Department of Political Science POSC 6100 Political Philosophy Winter 2014 Wednesday, 12:00 to 3p Political Science Seminar Room, SN 2033 Instructor: Dr. Dimitrios Panagos, SN 2039 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1pm-1:50pm & Wednesdays 10am Noon. or by appointment Course Description This course introduces students to the study of contemporary political theory by focusing on two important questions: What do political theorists do? And, what kinds of things are political theorists interested in? These questions will be addressed by exploring the different types of scholarship produced by political theorists (including work on the history of political ideas, normative theory and critical perspectives). These questions will also be addressed by tracing a number of significant debates in the literature regarding the nature of justice, equality and liberty. Required Textbook Benhabib, Seyla. 2006. Another Cosmopolitanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, Will. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Simmons, A. John. 2008. Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1
Assignments Participation: Students are expected to do all of the assigned reading prior to the seminar and to be prepared for class discussion. Participation grades are based on students abilities to demonstrate knowledge of the readings and the quality of their contributions during seminar. Critical Assessments: Each student will submit two critical assessments of one of the following works: Quentin Skinner, Vision of Politics; Ronald Dworkin, Equality of Welfare ; Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty ; Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship. The assessments are due the week after the class covers these works. Essay Outline: Students will submit a two page outline for their essays. The outline will consist of a preliminary thesis statement, a description of the topic and its importance, a summary of the main arguments and an annotated bibliography (10 sources). Essay: Each student must complete and submit a 17 to 18 page essay based on one of the weekly themes or a closely related topic. The late penalty is 5% a day. Final Exam: There will be a final exam. It will take place during the regular exam period. The exam will cover all of the material assigned for this course. Grading Scheme and Due Dates Participation 20% Critical Assessments 20% Essay 35% Essay Outline 5% Final Exam 20% Exam Period Policy on Deadline Extensions All work must be submitted or completed on the dates outlined in this syllabus. Extensions MAY be granted (at the professor s discretion) for medical reasons or for reasons of compassion. The standard late penalty for this course is 5% per day. Reading Outline Week One: Jan 8 Introduction 2
Week Two: Jan 15 History of Ideas Skinner, Quentin. 2002. Visions of Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 4, Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas, p.57-89). E-book Parekh, Bhikhu and R. N. Berki. 1973. The History of Political Ideas: A Critique of Q. Skinner s Methodology. In Journal of History of Ideas, 34:2: 163-84. Hall, Edward. 2010. Hobbes s Liberty and Skinner s Discontent. In Politics, 30:1: 11-17. Week Three: Jan 22 Normative Theory Simmons, A. John. 2008. Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 1, Morals and Politics, p.1-14; Chapter 2, States, p.15-38). Simmons, A. John. 1999. Justification and Legitimacy, In Ethics, 109:4: 739-771. Tully, James. 2002. Political Theory as a Critical Activity. In Political Theory, 30:4: 533-55. Week Four: Jan 29 Justice Kymlicka, Will. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 2, Utilitarianism, p.10-52). Cohen, Joshua. 2002. John Rawls: Introduction. In Steven M. Cahn (editor). Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1034-1038. Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, (Chapter 1, Justice as Fairness, p.3-46). Week Five: Feb 5 Essay Outline Due Justice Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, (Chapter 2, The Principles of Justice, p.47-101; Chapter 3, The Original Position, p.102-160). Week Six: Feb 12 Justice Simmons, A. John. 2008. Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 4, Justice, p.94-104). Young, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, (Chapter 1, Displacing the Distributive Paradigm, p.15-38). Kukathas, Chandran and Philip Pettit. 1990. Rawls: A Theory of Justice and its Critics. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Chapter 1 (1-16). Week Seven: Feb 19 Equality Kymlicka, Will. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 3, Liberal Equality, p.53-101). 3
Sen, Amartya. 1992. Inequality Reexamined. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, (Introduction, p.1-11; Chapter One, Equality of What? p.12-30). Week Eight: Feb 26 Equality Dworkin, Ronald. 1981. Equality of What? Part 1: Equality of Welfare. In Philosophy and Public Affairs, 10:3: 185-246. Dworkin, Ronald. 1981. Equality of What? Part 2: Equality of Resources. In Philosophy and Public Affairs, 10:4: 283-345. Week Nine: March 5 Liberty Berlin, Isaiah. 2002. Two Concepts of Liberty. In Henry Hardy (editor). Isaiah Berlin Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 166-217. Pettit, Philip. 2008. Freedom and Probability: A Comment on Goodin and Jackson. In Philosophy and Public Affairs, 36:2: 206-220. Kukuthas, Chandran. 2009. One Cheer for Constantinople: A Comment on Pettit and Skinner on Hobbes and Freedom. In Hobbes Studies, 22: 192-198. Week Ten: March 12 Democracy Simmons, A. John. 2008. Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 5, Democracy, p.105-127). Young, Iris Marion. 2002. Inclusion and Democracy. 2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 1, Democracy and Justice; Chapter 2, Inclusive Political Communication; and Chapter 3, Social Difference as a Political Resource. ). E-book. Week Eleven: March 19 Essay Due Multiculturalism Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Chapter 5, Freedom and Culture, p. 75-106; Chapter 6, Justice and Minority Rights, p.107-130). Taylor, Charles. 1994. The Politics of Recognition. In Amy Gutmann (editor), Multiculturalism. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. P.25-73. E-book. Week Twelve: March 26 Multiculturalism s Critics Barry, Brian. 2001. Equality and Culture: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Chapter 2, The Strategy of Privatization, p.19-62; Chapter 3, The Dynamics of Identity, p.63-109). Hayward, Clarissa Rile and Ron Watson. 2012. Identity and Political Theory. In Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, 33: 9-41. Week Thirteen: April 2 Cosmopolitanism 4
