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Social and Political Philosophy (Phil 02) Winter '10 Instructor: Anthony Hanson anthanson@live.com
Objectives:
The primary objective of this course is to present, compare and evaluate social and political philosophies and try to reason clearly about contemporary ethical and political controversies, using these theories. The course will teach the basic skills necessary to critically analyze and evaluate claims and arguments that people make to support moral and political judgments as well as the beliefs that we ourselves hold to be true. The hope is that students will leave the course more sensitive, informed, and better moral and political thinkers, or at least with the tools to become these. By the end of the course, students should be able to:
Identify and analyze the philosophical problems pertaining to social and political philosophy
Analyze and assess solutions to these problems from a variety of social and political traditions
Articulate and defend your own position on at least one issue in social and political philosophy
Demonstrate an application of these tools to oneâs own actions and decisions
Texts:
Political Thought, Michael Rosen & Jonathan Wolff, Oxford University Press. Various web sites on Political Philosophy will be used also.
Class Web Site: http://faculty.deanza.fhda.edu/hansontony/info
Please check our web page regularly for announcements and links.
Grading: (is based upon a point system.)
Five mid-terms = 20 points each (100 total);
Final Exam = 40 points;
Paper = 20;
Group visual arts project = 20;
Study journal/homework = 20
Grade Scale: A =169 -180; A- = 162 -168; B + = 156 â 161; B = 150 -155; B- = 144 -149; C = 126 â 143; D+ = 119 â 125; D = 113 -118; D- = 108- 114; Below 108 = F
You get 20 points of âplayâ in the sense that your lowest score for any 20 point assignment except the group project will be thrown out. This can include one mid-term exam. So theoretically you can choose not to take one exam or not to complete one of either the paper or study journal/homework. However, it is initially to your advantage to plan on completing all the assignments and taking all the tests to the best of your ability since you may need to miss something later in the course, and you do not want to âspendâ your 20 points frivolously.
Testing - You must purchase from the bookstore, six scantron forms with options a-e as answers. Since you have 20 points to play with, there are no make up tests since, if you miss an exam, the zero score will be thrown out.
Attendance, Punctuality, Classroom Etiquette:
Attendance will be taken and your presence in class will be monitored. If you miss more than 6 hours, you may be dropped unless you have at least a C average. If you choose to withdraw at any time please be aware of the withdrawal deadlines in your course catalogue. It is your responsibility to do the paper work to drop the class, if you choose to withdraw. It is also your responsibility to make sure you have been dropped if you stop attending class. Don't just assume. If you have obligations that often prevent you from attending class, then you should probably take the class at another time. Be prepared to sit in class for the duration, without leaving. If you are late, it is your responsibility to see me after class the same day so that I can change the roster from an absence to a tardy. If you do not, the record will remain as an absence. Things such as leaving telephones on, talking in class during lecture, failing to participate in team work, sleeping, are impolite and disrespectful. On the other hand, helping your fellow students out when they may need it, positively participating in classroom discussions, and generally having a good attitude toward learning is encouraged. Excessive absences, tardies and etiquette considerations can affect your grade insofar as I will be less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt in borderline grading circumstances.
No Laptop computers will be allowed in class as it is my experience that they are often not used for class note-taking. Take notes as they have been taken for hundreds of years - in hand writing.
Paper:
Final paper (1000 words minimum) The paper must be typed, double-spaced.
Study/Homework Journal:
The Study/Homework Journal consists of two parts. The first section should consist of paragraph summaries or synopses of each reading selection covered in the lecture. Your synopsis should explain the main point of each selection in your own words. The format of this section of your journal will be explained in more detail in class. The second section will include all homework and classwork assignments done throughout the quarter. Journals that have any summaries or assignments identical to other students' journals will receive a 0.
No homework will be accepted through email. Hard copies are required on due dates.
Group Visual Arts Project:
You will work with a team to create a collage which visually represents the political philosophy of one of the writers discussed in class. (See list below) Your team will be given one score, and each individual in the team will be given that score (except when there is obvious negligence on the part of a team member.) Therefore your grade on this activity can depend on the work of others. Each group member will also complete a Team Evaluation sheet, in which team members will have the opportunity to evaluate the other members' work on the team project. Your decision to take this class is a tacit or implicit agreement that you accept this grading method.
Academic Honesty:
You are expected to honestly complete the homework, tests, and paper. The failure to do this will result in an âFâ and possible administrative action. Plagiarism in the final paper or homework is the most common form of such dishonesty and is easily spotted by an experienced reader of student writing (me).
Reading, Lecture and Test Schedule:
Test 1 â End of week two. Attend lectures and read selections under Unit 1 to prepare (See below)
Test 2 â End of week four. Attend lectures and read selections under Unit 2 to prepare(See below).
Test 3 - End of week six. Attend lectures and read selections under Unit 3 (See below) to prepare. Homework/Synopsis Journal Due
Test 4 â End of week eight. Attend lectures and read selections under Unit 4 (See below)to prepare.
