Philosophy 2

Morality and Politics

Apres La Faut

Jean Beraud

Course Description

This course examines such questions as: Are there conditions under which value judgments can be rationally defended? If there are such grounds, what are they? If not, what consequences, if any, follow from ethical skepticism? Can value judgments about individuals or societies be justified on rationally acceptable grounds? Application of theories to moral problems.

Instructor Information

Instructor: Stephan Johnson

A.B., University of California, Berkeley

M.A., San Francisco State University

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison

I have been a member of the CCSF faculty since 2002.

I've been very fortunate in my career at CCSF to have had many students who have gone on from Philosophy classes here to not only transfer to top institutions in the US and around the world (Stanford, Columbia, Amherst, Berkeley, UCLA...) but to have many of those go on to get graduate degrees (in both Philosophy and other fields) at those kinds of institutions (MIT, Harvard, U Chicago, Carnegie-Mellon, Berkeley...) as well. Indeed, more than a few of my former students are now themselves professors or researchers at top institutions around the world.

The truly special thing is that from CCSF, you can go anywhere in the world and we've got scores of students who have done just that.

I am the faculty advisor to the Philosophy Club--home to, in my opinion, the most consistently well informed and interesting conversations that I ever witness on campus.

I have published/presented papers on various topics in philosophy: The Philosophy of Race; the Philosophy of Mind; The Philosophy of Biology; Comparative Ethics (particularly Confucian Ethics); Free Will; Epistemology. My book, A Change of Mind (used as a text for my Phil 40 class) is available online at Apple Books and other online retailers (A Change of Mind).

One of my extracurricular activities is spending an inordinate amount of time on grandiose theories about completely unimportant phenomena: e.g., why do some foods tend to group together in the way they do and why does it seem there are only about 10 or 12 types of faces in the world. Other than that, I waste way too much time on the internets.

Please contact me through the Canvas Inbox. I'll respond to your messages within 48 hours.

Office Hours: MW 12:30 in my office and by appointment

This course follows a module structure. Click on Modules in the Course Navigation Menu on the left for an overview. If it is not visible, click on the icon in the upper left corner to expand the Course Navigation Menu.

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