PHIL 150C1: Why are we here? Fundamental questions about the ethical organization of society

What is justice? What should constitutions and other forms of political organisation be trying to achieve, in the most general terms? What justifies coercion on the part of the state? What exactly is essential to modern liberalism? This course will provide you with a foundation for engaging rigorously with these questions of political philosophy. We will read some of the most influential political theory produced by the Western world, and you will have the opportunity to improve your ability to think and write critically by considering whether and how what these thinkers have had to say is correct.

Learning objectives

You will read and gain an understanding of some foundational texts in Western philosophy.
You will study and explore core philosophical questions regarding what we essentially are and what is good for us.
You will write and revise philosophical essays explaining and analysing the views presented in the course reading material.

Learning outcomes

You will be able to understand what an author means to say in difficult philosophical texts, and demonstrate this understanding by answering comprehension questions.
You will be able to defend in depth your understanding and conception of a number of philosophical topics, in the writing of a number of philosophical essays.
You will be able to identify and engage in distinctively philosophical theorising about a number of topics, and express this understanding in formulating the basic structure of your written answers.

Acknowledgements

Elements of the course schedule are derived from syllabi by Profs. Thomas Christiano, Michael Gill and Houston Smit.

Instructor

Sean Whitton <spwhitton@email.arizona.edu>
Office hours: 3pm–4pm Wednesdays and Thursday, and by appointment if those times are impossible for you (you must contact me with your availability at least two days before you envisage us meeting)
Offices: Social Sciences 130, 138 and 140 (basement level; please look for me in all three rooms)

During the course, I expect to respond to all e-mails within 48 hours. Please do not expect a response sooner than 24 hours after you send your e-mail, and don’t expect to receive a reply on Saturday or Sunday. Plan ahead.

Please do not e-mail me if your question could be answered by reading the syllabus or other course and university documents and policies.

Required Texts

Plato, Gorgias, translated by Robin Waterfield (Oxford University Press, 1994) – do not use an alternative edition/translation
Steven M. Cahn (ed.), Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts, 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Some of our untranslated readings have recently been translated into more contemporary English by Jonathan Bennett, and these translations may be downloaded for free from https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/. Reading Bennett’s translations alongside the original text may aid understanding.

Course Format and Teaching Methods

Classes

You must complete each item of reading before the class in which it will be discussed.

Classes will interweave lecture and discussion segments. This is so that discussions can help you solidify your understanding before lecturing moves on to the next major topic. The third meeting each week will usually be weighted more heavily in favour of discussion.

You should feel free to ask questions during lecture segments.

Quizzes

There will be a number of very short, unannounced reading quizzes posted to D2L during the course, each to be completed within 36 hours. They will be easy if you are up-to-date with that week’s reading, and difficult otherwise.

Paper

You will write one paper. The topic of the paper and more specific instructions will be posted when they are assigned. You will be asked to explain the views of one or more philosophers we’ve studied, and also to critically engage with those positions.

You will be required to submit a draft, and I’ll give you feedback. You will be penalised if your final version of the paper does not sufficiently engage with my feedback.

Midterm and Final

There will be two in-class essay-writing exams. I will give you a list of all the possible questions on the exam in advance, for your preparation, and then on the day of the exam I’ll give you two to three of those questions to answer in as much detail as you can.

The questions will ask you to explain the views of the philosophers we’ve studied, but won’t require significant critical engagement.

I won’t automatically give you written feedback on your exam scripts, but if you come to office hours then we can go through what you wrote together in as much detail as you would like.

You must bring a brand new blue book, from the UA BookStore, to each exam.

Grades

Scale

90%+: grade A
80%+: grade B
70%+: grade C
60%+: grade D
Less than 60%: grade E

Breakdown

Participation: 5%
Syllabus quiz: 5%
Reading quizzes: 15%
First paper draft: 5%
- 2000 words
First paper final: 20%
- 2000 words
Midterm: 25%
Final exam: 25%

Rules

Attendance in class is mandatory. You must not arrive late. I will take attendance at the beginning of class, and then again at 12:15pm to accommodate students who have a long way to walk across campus. After this, you will count as not having attended, unless you have contacted me in advance of class to explain why you expect to be late that day.

Your first nine absences will not count. After that, you will lose one percentage point for each absence. There are no exceptions – the purpose of the nine ignored absences is to cover illness or family emergencies. If you have missed more than nine sessions due to illness, it will likely be best for you to withdraw from the course, as you will have missed too much material to do well in the exams.
No smart phones, dumb phones, laptops or tablets may be used during class. There are no exceptions without my explicit permission. Take notes on paper.
At the end of class, don’t start to pack away your things until I have finished speaking. It’s disrespectful of me and other students who are trying to listen.
If you will need to leave early, please let me know before class begins. Otherwise, you will need to stay until the end of the class. This is because people getting up and leaving is distracting to other students.
Late work will not be accepted, except where mandated by university policy, or where we have agreed, several days in advance, to extend your deadline or reschedule your exam.

