PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
The Generic Catalog Description
This course examines the norms or principles that establish and justify societies and determine the rights and responsibilities of a society in relation to its own members, of the members in relation to each other and to society as a whole, and of a society in relation to other societies. The course considers the application of these principles to such issues as justice, human rights, political and social institutions, and world community.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Nathan Berthaiume
The unifying theme of this course will center on the relationship between the development of civilization and the improvement of human beings (morally, economically, and politically). We will examine whether or not there are both positive and negative consequences of civilization. In particular, we will examine technology (a central feature of the development of civilization) and its relation to our ability to attain a life of human flourishing. We will explore the various ways in which technology influences our moral, social, and political life in order to see the exact ways in which the benefits of technology might have important limitations. In this regard, some of the main questions that we will ask throughout the semester are: (1) What is the nature of technical knowledge? (2) Is there a kind of technical knowledge that deals with politics and questions of justice? (3) What effect does technology have on politics and political discourse? (4) How ought we to live together as human beings with technology? In our attempt to formulate some answers to these questions, we will also address themes more common to an introductory course in social and political philosophy.
Typical Readings:
Works by Sophocles, Plato, Rousseau, Marx, Freud, and Heidegger.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Ardis Collins
The course will investigate one of the central questions of philosophy: How should we, as human beings, live together? Given that social and political institutions both shape us and are shaped by us, what values should we adopt so that we may best fulfill our natures as individual and social beings? This general question reveals the normative character of the philosophical approach to social issues. Philosophy does not just describe and analyze social structures and ways of thinking. It asks whether these are what they should be. It poses the questions: "what sort of society should we be aiming for," and "How can this goal be attained."
By asking the social question this way, the course addresses the justice issue. In philosophy, the justice issue belongs to a larger philosophical question, namely, what principles ought to govern relations among persons. Justice questions focus especially on what a person can legitimately demand or expect from these relations.
This course aims to adddress this issue by examining the way relations among persons belong to their participation in social life, and by asking what persons can demand or expect from their involvement in society. The course addresses ethical issues by examining the tension between personal moral principles and the obligations of social life, and by asking how the ethics of interpersonal relations belongs to and is conditioned by a person's social existence. It examines the way ethical judgments call for judgments about the rights and responsibilities of membership in a community.
Typical Readings:
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty; Selections from Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right and the Introduction to the Philosophy of History; Karl Marx, selections from the early writings and from Capital; J. Habermas, selections from Philosophical Discourses of Modernity, Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Virginia de Oliveira-Alves
This course is designed to introduce students to the philosophical analysis of social and political issues. I start with such classical problems as why we need government (justification of governmental authority), but emphasize questions of social justice.
We will read texts by European philosophers that area considered classical, and then selected works by philosophers from the Americas, from the United States and from a few countries in Latin America. The texts will be made available on Blackboard and e-reserve.
Typical Readings:
Classical Texts: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Mill, Marx and Engels, and possibly others or alternatives, for example, Rousseau
Contemporary Philosophers (US and Europe): Rawls (United States), Pogge (a German philosopher working in the United States), Habermas (Germany), and possibly one of two examples of feminist philosophy.
Figures in Latin American Philosophy: Las Casas, Sepulveda, Bolivar, Marti, Mariategui, Freire, Dussel, Gracia, and possibly others.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Edyta Imai
In this class we will study some philosophial aspects of the organization of human society. We will discuss the nature of rights, the nature of laws, the function of a government,and the meaning of such ideas like a "just citizen" and a "just society".
Typical Readings
Niccolo Machiavelli. The Prince
Thomas Aquinas. Treatise on Law
Aldous Huxley. Brave New World
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Vincent Samar
This course examines the norms or principles that establish and justify societies and determine the rights and responsibilities of a society in relation to its own members, of the members in relation to each other and to society as a whole, and of a society in relation to other societies. The course considers the application of these principles to such issues as justice, human rights, political and social institutions, and world community. Because the institution of law provides a central organizing tool for how democratic societies actually operate, the course will consider all the above issues both on their own and in context to specific examples from the American legal experience.
Learning Objectives
1. To acquaint the students with a through understanding of some of the conceptual and normative issues that are implicated by the rule of law.
2. To show how law and legal institutions cannot be fully conceptualized aside from the political/moral/social environment in which they operate; and further to consider whether in today’s closely-tied world, that environment makes it valuable for courts to not only pay attention to their own precedents, but also to relevant well-thought out decisions written by other national and international tribunals.
3. To connect up broad philosophical theories of rights, liberties and justice to particular fact-centered applications in which the institution of law will play a uniquely dominant role.
4. To help the student appreciate the enormous social, political, and moral difficulties that democracies in particular encounter when they agree to operate by the rule of law and not just by majority rules.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
David Schweickart
This course will investigate one of the central questions of philosophy: How should we, as human beings, live together? That is to say, given that social and political institutions both shape us and are shaped by us, what institutions should we adopt so that we might best fulfill our natures as individual and social beings?
To answer this question we will survey four classical philosophical texts, then turn our attention to a contemporary work. We will begin with one of the most important works of ancient political philosophy, Plato's Republic, followed by a central text of modern political philosophy, Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. We will then proceed to an analysis of the two great nineteenth century movements that have shaped our lives today: liberalism and socialism. We will study in detail two classic works, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto. We will conclude the course Charles Mills= The Racial Contract to help us understand one of the central features of the modern world: the issue of race.
You will write five 3-5 page "reaction papers" during the course--one for each of the major books covered. They won't be graded, but they must be done satisfactorily. (An unsatisfactory reaction paper must be redone and resubmitted; it will be counted as being late. Papers that are particularly good will be so noted, and will count toward your grade in borderline cases). There will be three in-class examinations.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Courtney Stewart
This course will investigate one of the central questions of philosophy and social theory: How should we, as human beings, live together? In particular, this course will focus on the question "What is justice?" We will explore questions of why human beings desire to live in a just society and how one may recognize a just society. We will pay particular attention to understanding and analyzing classic and contemporary theories of justice and discussing how justice is manifest in social relations.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Minerva Ahumada Torres
Plato says, inthe Republic, “It is no chance matter we are discussing, but how one should live.” That is precisely the question that guides the investigations and reflections of this course. As one can expect, this question does not have an easy answer, but one that brings together different systems and aspects of our societies. In order to understand how one should live one must understand how we, as subjects, interact with others, what duties, obligations and rights spring from our human condition and these relationships and the ways in which they are expressed.
In this course you will have the opportunity to read and analyze the work of several influential philosophers as well as that of filmmakers and fiction writers.
Typical Readings:
Works by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Shue, Mill, Hegel, Marx, Rawls, Nussbaum.
PHIL 182: Social and Political Philosophy
Timothy Weidel
In this course we will delve into one of the central questions of philosophy (and society in general): how should we organize our society and its governing bodies? To be more precise, we will focus on questions such as: (1) What is the function of a government? (2) What good(s) should a government and its members value? (3) What responsibilities does a government have to its members? (4) What responsibilities does it have to other governments and their members (if any)?
In the first half of the course, we will examine various historical perspectives on these questions, and discuss in detail the notions of freedom, liberty, rights, and duties. The second half of the course will take a more contemporary approach, focusing on issues of human rights, economic freedom, and social justice in the emerging global community.