political philosophy courses PHIL 213 social and political philosophy Why should we obey the government? Are there limits to what the state may demand of us? Does social justice require equality? Is taxation - or wage labor - theft? This course addresses these and other questions of social and political morality, through the lens of the major theories of Western philosophy. Topics will include Mill on the general welfare and the importance of liberty, Locke and Nozick on individual rights, Rawls and Dworkin on distributive justice and Marx and Cohen on equality. We’ll study the structure and justification of each of these theories, as well as apply them to contemporary issues such as affirmative action, campaign finance and welfare policy. PHIL 236 introduction to global justice An introduction to recent work in political philosophy on the ethics of international relations. The course begins with a survey of some of the main theoretical approaches to the topic: including realism, global liberal egalitarianism, political liberalism, utilitarianism, and nationalism. We then consider how these different approaches might be applied to some specific moral controversies in international politics, such as those relating to global poverty, human rights and humanitarian intervention, immigration and climate change. PHIL 235 democracy This course provides an introduction to past and present work on the normative theory of democracy, and discusses how that work bears on some important issues in current affairs. We explore significant historical contributions to democratic thought; consider contemporary work on issues such as procedural vs. substantive accounts of democracy, democratic deliberation, democratic participation, legislative representation and constitutionalism; and address present public debates concerning campaign finance reform, democracy at the supra-state level and the “exporting” of democracy overseas. PHIL 342 justice in international trade This seminar considers how norms of justice or fairness might apply to the contemporary multilateral trading regime in goods, capital, services and ideas. International trade raises deep philosophical issues about the relationship of principles of justice to coercion, cooperation, shared values and fair procedures. It also raises specific moral concerns about such matters as national self-determination, the environment, labor standards, intellectual property, and global poverty and inequality. The course draws on recent work by political philosophers as well as empirical research and case studies relating to the WTO. moral philosophy courses PHIL 106 introduction to moral philosophy This course provides an introduction to each of the three major branches of philosophical thought on ethics. Section A discusses a range of issues in meta-ethics, including questions about the meaning, use and truth of moral sentences, about the relationship of morality to religion, and about why we should do what morality tells us to do. Sections B and C are devoted to two sets of issues in normative ethics: what it is that makes a life good for the person who lives it, and what it is that we owe to other people, and why. Section D addresses a selection of questions in applied ethics concerning the ethics of killing and sexual morality. PHIL 233 environmental ethics Do non-human animals, plants,
species or ecosystems have moral value beyond their relation to human
interests? Do we have moral duties
to refrain from harming the natural world or to preserve it for future
generations? How should we weigh up environmental concerns against other
concerns (such as economic growth or the elimination of poverty) in cases where
they come into conflict? How
should the benefits of the environment and the burdens of conserving it be
shared across individuals or countries? Does recognition of the importance of
the environment call for a brand new kind of moral philosophy or merely a more
sophisticated application of an old one?
This course will examine a variety of philosophical answers to these
questions and apply those answers to a set of pressing current issues,
including the use of non-human animals for food and entertainment, global
climate change, population policy and reproductive freedom, and the local food
movement. PHIL 340 well-being and morality Some of the oldest and most perplexing questions in ethics concern the nature of well-being and its relationship to our moral duties. What is it that makes a life go well for a person? What role does well-being play in morality? What role should well-being play in social policy? What difficulties arise in measuring well-being across time and across persons? This seminar will consider a range of answers to these and related questions, offered by both contemporary and historical philosophers. We will also discuss how recent empirical work on the sources of happiness might shed light on them.  |