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Dowling College PHL 2150 Philosophy of Sex and Love  

Fall 2010 MW 10:00-11:21AM  RC 420

CRN 91297

Professor Christian Perring, Department of Philosophy,

E-mail: perringc at dowling.edu  [All email to me should have "PHL2150" in the subject line]

Texting: message me at 631-256-7167, always starting your message with PHL 2150 and your name.

Office Phone: 244-3349

Office: 330B RC (next to the computer lab)

Student Hours: MW 100-230PM, Tuesday 300-600PM, or by appointment. You can IM me during office hours using the Digsby widget on my home page.

Course Description: A study of the contemporary philosophical debates about sex and love.  We will examine how to define sex, the distinction between normal from abnormal sex, sexual identity, sexual exploitation and objectification, sexual consent, the relationship between sex and the meaning of life, and the nature of true love. 

Required Textbook:

The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings. Alan Soble and Nicholas Power (Editors). Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.  [It is essential that you have this edition, and not an earlier edition]

Other readings available via Blackboard.

In addition to the assigned reading, I recommend that you read the column Savage Love every week.  This will give us some extra material for discussion and for your reflections.

Requirements:

· Late term exam. (25%) 

· Final Exam top up (5%)

· 7 reflections on the readings, at least 500 words each. (21%)

· Final paper, 2000 words. (40%)

· Class attendance and participation (9%)

Reading assignments: The reading is listed in the syllabus below.  You must do the reading before that week.  You should be familiar with the main ideas in each assigned chapter, and you should make notes of those parts that are hard to follow. 

Email and Blackboard. You should check your Dowling email at least twice a week. You should check the Blackboard shell for this course at least once a week.

Plagiarism detection and prevention: All papers should be submitted via Turnitin.com in MS Word or RTF.  I will give you information about how to use Turnitin.com.  Note that I view any form of academic dishonesty very seriously, and if I find that you have engaged in any significant form of plagiarism or cheating I will fail you in this course and report my action to the Dean of Students.

Attendance:  Attendance is required. You need to be in the classroom by the start of the class period, when I will take attendance.  If you are late, you only get half-credit for attendance that day.  If you are late to class, you need to speak to me at the end of class to explain why you were late and ask me to record your presence on my roster.  If you need to miss a class, you should notify me by phone or email before the class.  If you are ill and see a medical professional, or you have an unavoidable legal obligation, you should show me some documentation as evidence.  Your attendance grade will suffer significantly if you miss classes without excuse.  If you miss a class, you should write a 600 word summary of a portion of the reading assigned for that class, or arrange some alternative make-up work.  If you miss more than 5 classes without excuse or make up, you will fail the course.

Participation: You should participate in class discussion, both answering questions that are put to the class, raising questions when you do not fully understand an idea or a part of the text, or what someone in the class says.  There is a Blackboard site for this course, and you can also participate and discuss issues there.

Personal Reflections: These should be at least 500 words, in grammatical English.  These are reaction pieces, and you do not need to worry about getting the philosophical details right here.  They are not meant to be academically challenging, but are meant to give you the opportunity to link the topics of the class to your own life and ideas you have about how best to make decisions.  It is up to you how much of your own personal experience you include, but you are encouraged to do so link your own life with philosophical discussions.

I will use the following grading scheme for the reflections

100% A	Very thoughtful, philosophically interesting, worked on carefully.
90% B	Good effort, thoughtful, interesting.
80% C	Adequate, written in coherent English, not much effort made.
70% D	Major problems: poor English, little effort made, missed the whole point.
0% F	If your reflection is too short, is incomprehensible, or is completely off topic, then you will need to redo it, and the redone reflection will get a late penalty.

Late reflections get a 10% penalty for each week late. 

Classroom Etiquette.  All cell phones ringers should be turned off and you should never talk on your cell phone in class.  You should never text in class.  You should not eat any food in class, especially food that others will notice through sound or smell.  You should turn up on time to all classes.  You are free to express your views and question the views of others, including your professor, and you can be passionate about your opinions.  However, you must always treat others in the class with respect; you can criticize the views and arguments of others, but you cannot criticize them as persons.  You should also make sure you are not dominating classroom discussion to the exclusion of other class members. 

Emotional concerns.  Discussing controversial issues in the topics of sex and love can bring up powerful emotions, especially for people with difficult or abusive experiences in their past or for people who are questioning their current beliefs or identity.  So it is important that the classroom be a safe and supportive space for everyone in it.  If at any point during class you do experience overwhelming emotions, then you are quite free to leave and take some time for yourself. 

