Fall 2021  |  PHIL 4321W Section 001: Theories of Justice (35460)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Meets With:
PHIL 5321 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/07/2021 - 12/15/2021
Mon, Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 110
Enrollment Status:
Open (14 of 25 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
What is justice, understood as a central virtue of our social (e.g., political and legal) institutions? What does justice require in the political realm and what kind of state is best suited to achieve it? Ideally, what image of the just state should regulate our behavior? How do the requirements of justice change, if they do, in non-ideal circumstances, such as in cases of noncompliance with the law or in the context of violent conflict (e.g., in war)? This course is intended to provide upper-level undergraduates and philosophy graduate students with a selective survey of important work in contemporary theory of justice that addresses such questions. prereq: 1003 or 1004 or instr consent
Class Description:
What is justice, understood as a central virtue of our political institutions? Does justice enjoy some kind of priority as a virtue of political institutions? Are citizens justified in expecting their institutions to manifest other virtues, as well (such as decency)? What problems arise for such political ideals when the institutions in question are charged with governing citizens in multicultural societies, citizens who do not always share common values? This course will take up such questions in the context of domestic politics in multicultural, pluralistic societies such as the United States. (That is, for reasons having solely to do with time constraints, we will largely omit consideration of problems of justice that cross national boundaries.) In taking up these questions, we will pay special attention to philosophical justifications of liberal democracy and criticisms of the conception of political liberalism that aims at remaining neutral on substantive moral, religious, and philosophical questions. We will take John Rawls' work as our exemplar of political liberalism. Of the many and various critiques of Rawls, we will focus on two: Avishai Margalit's development of the idea that our political institutions must attend not only to justice but to decency (so as to avoid humiliating citizens) and George Sher's defense of a form of perfectionism that abandons liberal neutrality in favor of the promotion of a certain substantive conception of the good human life.
Grading:
90% Reports/Papers
10% Class Participation
Exam Format:
essay and short answer
Class Format:
70% Lecture
30% Discussion
Workload:
30-50 Pages Reading Per Week
15-20 Pages Writing Per Term
3 Paper(s)
Other Workload: Requirements will include three short (five-to-seven page papers).
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/35460/1219
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
21 May 2007

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