Syllabus: Law, Politics, and Morality, Interim 2012

SYLLABUS: LAW, POLITICS, AND MORALITY (PHIL 254)

Interim 2012

Instructor: Michael Fuerstein

Email:

Office: Holland Hall 605

Office Hours: Monday, 3-4:30 and Thursday, 10:30-12, or by appointment

Introduction

Governments are able to advance vital social objectives to an extent that no other institutions can. They do so, however, by monopolizing the use of violent force and by deploying the threat of such force effectively. How, then, can political authority – which seems to be at once essential to our welfare and a danger to our liberty – be justified? On what basis can citizens be forced to comply with political will against their wishes? In what kinds of concerns may governments intervene, and when may citizens disobey state authority? There are also important questions to ask here about the duties of citizens themselves in their use of political power: What kinds of considerations may citizens take into account in their attempt to wield control over the government? What kinds of constraints properly apply to the role of religion in citizens’ political lives? How should they weigh the values and interests of other citizens?

In this class, we will consider a range of competing answers to these questions. Texts will be drawn from both classical and contemporary sources in social and political philosophy. Although no prior background in philosophy is required, students will be expected to display a substantial capacity for analytical reasoning and critical thought.

Links to St. Olaf’s academic integrity policy and honor code can be found at the following links. You should make sure that you are familiar with both of these at the beginning of the semester:

If you have a documented disability for which accommodations may be required in this class, please contact Connie Ford () or Erin Larson () in the Academic Support Center (507-786-3288 or Buntrock 108) as soon as possible to arrange accommodations. If you have already presented your documentation and/or arranged accommodations through Student Disability Services, you are required to provide me with your accommodation letter within the first two weeks of class. Accommodations will only be provided after the letter is submitted to me and with sufficient lead-time for me to arrange testing or other accommodations.

The Disability Services link is:

Grading and Course Requirements

- Paper (approximately 6 pages/1800 words): 30 %

- Take-Home Comprehensive Final Exam: 30%

- Political Conversation Project (group presentation and individual write-up): 25%

- 4 short (at least 130 words) blog posts + Oral Participation: 15%

Texts

The following books should be purchased and are available in the bookstore:

- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government andA Letter Concerning Toleration

- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

- Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto

- John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

All other readings will be made available on Moodle.

Attendance, Late Assignments, and Deadline Extensions

Attendance: If you miss more than a few classes, you will be marked down in accord with the extent of your absences.

Late Assignments: Late assignments will be marked down one fraction of a letter grade for each day that has passed beyond the deadline. Thus, an A- paper would become a B+ after one day, a B after two days, etc. The final exam will not be accepted after the deadline.

Extensions: I will typically grant extensions, but only under the condition that the extension is requested at least three days in advance of the deadline.

Preliminary Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Note: This schedule is tentative and will be subject to adjustments over the course of the term. All changes will be announced by email.

1/3: Course Introduction (no reading)

The Classical Social Contract

1/4: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 13-15

1/5: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 17, 18, 21

1/6: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. 1-5

1/9: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. 7-9, 11, 18, 19

Liberty

1/10: Mill, On Liberty (Chs. 1-3)

Justice and Equality

1/11: Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto Paper outline due

1/12: John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Sections 1-6, 11-13 Paper core argument due

1/13: Film (TBA)

1/16: John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Sections 17, 20-26 and Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, pp. 10-33, 149-82 Paper Due

1/17: Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, pp. 183-231

Oppression

1/18: Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Chs. 1-2 (Moodle)

1/19: Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family, Ch. 7 (Moodle)

1/20: Glenn Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, Ch. 4 (Moodle)

The Political Conversation Project

1/23: Group Presentations (no reading) Project write-ups due for day 1 groups

1/24: Group Presentations (no reading) Project write-ups due for day 2 groups

Religious Convictions, Christianity, and the Liberal State

1/25: John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration

1/26: Nicholas Wolterstorff, “Why We Should Reject What Liberalism Tells Us About Speaking and Acting in Public For Religious Reasons” (Moodle) and Cécile Laborde, “Secular Philosophy and Muslim Headscarves in Schools” (Moodle)

1/27: Closing Discussion (no reading)

1/28: Final must be submitted to moodle by 10 AM