Philosophy **
Introduction to Political Philosophy
Summer 2012
Instructor: Alan Reynolds
Email:
Office: **
Class meetings: **
Office Hours: ** or by appointment
Course Description:
This course is an overview of the history of political philosophy, with a focus on the liberal political tradition. We will explore three dominant strands of the liberal tradition: libertarianism, with its focus on the importance of self-ownership; classical liberalism, with its focus on spontaneous order and the limits of knowledge; and modern liberalism, with its focus on the device of the social contract for deliberating about justice. We will then look at the troubled relationship between liberalism and community, as well as the troubled relationship between liberalism and capitalism. This course will help you grasp the normative frameworks that animate much of our political culture and discourse, allowing you to more clearly understand and critically appraise them. The class will be reading intensive and involve a great deal of class discussion.
Course Requirements and Expectations
Three short essays: 10% of final grade each = 30% final grade
Final Paper: 30% of final grade
Reading quizzes: 20% of final grade
Participation: 20% of final grade
There will be a short reading quiz every day at the start of class that will be graded pass / no pass. The essays topics will be assigned one week before the due date. Class attendance is mandatory. Attendance and participation points will be forfeited for the day if you use an electronic device in class (laptop, cell phone, etc), or if you are inappropriately distracting your peers (whispering, etc). You must bring a hard copy of the readings to class to receive attendance credit. More than three unexcused absences, or more than five total absences, will result in an automatic drop of two letter grades.
You are expected to come to each class having read all the day’s assigned material carefully. Philosophy texts deal very subtly with very complex issues, so the material should be read more than once in order to fully grasp the ideas. Furthermore, you should come to class prepared to discuss the material. This means that as you read, take note of parts in the text that confuse you, that seem problematic, that need further clarification, etc, and bring them up in discussion.
Grading Rubric
A = 92% or above
A- = 90-92%
B+ = 87-89%
B = 83-86%
B- = 80-82%
C+ = 77-79%
C = 73-76%
C- = 70-72%
D+ = 67-69%
D = 63-66%
D- = 60-62%
F = 59% or below
Essay evaluation rubric
The following rubric reflects the general standards of the Philosophy Department at the University of Oregon:
A = excellent. No mistakes, well-written, and distinctive in some way or other.
B = good. No significant mistakes, well-written, but not distinctive in any way.
C = OK. Some errors, but a basic grasp of the material.
D = poor. Several errors. A tenuous grasp of the material.
F = failing. Problematic on all fronts indicating either no real grasp of the material or a complete lack of effort.
Disability Accommodation
I am committed to providing fair access to all students. Please submit all disability accommodation requests in compliance with University of Oregon policy. Contact the Disability Office for information.
Academic Honesty
Academic dishonesty will absolutely not be tolerated. This includes plagiarism, fabrication, cheating, etc. If you have any questions about what exactly constitutes plagiarism, you must take responsibility. The University Student Conduct Code defines explicitly what is considered student misconduct. Students that fail to meet the expectations of academic honesty will possibly be failed from the class and could face disciplinary action.
Reading Materials: All readings will be available on Blackboard.
Recommendation: In the first week of class, print out all the readings for the entire term (5 cents per each double-sided page in Knight Library), and put them in a three-ring binder.
Course Reading Schedule
Unit 1: The “Liberty” of Liberalism
Week 1
M: Introduction to the course
T: Constant, “The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns”
W: Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty, Parts 1-3
Th: Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty, Parts 4-6
Week 2
M: J.S. Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 1-2
T: J.S. Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 4
W: Judith Shklar, “The Liberalism of Fear”
Th: Judith Shklar, “The Liberalism of Fear”
Unit 2: Libertarianism and Self-ownership
Week 3
M: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 2-5
T: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 7-9
W: Mack, “Self-ownership and the Right of Property”
Th: Mack, “The Natural Right of Property”
Week 4
M: Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
T: Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
W: Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Th: C.B. MacPherson, Possessive Individualism, “The Theory of Property Right”
Unit 3: Classical Liberalism and Spontaneous Order
Week 5
M: Hume, “Of the Original Contract”
T: Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
W: Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
Th: Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
Week 6
M: Hayek, Law, Legislation, and Liberty vol. 1
T: Hayek, Law, Legislation, and Liberty vol. 1
W: Hayek, “Liberalism”
Th: Hayek, “Liberalism”
Unit 4: Modern Liberalism and Social Contract
Week 7
M: Immanuel Kant, “On the Relationship of Theory to Practice in Political Right”
T: Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Section II
W: Larmore, “Political Liberalism”
Th: Waldron, “The Theoretical Foundations of Liberalism”
Week 8
M: Rawls, Justice as Fairness, a Restatement, “Part II: Principles of Justice”
T: Rawls, Justice as Fairness, a Restatement, “Part III: The Argument from the Original Position,”
W: Rawls, Justice as Fairness, a Restatement, “Part V: The Question of Stability”
Th: Habermas, The Inclusion of the Other, Ch. 9-10
Unit 5: Liberalism and Community
Week 9
M: Charles Taylor, “Atomism”
T: Michael Sandel, “The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self”
W: Marx, “On the Jewish Question”
Th: Marx, “On the Jewish Question”
Unit 6: Liberalism and Capitalism
Week 10
M: Karl Marx, “Alienated Labor” and “Private Property and Communism” from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts
T: Samuel Freeman, “Capitalism in the Classical and High Liberal Traditions”
W: Gerald Gaus, “The Property Equilibrium in a Liberal Social Order”
Th: TBA