Test 5 â End of week ten. Attend lectures and read selections under Unit 5 (See below) to prepare.
Final Exam End of week twelve. Attend lectures, review past materials and read selections 118-126 to prepare. Paper Due
Synopsis/Homework Journal due. Group visual arts project due.
Sample synopsis paragraph for your homework journals.
Selection 24 David Hume - The Irrelevance of Consent
In this passage, Hume argues against the social contract as the basis of state authority by attacking the notion that subjects freely give consent to be ruled. His first argument is that almost all governments which presently exist have obtained power to rule by usurpation or conquest without consent of subjects. A contract at the end of a barrel of a gun is no contract at all. His second argument is against the notion of tacit consent. Social contract theorists like Locke argue that subjects tacitly consent to be ruled by their choice to stay within their country or nation. Hume argues that for most people, and especially the poor, leaving their country and emigrating to another is not real option for lots of reasons. He uses the analogy of a kidnapped crew on a ship, making the point that it is absurd to say the crew consents to their plight, since they would jump off the ship otherwise. Hume then presents his own theory that the legitimacy of the state is founded upon the notion that the state could not exist, if it is not obeyed, and the state must exist since it confers great benefits on mankind. Hume's answer is a precursor to the utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
The list of writers and links below roughly follow the order of reading selections covered in class and in the text. The web pages are included to provide biographical information about the writers. In addition to reading the selections you should read up on the authors and their backgrounds.
Unit 1
(Summaries should be written for each selection listed)
Aristotle - Selection 1 - The State Exists by Nature
http://www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/
Thomas Hobbes - Selection 2 - The Misery of the Natural Condition of Mankind
http://www.iep.utm.edu/hobmoral/
John Locke - Selection 3 - The State of Nature and the State of War
http://www.iep.utm.edu/locke-po/
Baron de Montesquieu - Selection 4 - Fear And Peace
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts//montesquieu.html
Jean Jacques Rousseau - Selection 5 - The Noble Savage
http://www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/
Robert Owen - Selection 6 - Man's Character is Formed for Him
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRowen.htm
Peter Kropotkin - Selection 10 - Mutual Aid
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkropotkin.htm
Plato - Selection 11 - Women as Weaker Partners
Max Weber - Selection 19 - The State and Coercion
Thomas Hobbes - Selection 20 - Creating Leviathan
John Locke - Selection 21 Express and Tacit Consent
Jean -Jacques Rousseau - Selection 22 - Natural Freedom and the Freedom of the Citizen
Social Contract Theory - Here is a good summary of the social contract theories of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, as well as some criticisms:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/
Test 1
Unit 2
David Hume
http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/hume.htm
Jeremy Bentham
http://www.utilitarianism.com/bentham.htm
G.W. F. Hegel
http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/hege.htm
H.L.A. Hart
http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/jurisprudence/hart.shtml
Robert Paul Wolff
http://en.allexperts.com/e/r/ro/robert_paul_wolff.htm
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:4TM6sXl-8qkJ:paws.wcu.edu/dhale/documents/WolffInDefenseofAnarchism.pdf+robert+paul+wolff+anarchism&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AFQjCNHCavDLqokvrUB73Xnn6KfYTAJXkg
Plato
http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/plat.htm
Henry David Thoreau
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/
Martin Luther King
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
John Rawls
http://www.policylibrary.com/rawls/ and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/
James Madison
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesmadison/
Test 2
Unit 3
Isaiah Berlin "Two Concepts of Freedom"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84wJlDC8--o
Here is a competent presentation of 10 principles of Classical liberalism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp3t-Ee1J5k
Charles Taylor "In Defense of Positive Freedom"
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/939950/Charles-Taylor
John Stuart Mill "One Simple Principle"
http://www.utilitarianism.com/jsmill.htm
Lord Patrick Devlin "The Enforcement of Morals"
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/11/world/lord-devlin-86-a-british-judge-who-became-critic-of-the-system.html
H.L.A Hart (See above) "The Changing Sense of Morality"
Niccolo Machiavelli "The Servility of the Moderns"
http://web.cn.edu/KWHEELER/machiavelli.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/
Quentin Skinner "The Republican Ideal of Political Liberty"
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/skinnerq.html
Jeremy Bentham (See above) "Nonsense on Stilts"
Karl Marx "The Rights of Egoistic Man"
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html
Robert Nozick "Rights as Side Constraints"
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/01.17/99-nozick.html
Test 3
Unit 4 All the selections below starting with John Locke's selection on property should be included in your second summary folder submission.
