Phil.230 Topics in Ethics and Political Theory:

Personal Autonomy and Authenticity

 

Instructor: John Santiago

Contact

 

Lecture Notes

Week 1:

Frankfurt: "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person"

Week 2:

Frankfurt: "Identification and Externality"

Watson: "Free Agency"

Week 3:

Thalberg: "Hierarchical Analysis of Unfree Action"

Week 4:

Frankfurt: "Identification and Wholeheartedness"

Dworkin: "The Nature of Autonomy"

Christman: "Autonomy and Personal History"

Week 5

Friedman: "Autonomy and the Split-Level Self"

Meyers: "Self-Direction and Personal Integration"

Meyers: "Autonomy Competencies"

Week 6

Anzaldua: "Movimientos de rebeldia…"

Anzaldua: "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Week 7

Anzaldua: "La Conciencia de la Mestiza"

Week 8

Meyers: "Intersectional Identity"

Week 9

Meyers: Intersectional Identity

Week 10

Santiago Baca: "A Place to Stand: Prologue & Part I"

Week 11

Santiago Baca: "A Place to Stand: Ch.8"

Week 12

"A Place to Stand: Ch.8"

Week 13

Santiago Baca: "A Place to Stand: Ch.10&11"

Week 14

"A Place to Stand: Ch.10&11"

Week 15

Benson: "Free Agency and Self Worth"

Oshana: "Autonomy and Society"

First Paper Assignment

Second Paper Assignment

Syllabus

Final Exam Schedule: Thursday, Dec. 12th (10:30 - 12:30), Rm. 100 SH

 

Music Trivia (Quotes for the Semester):

1.

If I told you she was your mother.

We could analyze the situation and be gone.

If I said you ought to give her some of your water

Your eyes would light up like the dawn.

 

The perception that divides you from her

Is a lie. For some reason you never ask why.

This is not a black and white world.

You can’t afford to believe in your side.

 

This is not a black and white world.

To be alive I say the colors must swirl.

And I believe that maybe today

We will all get to appreciate

The beauty of gray…

2.

You said it couldn’t be done

Told me that it’s the kind of battle that just couldn’t be won,

You know

"You’re too sick, too hard, too f `d in the head."

"You’ll never make it, no, not in this lifetime."

Well guess again, my friend, don’t act surprised…

 

Another goddamn slap in the face.

Don’t wanna give us a place, are you afraid?

Well fear this, ‘cause I’m breaking through the walls of your nightmare…

 

The way I’m living there is no compromising it.

Better get ready for another surprise,

And it

May leave a mark, because I’m coming in fast

Planting thoughts in your mind and droppin’ plates on you’re a$$…

 

3.

Don’t expect too much from me

Perfection is no test for me

Because the best I’ll ever be

Is just like you –a human being

You won’t offend, I need to know

Please my friend, show me your soul.

 

4.

He deals the cards to find the answer,

The sacred geometry of chance,

A hidden law of a probable outcome.

The numbers lead a dance.

 

I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier

I know that the clubs are weapons of war

I know that diamonds mean money for this art

But that’s not the shape of my heart.

 

He may play the Jack of Diamonds.

He may lay the Queen of Spades.

He may conceal a King in his hand,

While the memory of it fades.

 

5.

No Chance

Not for a minute

Not for a second

I won’t be defensive

But straight out

In my opinion.

You better listen to a man

Who knows what he’s saying.

I see your side

You run and hide

From the mere fact

That you feel inferior.

Be superior and know your interior.

 

 

Cicero