PE 425: CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
| INTENT OF COURSE | CONTENT OF COURSE | COURSE STRUCTURE |
| BOOKS AND ARTICLES | DICTIONARY OF TERMS | ASSIGNMENTS |
| GRADING |
This course is not intended as an "ism's" course, although various ism's will inevitably be part of the discussions and orientations to ideas, but is directed at major theoretical statements concerning some of the most important questions in political philosophy. The goal is not to come up with the "correct interpretation" of any particular philosopher, given the controversy surrounding each of them, but to come to the best understanding we can of the ideas presented and, most importantly, how they fit with, and perhaps change, our ideas. It is a course for self-affirmation and self-discovery as much as understanding the thoughts of others.
A major part of the readings will focus on John Rawl's ideas on political liberalism and justice. Rawls is considered to be one of the most, if not the most, significant political philosophers of the 20th century, even by many of his opponents. His Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism (which includes many of the ideas from Theory of Justice) are two of the most read and discussed books in political philosophy. Robert Nozick presents one of the most read statements of libertarian liberalism, which is a strong counterpoint to Rawl's version of liberalism and contains many ideas that relate to much of what today is called neoliberalism and neoconservatism, although significantly different in some aspects. Ideas of entitlements and individual rights versus society are carefully delineated and argued by Nozick. Michael Sandel weaves together arguments concerning both Rawls' and Nozick's ideas as he represents a communitarian approach to political philosophy (although he questions this label somewhat). Communitarianism comes in several forms, but what is critical is the role envisioned for society and the place of the individual in society. The two chapters out of Bella, et al.'s extensively read book Habits of the Heart provide a social science perspective on individualism and communitarianism. Seyla Benhabib combines ideas on communitarianism, feminism and postmodernism in a brilliant fashion. The role of the self and how the self is perceived is basic to all the philosophies, and Benhabib comes at political philosophy from this vantage point. Postmodernism is not a major part of the course but will be discussed in several contexts, including an excellent article by Raymond Plant. Marxism in its modern forms is included in the course to some extent since there is some sense today that the theoretical concerns died with the Soviet Union. We will touch on the Frankfurt School and its brand of Marxism with a few excerpts from Held's book on critical theory and on even more recent Marxism with excerpts from Howard Sherman's Reinventing Marxism. Democratic theory is part of some of the other discussions on liberalism and communitarianism; however, we'll focus on some particular articles on democratic theory out of Benhabib's edited book Democracy and Difference. The central theme of the Benhabib text is how democracy handles "difference" in society, although the articles are wide-ranging and cover various aspects of democratic theory. Lastly we'll read a couple of chapters from Ronald Dworkin's book Taking Rights Seriously. The New York Times Review of Books refers to this as "The most important work in jurisprudence since H.L.A. Hart's The Concept of Law. In the chapters we will read it is Hart's theory of "positivism", probably the dominant theory of jurisprudence today, that is challenged.
This is a seminar. This means that professors don't lecture. We, students and professor, become a community of scholars seeking to understand and discuss the readings in the course. I will probably provide one or two lectures at the beginning but afterwards will hold strictly to student participation. This means not even launching out on long, thinly disguised lectures. I will, of course, play the role of offering some clarification and questioning from time to time, but the dynamics of the course will be group dynamics. No one person either understands all or can explain all that is written, thus the many symposia and articles arguing for and against various interpretations. The task is for us to arrive at "reasoned" understandings of the readings and also to ask how they fit with our own thoughts. The close reading and careful discussion of texts is directed towards students developing the ability to think through questions on their own and refining responses to these questions.
The amount of reading per assignment generally will be 20 - 30 pages depending on the difficulty of the material. The expectation is that you will read carefully and perhaps reread key sections prior to class in preparation for the seminar.
To facilitate this process you will be expected to bring with you to each meeting a list (approx. one page) of at least 10 significant passages, terms, ideas in the reading that you think we should discuss. You need not write these out extensively but simply refer to the topic and page, e.g., "the conception of self" expressed by Rawls at page x" or "the term "reflective equilibrium" at p. x", etc.. You should have thought about these passages, terms, ideas and be prepared to comment on them, explain the difficulty of understanding them , or whatever the case might be. The class discussion will be for other students to comment on , try their hand at interpreting the meaning of, and raise critical questions about the passages, terms, arguments, etc..
25% of the course grade will be participation in the daily discussions in an effective and meaningful fashion. This is a class for intellectual involvement including verbal engagement and not simply listening to others.
There will be one exam during the term and a final exam.
The paper for the course is not a research paper but a paper that brings together in a compare-and-contrast type of paper the various ideas discussed in the course. An important part of this paper is the personal reactions as to favoring and not favoring particular ideas and why. The idea is that you not only are able to provide some sort of overview of the ideas studied but that you also develop your own ideas in the process.
REQUIRED READING:
Books and Articles:
Rawls, John. Political Liberalism.
1996.
Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State,
and Utopia. 1974.
Sandel, Michael. Liberalism and
the Limits of Justice. 2nd. ed. 1998.