Academic and Personal Problems.  If you have problems that cause you to be late with work or to miss a number of classes, please stay in communication by phone, email, or by meeting with me in person.  I will be willing to work with you and sort out a way for you to still stay in the class and get a fair grade.  If you miss a number of classes or fail to hand in work on time but don't give me any explanation then you risk failing the class.  Most people experience some sort of crisis during their college career, and you need to find ways to make sure that such problems don't ruin your college career.

Course Outline.

Date	Topic	Reading	Work
9/1	Introduction	Readings From Textbook
9/8	The Nature of Sex	Alan Soble. The Analytic Categories of the Philosophy of Sex Greta Christina. Are We Having Sex Now or What? Thomas Nagel. Sexual Perversion
9/13			Reflection 1
9/15	The Purpose of Sex	Janice Moulton. Sexual Behavior: Another Position Alan Goldman. Plain Sex Alan Soble. Masturbation, Again
9/20
9/22	What Counts as Sex?	Christopher Hamilton. Sex Louise Collins. Is Cybersex Sex? Collins, Louise. Emotional Adultery: Cybersex and Commitment.
9/27			Reflection 2
9/29	The Morality of Homosexuality	John Finnis. The Wrong of Homosexuality Andrew Koppelman. Homosexuality and Infertility Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II). Periodic Continence John Corvino. In Defense of Homosexuality
10/4
10/6	Sexual Identity	Jerome Neu. Sexual Identity and Sexual Justice Thomas Mappes. Sexual Morality and the Concept of Using Another Person Howard Klepper. Sexual Exploitation and the Value of Persons
10/11			Reflection 3
10/13	What Counts as Sexual Assault?	Alan Wertheimer. Consent and Sexual Relations Robin West. The Harms of Consensual Sex Alan Soble. Antioch's 'Sexual Offense Policy': A Philosophical Exploration Eva Feder Kittay. AH! My Foolish Heart: A Reply to Alan Soble's "Antioch's 'Sexual Offense Policy': A Philosophical Exploration."
10/18
10/20	The Ethics of Prostitution	Alan Soble. Sexual Use Raja Halwani. Virtue Ethics, Casual Sex, and Objectification Yolanda Estes . Prostitution: A Subjective Position Martha Nussbaum. "Whether from Reason or Prejudice": Taking Money for Bodily Services Sallie Tisdale. Talk Dirty to Me
10/25			Reflection 4
10/27	Review
11/1			Late Term Exam
11/3	The Definition and Ethics of Pornography	All readings from here on are on Blackboard Course Documents. Dyzenhaus, “J.S. Mill and the Harm of Pornography” Carole Pateman, “Sex and Power” Vernon, “J.S. Mill and Pornography: Beyond the Harm Principle” Scoccia, “Can Liberals support a ban on violent Pornography?”
11/8			Reflection 5
11/10	Youth and Sexual Attraction	Ehman, R. (2000) What really is wrong with pedophilia? Public Affairs Quarterly, 14.2, 12939. David Benatar. Two Views of Sexual Ethics: Promiscuity, Pedophilia, and Rape Stephen Kershnar (2001). The Moral Status of Harmless Adult-Child Sex. Public Affairs Quarterly 15 (2):111--132. Claudia Card (2002). What's Wrong with Adult-Child Sex? Journal of Social Philosophy 33 (2):170–177.
11/15			Draft of Paper
11/17	The Nature of Romantic Love	Plato, ‘Aristophanes’ speech’ from the Symposium’ Plato, ‘Socrates’ speech from the Symposium’ Irving Singer, “Appraisal and Bestowal” Robert Nozick, “Love’s Bond”
11/22			Reflection 6
11/29	Love and the Self	Robert Solomon, “The (Virtue) of Romantic Love” Santas, “Plato’s Theory of Love in the Symposium” David Velleman, “Love as Moral Emotion” Warner, “Love, Self, and Plato’s Symposium”
12/2
12/6	Friendship	Aristotle, from the Nicomachean Ethics Montaigne, "Of Friendship"  http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/8/3586/3586.txt Conlon, “Why lovers can’t be friends” Cocking & Kennett, “Friendship and the Self” Meyer, “Rights Between Friends” Sherman, “Aristotle on Friendship and the Shared Life"	Final paper
12/8			Reflection 7
12/13			Final Exam Top Up