DPLS 747sp09 Leadership & Classical Ethics

This course is designed to leverage the time in between our four-hour sessions. In the first session, we will talk about how to face these various readings. As much as possible, this course will emphasize going back to the original sources. The weeks between the courses will facilitate time for some substantial reading, and our time together will focus on Socratic dialogue, discussion, and presentations that, I hope, will permit you to actualize your own scholarly endeavors over the interims. It is likely that your reading experience will not be the definitive read of the material that you might want. However, my goal is to make the experience of scholarly work in examination these various philosophical positions so interesting, and so question prompting, that you will come back to the readings after the course, to chase down loose ends, all questions that that the first read did not fully permit you to answer. In doing so I am aiming to teach the material, but also to teach something else which is equally important. The great leaders of Athenian democracy realized that one who wishes to lead must first be a teacher, especially of one’s self.

This course will begin with a survey of pre-classical ethical theory in both the Code of Hammurabi, and in representative works from the Hebrew tradition, which will prove significant in the development of Judeo-Christian ethics. Through this study we will find a deepening cultural awareness, even in ancient times, of the societal need to develop just institutions, including grappling with the tension between the good of the individual, the wants of the powerful, and the social justice at which a just society must aim.

The course will then move to Greek Philosophy, looking at the philosophies of both Plato and Aristotle and their understanding of Virtue ethics. This study will distinguish between the deontological ethics of Plato, and the teleological approach of Aristotle. Greek philosophy is critical for understanding the development of philosophical ethics in the Western tradition. Furthermore, it highlights the tension leaders face between sticking to principle and making choices that appear to promote honor and success as a goal.

With a backcloth of both Greek ethics and the culture of the ancient near east it will be possible to see how the development of the Judeo-Christian tradition draws from dialogue with both Hebrew ethical teaching and engagement with the Greco-Roman world.

The philosophy of the Western Classical period will act as a benchmark for us as take a philosophical journey to the east, looking at two very different approaches to ethics, those of both Buddhism and Confucianism. Buddhism constructs itself around the goal of ending the individual’s suffering, with the ultimate goal of ridding the individual of the notion of “self.” Confucianism, on the other hand, strives for a virtuous excellence, which is both internal to the individual and externally visible in behavior of both individual and society. Thus we will find ourselves returning to a theme that began this summary of the course. The cultural leader must aim toward the cultivation of just institutions. The course will conclude with summoning all these traditions together as lenses through which one sees how to development and maintain just institutions. This course does not aim pit one ethical philosophy against another, but rather to mine the ethical wisdom of millennia toward a Leadership doctoral students personal development as a prudent leader who will become a “person for others.”

General Outline of the Semester

Date          Session        Domain of Study                                   Graded Work Due

Grading

            Participation                               5%

            Reading                                                 10%

            Reading Prompts                        20%

            Greek Ethics Presentation                10%

            Comparison of Judeo-Christian and Greek Ethics            10%

             Buddhist Philosophy

             Presentation                                          10%

            Confucian Ethics Presentation      10%

            Final Paper                                 25%

Any Questions?

If you have course questions email me at collenderatgonzagadotedu. My office hours are 11AM-12:30PM Tuesday and Thursday in REBMANN 009.