Week 1: Thursday: Shipwrecked
Part I. The social contract
Week 2: Hobbes on authority
Tuesday: ‘Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’: Life in a state of nature
Thursday: Absolute authority? Hobbes on government
Week 3: Locke and liberalism
Tuesday: Individual freedom and the common good
Thursday: Property and toleration
Week 4: Rousseau’s democratic contract
Tuesday: How society corrupts human nature
Thursday: The ‘general will’: Democratic or totalitarian?
Week 5: Preparation of first written assignment
Part II. Liberal democracy and its critics
Week 6: Mill on freedom, democracy, and women
Tuesday: The ‘harm principle’
Thursday: Democratic reform and feminism
Week 7: Marx against capitalism and liberalism
Tuesday: False vs. true freedom: Marx’s critique of liberalism
Thursday: Capitalism and communism
Week 8: Nietzsche and power
Tuesday: ‘Masters’ and ‘slaves’
Thursday: Politics is history? Nietzsche’s ‘genealogy’ of rights
Week 9: Preparation of second written assignment
Part III. Contemporary issues
Week 10: Equality
Tuesday: Equality of what? Opportunities and wealth
Thursday: Affirmative action and healthcare reform
Week 11: Multiculturalism
Tuesday: For and against group rights
Thursday: Religion and migration
Week 12: Environment
Tuesday: Climate politics
Thursday: Animal citizenship and human genetic engineering
Week 13: War and terrorism
Tuesday: Preventive and protective wars
Thursday: What is the right response to terrorism?
Week 14: Preparation for final exam
Basic bibliography
Below are the primary texts and extracts that we will study, arranged by week. These and supporting materials will be provided on the Moodle site and in class, and full bibliographical details will also be given on the site.
2. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651/1668), ed. Bennett, 2006, pt. 1, ch. 13, and pt. 2, chs. 17, 18, and 21
3. John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689), ed. Bennett, 2008, §§ 4, 6, 19, 20, 25-37, 95-97, 123-133, 142, and 243
_, Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), ed. Bennett, 2010, §§ 2, 4 and 10
4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), trans. Cole, 1920 (extracts)
_, The Social Contract (1762), trans. Bennett, 2010, bk. 1, chs. 1-8, and bk. 2, ch. 3
6. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859), ed. Bennett, 2008, ch. 1, pp. 6-8
_, Considerations on Representative Government (1861), chs. 3-5, 7-8, and 10 (extracts)
_, The Subjection of Women (1869), ed. Bennett, 2009, ch. 1, pp. 1-2, 7-10, and 12-14
7. Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question (1843), pt. 1, trans. McLlellan (extracts)
_ and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology (1846), pt. I, trans. McLlellan (extracts)
8. Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols (1888), trans. J. Norman, ‘Skirmishes’, §§ 38 and 48
_, On the Genealogy of Morality (1887), trans. Diethe, First essay, §§ 10-13, and Second essay, §§ 8-11
_, ‘Homer’s Contest’ (1872), trans. Diethe
10. John Rawls, Justice as Fairness (2001), §§ 13.1-4, 14.3, 18.1-2, 36, and 41.4-42.3
James P. Sterba, ‘Defending Affirmative Action, Defending Preferences’ (2003)
Jonathan Oberlander, ‘Obamacare’s Precarious Balancing Act’ (2014)
11. Charles Taylor, ‘The Politics of Recognition’ (1992) (extracts)
Chandran Kukathas, ‘Anarcho-Multiculturalism’ (2008) (extracts)
Richard Rorty, ‘Religion as Conversation-Stopper’ (1994)
Joseph H. Carens, ‘An Overview of the Ethics of Immigration’ (2014)
12. Stephen M. Gardiner, ‘A Perfect Moral Storm’ (2006)
Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (2011), Summary
Nick Bostrom and Rebecca Roache, ‘Ethical Issues in Human Enhancement’ (2007) (extract)
13. Douglas Lackey, ‘Nipping Evil in the Bud: The Questionable Ethics of Preventive Force’ (2007)
Charles R. Beitz, ‘The Justifiability of Humanitarian Intervention’ (2007)
Virginia Held, ‘Terrorism and War’ (2008)
Michael Walzer, ‘Terrorism: A Critique of Excuses’ (2004) (extract)