dates. Once the class
has completed a lesson, we will move onto the next lesson. This keeps the class on task and
enables students to learn the material over an appropriate period of time. You must keep up
with the course. You will not be allowed to submit assignments after the due date.
Texts & Other Materials
The following seven texts provided for you in ANGEL. Under each lesson, there is a link to each
week’s readings.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Plato, Republic
Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals
Mill, Utilitarianism
Machiavelli, The Prince
Shakespeare, Henry V
Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis
Plato, Apology
Grading
Final letter grades will be assigned based on the scale below.
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Scale
LETTE
R
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
D
F
MINIMUM
PERCENT
95
90
88
82
80
78
70
60
0
Deadlines
All assignments (except the FINAL PAPER) are due by 11:55 pm Eastern Time on the assigned
date (please refer to the Calendar for due dates). Students will be unable to go back and complete
course work; it is your responsibility to keep up with your assignments.
The FINAL PAPER is due at 9:00 AM on the assigned date.
Late assignments will not be accepted. They are due when they are due. Since all papers
will be submitted electronically via Angel, I will know exactly when they are turned in. Requests
for extensions must be received via email at least 72 hours prior to the assignment’s due date. I
reserve the right to deny any and all requests for extensions, for whatever reason. Do not
assume that you will get an extension if you request one.
It is important to submit something for each assignment. If you do not submit an assignment,
you will receive a zero for that assignment.
Assignments
An overview of assignment categories is provided below. More specific instructions about each
individual assignment can be found in the appropriate area online.
ASSIGNMENT
PERCENT
Quizzes
15
Blog Activities
15
Response Paper
15
Discussions
20
Final Paper Proposal
10
Final Paper
25
Total
100
5
Quizzes
Value: 15 %
Announced quizzes will test only your reading comprehension and your understanding of basic
ideas in the text. Quizzes will consist of 5 multiple choice questions each. You will have 5
minutes to complete the quiz and you will have to do it all in one sitting: you cannot save your
work and come back to it.
Blogs
Value: 15%
Over the course of the term you will complete a course blog comprised of 6 entries, each entry of
which is a brief (approximately 250 – 350 word) answer to the questions/prompts specified for
the blog. You are also required to respond to at least one of your classmates’ blog post. By the
end of the course, you will have made 12 posts in total: 6 original blog posts and 6 responses to
your classmates’ blog posts. The purpose of this blog is to develop the ability to understand the
importance of making ethical decisions in the area of ethical leadership by looking at how ethical
decisions influence social, political and cultural life in the world. Blog posts aim at helping
students cultivate the core skills of moral literacy and ethical leadership (identifying, analyzing
and responding to challenging situations in the domain), by engaging you in current real life
ethical leadership cases and examples.
GUIDE for STUDENT BLOG POSTS
CATEGORIES OF POSTS: Discussions will be centered on one of four types of scenarios:
Ethics Sensitivity: Discussions and post will focus on identifying possible challenges and
invite discussion about the ethical intensity of the situation.
Ethical Reasoning: Discussions and posts will focus on consequences, duties, and/or
character would lead us to make judgments about the rightness or wrongness of certain
leadership decisions
Moral Imagination: Discussion and posts will focus on imagining possible courses of action
and reflecting on how well each potential course of action would fare according to ethical
standards.
Moral Motivation: Discussions and posts will focus on the difficulties involved in following
a course of action once it has been identified as the ethically right/best option, and reflect on
how someone might work to overcome these difficulties.
An ideal blog post would demonstrate ethical literacy by calling attention to some ethical
challenge or challenges that people face in leadership contexts and beginning to address the
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significance of these challenges in a way that invites commentary and further discussion. In some
cases, we might simply be identifying possible challenges and inviting discussion about the
ethical intensity of the situation (ethics sensitivity). In other cases, we might offer some
suggestions concerning how a focus on consequences, on duties, and/or on character would lead
us to make judgments about the rightness or wrongness of certain leadership decisions (ethical
reasoning). Some other cases may have us imagining possible courses of action and reflecting on
how well each would fare according to ethical standards (moral imagination). We might also
want to discuss the difficulties involved in following a course of action once it has been
identified as the ethically right/best option, and reflect on how someone might work to overcome
these difficulties (moral motivation). The post should make it clear to the reader which of these
things the post’s author is attempting to do, how they will do it, why it is something that the
reader should be interested in, and where further information or other viewpoints might help
move the discussion forward.
You must turn in your blog entries when they are due, or you will not receive credit!
Grading Rubric for New Blog Posts
Points
Criteria
/3
Structure/Format/Mechanics: The new
blog post meets all the requirements
concerning length, use of appropriate
language, grammar and outside resources
especially current ones etc. The blog is also
organized, well-edited, clear and concise.
Content: The new blog post answers the
question presented in the prompt and
discusses it in a way that shows significant
engagement with the moral literacy module
and other course material.
/3
/3
Total:
Comments
Ethical Reasoning: The new blog post
presents insightful comments on the
challenges the dilemma presents and how
to overcome them. It also provides some
resources and ideas/questions for further
discussion.
