Week 1: Wednesday: Shipwrecked
Part I. The social contract
Week 2: Hobbes on authority
Monday: ‘Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’: Life in a state of nature
Wednesday: Absolute authority? Hobbes on government
Week 3: Locke and liberalism
Monday: Individual freedom and the common good
Wednesday: Property and toleration
Week 4: Rousseau’s democratic contract
Monday: How society corrupts human nature
Wednesday: 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
Monday: The ‘harm principle’
Wednesday: Democratic reform and feminism
Week 7: Marx against capitalism and liberalism
Monday: False vs. true freedom: Marx’s critique of liberalism
Wednesday: Capitalism and communism
Week 8: Nietzsche and power
Monday: ‘Masters’ and ‘slaves’
Wednesday: Politics is history? Nietzsche’s ‘genealogy’ of rights
Week 9: Preparation of second written assignment
Part III. Contemporary issues
Week 10: Equality
Monday: Equality of what? Rawls on equal opportunity and redistribution
Wednesday: Affirmative action and healthcare reform
Week 11: Multiculturalism
Monday: Taylor on the need for recognition
Wednesday: Challenging democracy: Immigration and religion
Week 12: Environment
Monday: Climate equality
Wednesday: Animal citizenship and human genetic engineering
Week 13: War and terrorism
Monday: ‘War on terrorism’: Prevention and torture
Wednesday: Humanitarian war
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: A Restatement (2001), §§ 13.1-4, 14.3, 18.1-2, 36, and 41.4-42.3
11. Charles Taylor, ‘The Politics of Recognition’ (1992) (extracts)
Joseph H. Carens, ‘Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders’ (1987)
Richard Rorty, ‘Religion as Conversation-Stopper’ (1994)
12. Peter Singer, ‘One Atmosphere’ (2002)
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)
Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’ (2002)
Alan Dershowitz, ‘When Torture is the Least Evil of Terrible Options’ (2004)