John Locke (See above)
Herbert Spencer
http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/spencer/spencer.html
Robert Nozick (See above)
Aesop
http://www.online-literature.com/aesop/
Edward Bellamy
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59737/Edward-Bellamy
John Rawls (See above)
Robert Nozick (See above)
Test 4
Unit 5
Peter Singer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/feb/15/peter-singer-profile
http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/singermag.html
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/221466/march-12-2009/peter-singer
Test 5
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Team Arts Project
Group Visual Arts Project: You will work with a team to create a collage which visually represents the political philosophy of one of the thinkers listed below. Your team will be given one score, and each individual in the team will be given that score (except when there is obvious negligence on the part of a team member.) Therefore your grade on this activity can depend on the work of others. Each group member will also complete a Team Evaluation sheet, in which team members will have the opportunity to evaluate the other members' work on the team project. This assignment is worth 20 points.
This project will require some meeting time outside of class. If you organize your tasks you should be able to do the project without meeting more than a couple times.
Your collage should artistically express social/political philosophy of one of the figures on the list below. You can do outside research on these philosophies and you are not limited to the short passages in the text. He collage should be constructed with images you find in magazines or other print media. You can include some text, but it should keep it to a minimum. Your collage should be at least 9 square feet. You will be graded on how fully and clearly your collage expresses the central themes of the philosophy, as well as important details of the position.
After you complete your collage, you should take digital photos of the whole thing as well as the important parts and upload them so they can be viewed on the internet. Each member should then be prepared to explain to the class the collage and its parts in a brief presentation of the collage.
Philosophers
Plato
Aristotle
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Robert Owen
John Stuart Mill
Karl Marx
Charles Darwin
Peter Kropotkin
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Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy 1887
A Utopian Novel which was the third best selling novel of its time, behind only Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Ben-Hur. It influenced a large number of intellectuals. Bellamy Clubs sprang up all over the country. It also inspired many actual utopian communities.
The main character Julian West falls asleep and wakes up a hundred and thirteen years later. He finds himself in a totally changed world in the year 2000. The U. S. has been changed into a socialist utopia. He finds a guide, Dr. Leete, who shows him the wonders of this strange modern world. Most of the book involves Dr. Leete explaining the principles on which the society is built in response to Julian's questions.
Answer the following questions:
1) Workers get credit rather than money for their labor. How is this credit distributed among workers?
2) Dr. Leete concedes that some people, given their varying talents, can be a lot more productive than others. Why does Dr. Leete say credit should not depend on the amount of productivity? What characteristic of the laborer does Dr. Leete say should be the criterion for distributing credit? Is this realistic in your view?
3) Dr. Leete says in his utopia people are not motivated by self interest. What are they motivated by? Do you think these motivations could really be the basis of work?
4) In discussing motivation, Dr. Leete compares the workers to what? Is this a good analogy to establish what he thinks should be the proper motivations?
5) Why does Dr. Leete think the notion of self-support in a civilized society is a misnomer? Is his argument a good one or not? Explain.
6) Explain the disagreement between Dr. Leete and West on the notion of brotherhood.
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In this selection Singer argues that we should give up luxuries like fashionable clothes, and send the extra money to famine relief. In a 250 word typed paper explain Singer's two assumptions, and also state the possible objections he considers to his second assumption, and how he responds to those objections. In your conclusion state whether you think his argument is a good one or not.
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Final Paper Social and Political Philosophy 20 points. Hard copy is due Final Exam Day.
The paper should be 1000 words minimum. The paper must be typed, double-spaced, and size 11 or 12 font.
Critically analyze a reading selection we covered in class. You should clearly explain the issue the author is addressing, accurately state the author's position on this issue, and carefully explain the author's argument for the position. You should then evaluate the author's argument. You can point out what you think is right about it or wrong, and you can use the criticisms of other author's we have read.
The evaluation portion of your paper should be substantial at least one third of your paper. It should not be a short paragraph at the end. You should not use outside sources. Everything you need is in our text. If you take a criticism from another selection,you should site the source in a reference page.
Do not plagiarize! (copy material without a reference). All papers will be checked.
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The final exam will include two essay questions chosen from the list below. Your responses should be 250-400 words in length. You should write out outlines or full responses in advance, so you will be prepared to compose your responses in class.
1. Explain the social contract theory of Thomas Hobbes, including his conception of the state of nature and the sovereign.
2. Explain Humes criticisms of tacit consent to a social contract.
3. Contrast Benthams utilitarian reasoning for obeying the government to H.L.A Harts deontological reasoning for obeying the government.
4. Give at least three arguments from Socrates why we should obey the laws of the state.
5. Contrast the views of John Stuart Mill and Patrick Devlin on what aspects of peoples lives the government should be able to control. Then give a criticism of each view.
6. Explain the difference between positive and negative freedom. Give an example of a theorist who supports each, and provide a quote from each theorist which clearly shows their conception of freedom.
7. Explain Karl Marxs criticism of classical liberalism.
8. Give at least two criticisms of the principles of Edward Bellamys socialist utopia.
9. Explain Lockes theory of property rights and some problems with it.
10. Explain Rawls Difference Principle and some problems with it.
11. Explain why Nozick would disagree with Rawls Difference Principle.
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Discuss
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