| 1 | The Error Theory |
Required  Mackie, J. L. Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Penguin Books, 1977, pp. 15–49 and 241–42. ISBN: 9780140219579.
Joyce, Richard. Chapters 1 and 2 in The Myth of Morality. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780521808064. [Preview with Google Books] Optional Foot, Phillipa. "Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives." Philosophical Review 81, no. 3 (1972): 305–16.
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| 2 | 'Ought' Part 1 |
Required Kratzer, Angelika. "Modality." In Semantik / Semantics. Edited by Arnim von Stechow and Dieter Wunderlich. Walter de Gruyter, 1991, pp. 639–50. ISBN: 9783110126969. [Preview with Google Books] Finlay, Stephen.  "The Error in the Error Theory." Australasian Journal of Philosophy 86, no. 3 (2008): 347–69. Optional Swanson, Eric. "Modality in Language." Philosophy Compass 3, no. 6 (2008): 1193–207. Joyce, Richard. "The Error in 'The Error in the Error Theory'." Australasian Journal of Philosophy 89, no. 3 (2011): 519–34. Finlay, Stephen. "Errors Upon Errors: A Reply to Joyce." Australasian Journal of Philosophy 89, no. 3 (2011): 535–47.
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| 3 | 'Ought' Part 2 |
Required Kolodny, Niko, and John MacFarlane. "Ifs and Oughts." Journal of Philosophy 107, no. 3 (2010): 115–43. Charlow, Nate. "What We Know and What To Do." Synthese 190, no. 12 (2013): 2291–323. Optional von Fintel, Kai. "The Best We Can (Expect to) Get? Challenges to the Classic Semantics for Deontic Modals (PDF)," unpublished manuscript. [Focus on pp. 1–3 and 22–30]
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| 4 | Contextualism and Relativism Part 1 |
Required Macfarlane, John. "Disagreement." Chapter 6 in Assessment Sensitivity: Relative Truth and its Applications. Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780199682751. [Preview with Google Books] ———. "Ought." Chapter 11 in Assessment Sensitivity: Relative Truth and its Applications. Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780199682751. Egan, Andy. "Relativist Dispositional Theories of Value." The Southern Journal of Philosophy 50, no. 4 (2012): 557–82. Optional Stevenson, C. L. "Relativism and Non-Relativism in the Theory of Value." Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 35 (1961–62): 25–44.
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| 5 | Contextualism and Relativism Part 2 |
Required Dowell, Janice. "Flexible Contextualism about Deontic Modals: A Puzzle about Information-Sensitivity." Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 56, no. 2–3 (2013): 149–78. Plunkett, David, and Tim Sundell. "Disagreement and the Semantics of Normative and Evaluative Terms." Philosophers' Imprint 13, no. 23 (2013): 1–37.
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| 6 | The Open Question Argument |
Required Moore, G. E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge University Press, 1903, pp. 53–73. Boyd, Richard. "How to be a Moral Realist." In Essays on Moral Realism. Edited by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord. Cornell University Press, 1988, pp. 181–228. ISBN: 9780801495410. [Preview with Google Books] Horgan, Terence, and Mark Timmons. "Trouble for New Wave Moral Semantics: The 'Open Question Argument' Revived." Philosophical Papers 21, no. 3 (1992): 153–75. Optional Dowell, Janice. "The Metaethical Insignificance of Moral Twin Earth." (PDF) In Oxford Studies in Metaethics. Edited by Russ Shafer-Landau. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199678051. Manley, David. "Moral Realism and Semantic Plasticity." (manuscript).
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| 7 | Expressivism |
Required Gibbard, Allan. Thinking How to Live. Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 3–8, 41–59, and 75–82. ISBN: 9780674011670. [Preview with Google Books] ———. Wise Choices, Apt Feelings: A Theory of Normative Judgment. Harvard University Press, 1990, pp. 6–22, 153–55, and 164–70. ISBN: 9780674953772. [Preview with Google Books] Optional Stevenson. "The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms." Mind 46, no. 181 (1937): 14–31.
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| 8 | Quasi-Realism and Creeping Minimalism |
Required Blackburn, Simon. Chapters 5–7 in Spreading the Word: Groundings in the Philosophy of Language. Oxford University Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780198246510. Rosen, Gideon. "Blackburn's Essays in Quasi-Realism." Nous 32, no. 3 (1998): 386–406. Dreier, James. "Meta-Ethics and the Problem of Creeping Minimalism." Philosophical Perspectives 18, no. 1 (2004): 23–44. Optional Blackburn, Simon. An Excerpt from Essays in Quasi-Realism. Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780195082241. [Preview with Google Books]
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| 9 | Motivational Internalism Semantically Encoded? |
Required Woods, Jack. "Expressivism and Moore's Paradox." Philosophers' Imprint 14, no. 5 (2014): 1–12. Finlay, Stephen. Chapter 5 in Confusion of Tongues: A Theory of Normative Language. Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780199347490. [Preview with Google Books] Optional Gibbard, Allan. Chapter 7 in Thinking How to Live. Harvard University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780674027305. [Preview with Google Books] ———. Chapter 4 in Wise Choices, Apt Feelings: A Theory of Normative Judgment. Harvard University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780674953772. [Preview with Google Books] ———. Sections 1 and 2 in "Reply to Sinnott-Armstrong." Philosophical Studies 69, no. 2–3 (1993): 315–327.
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| 10 | Some Arguments for Moral Non-Naturalism |
Required Enoch, David. Chapters 2 and 3 in Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199683178. [Preview with Google Books] Manne, Kate, and David Sobel. "Disagreeing about How to Disagree." Philosophical Studies 168, no. 3 (2014): 823–34.
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| 11 | Supervenience |
Required McPherson, Tristram. "Ethical Non-Naturalism and the Metaphysics of Supervenience." Oxford Studies in Metaethics. Vol. 7. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780199653508. [Preview with Google Books] Hills, Allison. "Supervenience and Moral Realism." In Reduction - Abstraction - Analysis: Proceedings of the 31th International Ludwig Wittgenstein-symposium in Kirchberg, 2008. Edited by Alexander Hieke and Hannes Leitgeb. De Gruyter, 2009, pp. 163–78. ISBN: 9783110328578. Optional Blackburn, Simon. "Supervenience Revisted." In Exercises in Analysis: Essays by Students of Casimir Lewy. Edited by I. Hacking. Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 59–74. ISBN: 9780521256841. [Preview with Google Books] Dreier, James. "The Supervenience Argument Against Moral Realism." Southern Journal of Philosophy 30, no. 3 (1992): 13–38. Schroeder, Mark. "The Price of Supervenience (PDF)." (Manuscript).
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| 12 | Student Presentations | No new readings assigned. |
| 13 | Moral Contingentism |
Required Rosen, Gideon. "The Modal Status of Moral Principles." (Manuscript). Optional Rosen, Gideon. "The Limits of Contingency." In Identity and Modality. Edited by Fraser MacBride. Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 13–39. ISBN: 9780199285747.
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