Phil 323/Pol 305 Contemporary Debates in Political Philosophy Fall 2013-14 Instructor Anwar ul Haq Room No. 219, new SS wing Office Hours TBA Email anwarul.haq@lums.edu.pk Telephone Ext. 8221 Secretary/TA TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) Course Basics Credit Hours 4 Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Recitation/Lab (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per 2 Duration 110 minutes NA Duration NA Duration Course Distribution Core Elective * Open for Student Category All Close for Student Category None COURSE DESCRIPTION This course engages with key contemporary issues in analytic western political philosophy. The focus will be on justice; however, we shall additionally touch upon debates surrounding rights, equality, and liberty. We will investigate justice to understand what is at issue; we will subject it to careful philosophical analyses, and examine its relevance to crucial contemporary issues. If possible, we will attempt to reach our own defensible conclusions through discussion and debate. The following questions will be central to our discussion: What is justice? Is it fairness? Is it equal treatment? Is it getting one s due? Or perhaps conception of justice varies across societies? Also, what requirements a society need fulfill to be called just? For instance, is it acceptable that a select few, virtually living next to extremely deprived, have more money than they could possibly spend? Or should the rich be heavily taxed to help the impoverished (and on what grounds)? Should earned income be taxed the same as unearned income? Moreover, is it just that people endowed with superior natural abilities enjoy ensuing rewards? Perhaps such rewards are undeserved and partly owed to those disadvantaged in the natural lottery? Our public policy depends on answers to these questions and every individual inhabiting a society has a stake in it. More concretely, we will discuss in detail the theory of justice proposed by John Rawls, arguably the most eminent political philosopher of the twentieth century. We will analyse several aspects of his view (for instance, whether the worst-off in a society deserve most governmental aid). We will raise pressing objections to Rawls theory (e.g., compensating the worst-off requires taxing the better-off; but taxation is allegedly no better than theft). And, if possible, we shall respond to these objections (e.g., perhaps taxation is different from stealing because it deprives the rich of what is not rightfully theirs to begin with). While carrying out our analyses, we will survey competing theories of justice such as libertarianism, capabilities approach, and communitarianism. Along the course, we will address, where possible, contemporary political issues, both domestic and otherwise.
COURSE PREREQUISITE(S) None COURSE OBJECTIVES Acquire a detailed knowledge of some of the concepts, positions and arguments in the central literature in contemporary political philosophy. Acquire a sense of how the positions on different topics relate to each other. Engage closely and critically with some of the ideas studied. Develop an ability to think independently about some of the ideas studied. Construct arguments, responding to but not merely reproducing the arguments of others. Learning Outcomes Ability to understand and analyze philosophical arguments. Ability to write sophisticated philosophical essays. Ability to develop defensible arguments for or against a philosophical issue. Grading Breakup and Policy Tests/assignments: 30% Attendance: 5% Midterm: 30% Final essay: 35% Examination Detail Midterm Exam Yes Final Exam No
COURSE OVERVIEW Topics INTRODUCTION Lahore University of Management Sciences Recommended Readings 1 - Introduction to contemporary political philosophy - The relationship between justice, rights, equality, and liberty Perry, J., Bratman, M., & Fischer, J. (2007). Ethics and Society. Introduction to philosophy (4th ed., pp. 481-488). New York: Oxford University Press. I. JUSTICE: AN INTRODUCTION 2 - The nature of justice - Situating justice in the historical context - Introduction to contemporary debates surrounding justice Ryan, A. (1991). Introduction. In Ryan, A. (Ed.), Justice. New York: Oxford University Press. Vallentyne, P. (2007). Distributive Justice. In Goodin, R., Pettit, P., Pogge, T., &. Distributive Justice. A companion to contemporary political philosophy (2nd ed., pp. 548-562). Malden, MA: Blackwell II. JOHN RAWLS THEORY OF JUSTICE 3 Justice as Fairness Justice: From the better-off, to the worst-off Rawls, J. (1971). Justice as Fairness. In A theory of justice. (pp. 3-46). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 4 The Principles of Justice (Equal liberty for all; fair equality of opportunity, and compensating the worstoff) Rawls, J. (1971). The Principles of Justice. In A theory of justice. (pp. 47-101). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. s 5-6 - The Original Position (Arguing for the principles of justice) - Political Equality Rawls, J. (1971). The Original Position. In A theory of justice. (pp. 102-170). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Rawls, J. (1999). A Kantian Conception of Equality. In Freeman, S. (Ed.), John Rawls: Collected Papers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 7 Global Justice Rawls, J. (1999). The law of peoples. (pp. 11-43). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
III. RAWLS AND HIS CRITICS Lahore University of Management Sciences 8 The original position: is its characterization convincing? Nagel, T. (1989). Rawls on Justice. In Daniels, N. (Ed.), Reading Rawls. California: Stanford University Press. Hare, R. (1989). Rawls Theory of Justice. Daniels, N. (Ed.), California: Stanford University Press. 9 Rawls methodology: is it compelling? Scanlon, T. (1989). Rawls Theory of Justice. In Daniels, N. (Ed.), Reading Rawls. California: Stanford University Press. s 10 Rawls principles of justice: are they defensible? Hart, H. (1989). Rawls on Liberty and its Priority. In Daniels, N. (Ed.), Reading Rawls. California: Stanford University Press. Daniels, N. (1989). Equal Liberty and Unequal Worth of Liberty. In Daniels, N. (Ed.), Reading Rawls. California: Stanford University Press. 11 Rawls views on global justice: are they plausible? Are there cogent alternatives? O'Neill, O. (2000). Bounds of justice. (pp. 115-167). Cambridge: Cambridge university press. IV. COMPETING THEORIES OF JUSTICE (Perhaps Rawls got things wrong) 12 Libertariansim Justice: From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen Nozick R. (2006). Distributive Justice. In Goodin, R., Pettit, P. (Ed.), Contemporary Political philosophy: an anthology. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. 13 Capabilities Approach Justice: Awarding capabilities, attaining welfare Sen, A. (2006). Equality of What? In Goodin, R., Pettit, P. (Ed.), Contemporary political philosophy: an anthology. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. Nussbaum M., (2011). Creating capabilities. (pp. 1-67, 113-122 ). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 14 Communitariansim Origin of justice: particular forms of life, not general, abstract theorizing MacIntyre, A. (2007). After Virtue. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. (selections) Sandel, M. (2006). The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self. In Goodin, R., Pettit, P. (Ed.), Contemporary political philosophy: an anthology. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Textbook(s)/Supplementary Readings Goodin, R., & Pettit, P., (Eds.). (2005). Contemporary political philosophy: an anthology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Kymlicka, W., (2002). Contemporary political philosophy: an introduction. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Daniels, N. (Ed.). (1989). Reading Rawls. California: Stanford University Press.