Admission requirements
This course has a limited number of places available for students from other departments. Prerequisites: registration in an MA programme, and and additionally the following courses in philosophy are required: Ethics,
Description
This is a course in comparative philosophy focused on the intersection between human flourishing, normativity and personal identity. The course draws mainly upon writing from Indian Buddhism and contemporary work in consequentialist and eudaimoniastic ethical theory. Topics to be explored include the relevance of personal identity to ethics, the relationship between well-being and normativity, comparative virtue theory and the role of suffering in ethical theory. A background question for the class will be whether, or to what extent, Buddhist texts provide a distinct method of arguing for normative conclusions. In doing this, we will compare ancient Indian forms of argumentation with the reasoning we find in Buddhist ethical texts and arguments used in contemporary philosophical work.
Although we will briefly survey some historical sources, the main focus of the class will be on contemporary authors writing from within, or critiquing, consequentialist or eudaimonist accounts of normativity. These will include Derek Parfit, Peter Railton, Bernard Williams, Susan Wolf and Harry Frankfurt. From the Buddhist side, we will read a number of early texts such as the Dhammapada, The Questions of King Milinda, and sutras from the Pali canon. Mahayana authors discussed will include Asaṅga, Śāntideva, Vasubandhu and Candrakīrti.
Course objectives
This course aims to investigate the relation between human flourishing, normativity and personal identity, drawing upon texts from Buddhist moral philosophy and contemporary ethical theory. Students will be expecte to develop their own positions on the assigned readings, both orally and in writing.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the several contemporary theories of well-being;
Buddhist accounts of suffering and virtue;
traditional Buddhist arguments for the nonexistence of the self;
criticisms of normative theory (especially consequentialism and eudaimonism) that critique a theory of well-being;
the potential normative implications of theories of personal identity.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
explain and critique several philosophical accounts of well-being;
draw upon texts cross-culturally in defending their positions;
explain the benefits and potential drawbacks of working with texts comparatively;
explain and critique Buddhist arguments against the existence of the self.
Timetable
See Timetables Philosophy 2014-2015 , Timetables MA Philosophy 60 EC/120 EC
Mode of instruction
- Lectures and Seminars
Attendance is required.
Course Load
Total course load: 280 hours
Attending lectures and seminars: 42 hours
Time for studying literature: 138
Time for writing papers and preparing presentation: 100
Assessment method
Final research paper (85%)
Presentation (15%)
One resit will be offered, consisting of the final paper. Any student who did not take the first examination cannot take the resit.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for posting assignments and announcements.
Reading list
A full reading list will be posted on Blackboard at the start of the course.
Registration
Please register for this course on uSis.
See Registration for courses and examinations
Students are strongly advised to register in uSis through the activity number which can be found in the timetable for courses in the column under the heading “Act.nbr.”.
Exchange students and Study Abroad students, please see the Study in Leiden website for information on how to apply.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
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