/9
Grading Rubric for Response Blog Posts
Points
Criteria
/3
Structure/Format/Mechanics: The
response blog post meets all the
requirements concerning length, use of
appropriate language, grammar and outside
resources especially current ones etc. The
blog is also organized, well-edited, clear
and concise.
Comments
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/3
Content: The response blog post extends
the discussion in new directions. It goes
beyond affirming/denying what has been
stated in the post. It also uses references to
literature, readings, and personal
experiences.
Total:
/6
Response Paper
Value: 15%
The response paper, for which you will sign up in the second lesson, is a longer (800 – 1200
word) analysis of some particular element of our reading as it relates to the course. The response
paper can be an analysis of some particular element of the text, a comparison to some other text
or thinker, or an analysis of how the text fits into the broad topic of ethical leadership. Be sure to
make direct reference to the text and do more than just summarize the reading.
Discussions
Value: 20%
Scheduled discussions allow you to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular topic, refine
your ideas, and interact with your colleagues. Your participation in these scheduled discussions
will be rated on a pass/fail basis. You will be judged on the relevance to ongoing discussions, the
sophistication of your inquiry or answer, and the quality of your expression.
For each discussion, you must post at least one original comment on the discussion topic (or you
may introduce a new topic if it pertains to the reading) and at least one response to the posting of
a fellow student or your instructor. Your first post must be posted by Sunday, and your second
by Tuesday, at 11:55pm Eastern Time.
Final Paper Project
Value: 35%
Your final paper for this course will consist of two pieces. The ‘Proposal’ is worth 10% of
your final grade and the Paper itself worth 25% of your final grade. The rationale and details
follow below.
1. Final Paper Proposal (10% of the final grade)
You will submit a proposal for your final paper: this will include a brief statement of the topic
you wish to research; no fewer than 3 proposed sources (at least 2 of which must be print (i.e.
non internet) sources, and a statement of how your project relates to the course. These will
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receive feedback if necessary, but will not be given a letter grade. If you submit an acceptable
proposal, you will receive full credit.
Final Paper Assignment (25% of the final grade)
Your final paper will consist of a research project of your choice concerning the topic of ethics
in leadership. You will find suggestions for paper topics below and in the assignment drop box,
but you are not bound by the suggestions given. Your paper should be 1800 – 2400 words and
conform to scholarly standards of style and documentation. You may use APA or MLA format
for citations, but remain consistent throughout.
You will have two options:
• Option 1: comparison paper on two figures or schools of thought
This is, generally speaking, a “compare and contrast” paper. In it you will take up the positions
regarding leadership and its ethical content of two thinkers, one and only one of whom is part of our
reading list. The other is someone you will research on your own. I expect you to go beyond just the
readings we’ve done in class, and your text should draw on between three and eight outside sources,
which must be cited and listed in a bibliography. At least two of your sources must be hard copy
(i.e. not from the internet.) Compare and contrast the two thinkers you have chosen: in what ways
do they overlap, in what ways do they conflict? Is one influenced by another? Do they share some
common root? How do they view human nature differently? How do they view the ultimate source
of ethical value? What does each one claim constitutes a “good leader?”
The authors we considered in this class are
J. S. Mill
N. Machiavelli
Plato
I. Kant
Some other figures you might wish to take up:
David Hume
Cicero
John Locke
G. W. F. Hegel
Paul Tillich
Marcus Aurelius
Aristotle
Milton Friedman
Confucius
Seneca
Karl Marx
John Rawls
Hannah Arendt
Julius Evola
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Nozick
This is not a comprehensive list. If you have other ideas I encourage you to pursue them.
• Option 2: Application of theory
In this paper, you will take up one of the key philosophical thinkers (Plato, Mill, Kant, or
Machiavelli) from this class, and apply his theoretical or historical approach regarding leadership to
some particular contemporary issue. I expect you to go beyond just the readings we’ve done in
class, and your text should draw on between three and eight outside sources, which must be cited
and listed in a bibliography. At least two of your sources must be hard copy (i.e. not from the
internet.)
How are these theories applicable to contemporary issues? Are there elements of today’s society
that are so different as to make these ideas untenable? How might we make use of philosophical
insights into leadership to address contemporary problems?
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Some issues you might wish to take up:
Leadership in Religion
Corporate Citizenship Capitalism and Democracy Leadership in
Education Minorities in Leadership Leadership at home and abroad
Parenting as leadership
This is not a comprehensive list. If you have other ideas I encourage you to pursue them
In neither case are you limited by this rubric. If you wish to pursue a paper topic on the subject of
Ethical Leadership that does not fit easily into either of these formats, you may still do so. You must
submit your proposal in the appropriate drop box by the assigned due date. Be sure to carefully read
the requirements for the proposal so you do not leave any element out.
Note on Feedback: Your instructor will reply to your questions, concerns, and comments in a
timely manner, not to exceed two b …
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