Benhabib, Seyla. Situating the
Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics. 1992
On Reserve and Maris Web Page:
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL OF THESE ARTICLES ARE SCANNED INTO THE WEB PAGE FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. HOWEVER, SCANNING IS AN IMPERFECT PROCESS (AT LEAST WHEN I DO IT) SINCE SOME THINGS ARE SOMEWHAT DISTORTED OR NOT PICKED UP. THUS, PLEASE FORGIVE THE OCCASIONAL CONFUSION, WORDS SPELLED IN A STRANGE FASHION [E.G. 'THL" FOR THE] AND FOOTNOTES WHICH ARE USUALLY LARGE NUMBERS AT END OF SENTENCES RATHER THAN RAISED, SMALLER, FOOTNOTE NUMBERS. THE SCANNER DOESN'T CATCH THE FOOTNOTES VERY WELL, AND I HAVE TO CORRECT THEM. OFTEN THE END NOTES PAGE IS NOT AVAILABLE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE END NOTE SOURCES THEY ARE EITHER IN THE COPIES ON RESERVE OR YOU MAY HAVE ACCESS TO MY BOOK COPY.
Selected passages from Sherman, Howard.
Reinventing
Marxism. 1995.
Selected passages from David Held.
Introduction
to Critical Theory. 1980.
Plant, Raymond. "Antinomies of Modernist
Political thought: Reasoning, Context and Community." from Good, James
and Irving Velody (eds.). The Politics of Postmodernity. 1998.
Benhabib. "The Democratic Moment and
the Problem of Difference" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference:
Contesting the Boundaries of the Political. 1996.
Habermas, Juergen. "Three Models of
Democracy" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference: Contesting
the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Mansbridge, Jane. "Using Power/Fighting
Power: The Polity" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference: Contesting
the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Benhabib, Seyla. "Toward a Deliberative
Model of Democratic Legitimacy" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference:
Contesting the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Rorty, Richard. "Idealizations, Foundations,
and Social Practices" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference:
Contesting the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Dahl, Robert A. "Democratic Theory
and Democratic Experience" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference:
Contesting the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Gutmann, Amy. "Democracy, Philosophy,
and Justification" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference: Contesting
the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Barber, Benjamin R. "Foundationalism
and Democracy" in Benhabib, Seyla. Democracy and Difference: Contesting
the Boundaries of the Political.1996.
Bellah, Robert N., et al.. Habits
of the Heart. chapters 2,11, 1985
I have developed a dictionary of terms from materials used in this course along with some other terms. It essentially seeks to help understand terms used frequently by an individual or by several authors or in general writings on political philosophy. Thus a term like "liberalism" has numerous quotes from various writers and their perceptions of this term. Likewise one finds several types of refercnces to the term "person." The Dictionary also includes links to larger online dictionaries of terms used in philosophy. To access my dictionary of terms please click here.
1/16 I. Intro
II. Political Liberalism
1/18/02 Rawls, 3-22
1/21/02 MLK Day -- No Class
1/23/02 Rawls, 22-46
1/25/02 Rawls, 47-66
1/28/02 Rawls, 66-88
1/30/02 Rawls, 131-154
2/01/02 Rawls, 173-190
2/04/02 Rawls, 190-211
2/06/02 Rawls, 212-216; 227-240
2/08/02 Rawls, 257-288
2/11/02 Rawls, 289-310
2/13/02 Rawls, 310-340
2/15/02 Rawls
2/18/02 Rawls
III. Libertarian Liberalism
2/20/02 Nozick, 3-25
2/22/02 Nozick, 26-35; 48-53; 88-95
2/25/02 Nozick, 95-119; 139-142
2/27/02 Nozick, 148-174
3/01/02 Nozick, 204-231
3/04 - 3/08/02 Spring Break
3/11/02 EXAM
IV. Communitarianism
3/13/02 Sandel, ix-xvi; 1-14
3/15/02 Sandel, 15-24; 54-64
3/18/02 Sandel, 66-103
3/20/02 Sandel, 122-132; 133-153
3/22/02 Sandel, 154-183
3/25/02 Sandel, 184-218
3/27/02 Bellah,
27-51; 275-297
IV. Communitarianism, Postmodernism, Feminism
3/29/02 Good Friday
4/01/02 Plant,
"Antinomies of Modernist Political Thought: Reasoning, Context and Community"
-- all of article
4/05/02 Benhabib, Situating the
Self, 1-17; 23-31
4/08/02 Benhabib, Situating the
Self, 31-55; 68-82
4/10/02 Benhabib, Situating the
Self, 89-113
4/12/02 Benhabib, Situating the
Self, 148-170
4/15/02 Benhabib, Situating the
Self ,203-230
V. Marxism
Reinventing Marxism
4/17/02 NO READING - Lecture on Sherman, 3-12, 215-242 --"Why Reinvent Marxism?"; "Dialectics as a Critical Method"
focus on preparing the first draft of your analysis paper
4/19/02 NO READING - Lecture on Sherman, 243-269 -- "The Conflict of Paradigms"
ANALYSIS PAPER FIRST DRAFT DUE . This draft will be graded to indicate status of paper at this point.
4/22/02 Sherman, 286-314 -- "Marxian Humanism and Liberal Humanism"
VI. Democracy
4/24/02 Benhabib, Democracy and Difference,
22-30 ( Habermas,
"Three Models of Democracy"
Benhabib, Democracy and Difference, 67-95 ("Toward
a Deliberative Model of Democratic Legitimacy"
V. Jurisprudence: Positivism Challenged
4/26/02
Dworkin, 14-45
4/29/02 FINAL ANALYSIS PAPER DUE.
5/01/02 Dworkin,
46-80
REDO OF PAPER: If you still feel you can do better and would like to improve your grade, you can turn in Analysis Paper one more time for a grade on May 6.
Participation in class discussions --
25%
Mid-term Exam
-- 25%
Final Exam
-- 25%
Analysis Paper
-- 25%