Benhabib, Seyla. 2006. Another Cosmopolitanism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ( Benhabib: Another Cosmopolitanism, p.13-82; Kymlicka: Comments p.128-146) 5
Department of Political Science: Policies on Plagiarism Plagiarism means offering the words or ideas of another person as one's own. The material copied or paraphrased may consist of a few phrases or sentences, or an entire passage or paper. Whatever its form and extent, plagiarism constitutes two kinds of failure: 1) Failure to perform the basic tasks expected in any paper -- original mental effort and expression; 2) Potentially, the moral failure of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism may be deliberate (as in the submission of a paper written in whole or part by another student, purchased from an essay bank, or cut and pasted from web sites) or the result of carelessness through failure to provide proper documentation. All directly copied or quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and the source must be clearly identified in a footnote. The source of any paraphrased material or ideas must also be properly documented. Failure to do so is plagiarism. The procedure for handling cases of suspected plagiarism at Memorial University is set out in the University Calendar. All cases of suspected plagiarism must be reported to the Department Head in accordance with the University Calendar General Regulations. Depending on the circumstances and the degree of plagiarism involved, the Department of Political Science normally handles first offenders in accordance with the Procedures for Informal Resolution. The Department maintains a list of students who have been found guilty of plagiarism, and in the case of a second offence or in particularly serious cases of plagiarism, the Procedures for Formal Resolution will be followed. The penalty in these cases may be probation, suspension or expulsion in addition to the grade of 0 for the work concerned. If in any doubt about what plagiarism consists of, consult with your instructor or refer to any standard work on writing essays and research papers. The Faculty of Arts Writing Centre (SN2053) can also provide relevant information. The notes on proper documentation below may be of assistance. Footnote and Documentation Style Guide Canadian political scientists employ a variety of citation styles in their work. Examples of proper organization and citation style may be found in any volume of the Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS) (available online and in print in the Queen Elizabeth II Library). The CJPS currently requires authors to submit their work using in-text citations. Students may avail of the CJPS Editorial Style Guidelines or our Political Science Style Guide which outline an acceptable usage of in-text citations for assignments submitted to Department of Political Science classes. 6
POSC 6100: Essay Guidelines Essay Outline: 5% The essay outline should be 3 pages in length. It should have three sections. Section 1 will outline the general topic and its importance. Section 2 will identify the thesis of the essay and a schematic of the major arguments. This section can be completed in pointform. Section 3 will identify ten academic sources and explain how they will be used in the essay. Essay: Essay is worth: 35% Deadline: See above section with assignment deadlines. Late Penalty: 5% per day. Essay Topics: Topics must be approved by the professor by Week Three of the course. The professor reserves the right NOT to grade an essay if the professor has not approved the topic. Each essay is to be submitted with a title page, text and a Works Cited page(s). The essay must: -Be 17 to 18 pages in length -Be typed and double spaced -Be single sided -Have 12 point, Times New Roman font -Have one inch margins -Have page numbers on every page (except the title page). The page marked 1 will be the first page after the title page. -MUST comply with departmental and university policies on academic integrity and plagiarism. *All essays will be rigorously assessed for form, content, structure, grammar and presentation. Helpful Suggestions: -Students are strongly encouraged to make use of the writing centre to review drafts of their essays prior to submission or to exchange papers and review one another s work. -Make use of style manuals (for guidance on how to cite properly). The instructor will accept either MLA (in text citations) or Chicago Style (footnotes). Use these correctly and consistently. 7
-Students are encouraged to discuss their papers with the instructor. The instructor is willing to review the introductory paragraphs of the essays, as long as these are submitted at least TWO weeks prior to the submission deadline. The book review is worth: 10% Deadline: See Grading Scheme Late Penalty: 5% per day. Each assessment must: -Be 4 pages in length -Be typed and double spaced -Be single sided -Have 12 point, Times New Roman font -Have one inch margins -Have page numbers on every page Critical Assessment Guidelines Each book review should: (1) identify the thesis of the book or essay; (2) provide a brief synopsis of the book (maximum one page); and a critical assessment of the major arguments of the work. 8