It is your responsibility to contact me early enough, not my responsibility to arrange an extension at the last minute, or after the deadline. I really mean it. You’ll simply get a zero.
The paper final version and the paper draft must be submitted in PDF format, on D2L. No Word documents, no Pages documents. If you submit in the wrong format, you will lose 10%, i.e., one letter grade. If you have any doubt about your ability to convert to PDF, talk to me well in advance.

If you have D2L issues close to a deadline you may e-mail me the PDF as proof you did it in time, but it cannot be graded until it has been uploaded to D2L.
The paper draft must also be submitted in hardcopy in class or to the submission box outside the philosophy department office, so that I can provide your feedback. If you don’t do this, you will get a zero for the paper draft.
You may go 15% above or below the word limit for the paper. Beyond that, you will get a zero.
There will be no extra credit.
Please double-space, use one inch margins, and a size 12 font. Other than that I do not care about your formatting choices, so long as you satisfy the requirements of academic integrity.
The time and date of the final exam are set by the university, and there are no other times at which you can take your final exam, except in the case of sudden illness. If you have already left town for the summer by the time of the final exam, you will get a zero. Do not schedule your travel until after your exam.

General Information on Taking a Philosophy Course

Philosophy is not like other subjects. Please review my notes on taking a philosophy course.

Course Schedule

After unit 1, readings for topics in the schedule which do not have specific authors and titles already listed below will be drawn mostly from our textbook with a few extra parts posted to D2L. I’ll tell you exactly which pages I’d like you read by the start of each week, depending on exactly where we got up to in our discussions the previous week.

Wednesday 12th January: Introduction to course

Unit 1: Introduction to value theory

Friday 14th January: Socrates’ exchange with Gorgias: 447a – 461b
Monday 17th January: Martin Luther King Jr Holiday – no classes
Wednesday 19th January: Socrates’ exchange with Polus: 461b – 468e
Friday 21st January: Review and discussion; Syllabus quiz due 11:59pm MST
Monday 24th January: Socrates’ exchange with Polus: 468e – 481b
Wednesday 26th January: Callicles’ speech: 481b – 492c
Friday 28th January: Review and discussion
Monday 31st January: Socrates’ response to Callicles: 492d – 505c
Wednesday 2nd February: Plato’s political thought: Republic 412a–427b in Cahn
Friday 4th February: Review and discussion

Unit 2: The basis and limits of the state

Monday 7th February: Hobbes on psychological egoism: Cahn pp. 309–317, excl. ch. 12
Wednesday 9th February: Hobbes’ state of nature: Cahn pp. 319–330
Friday 11th February: Review and discussion
Monday 14th February: The Hobbesian commonwealth: Cahn pp. 330–338; First paper draft hardcopy due by time Social Sciences building is locked, and PDF to D2L by 11:59pm
Wednesday 16th February: Locke on the state of nature: Cahn pp. 360–62 & 365–74
Friday 18th February: Comparison, review and discussion of Hobbes and Locke on the basis of the state
Monday 21st February: Locke on the state of nature continued, and Hobbes on the limits of the state: Cahn pp. 338–43
Wednesday 23rd February: Locke on the limits of the state: Cahn pp. 374–88
Friday 25th February: Comparison, review and discussion of Hobbes and Locke on the limits of the state
Monday 28th February: Hume on justice & property Cahn pp. 466–77
Wednesday 2nd March: Hume on justice & property cont.: Cahn pp. 477–87
Friday 4th March: Review and discussion of Hume, and comparison with Hobbes and Locke; First paper final due 11:59pm MST; The magic word is “taro”.
Monday 7th March: Spring recess – no classes
Tuesday 9th March: Spring recess – no classes
Friday 11th March: Spring recess – no classes

Unit 3: Capitalism and libertarianism

Monday 14th March: Smith on the economy: Cahn pp. 488–99
Wednesday 16th March: Smith cont.: Cahn pp. 499–506
Friday 18th March: Review and discussion
Monday 21st March: Marx on the economy: /Value, Price and Profit/ in Cahn
Wednesday 23rd March: Marx on alienation: /Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844/ in Cahn
Friday 25th March: Class cancelled
Monday 28th March: Review and discussion of Marx, and midterm exam preparation instructions
Wednesday 30th March: Rawls on distributive justice: /A Theory of Justice/ chs. 3, 4, 11, 13 and 17 in Cahn
Friday 1st April: Nozick on justice: Cahn pp. 962–968
Monday 4th April: Comparison, review and discussion of Rawls and Nozick on justice
Wednesday 6th April: Midterm review
Friday 8th April: Midterm exam

Unit 4: Global justice

Monday 11th April: Singer, Famine, Affluence and Morality (PDF on D2L)
Wednesday 13th April: Schmidtz, Islands in a Sea of Obligation (PDF on D2L)
Friday 15th April: Review and discussion
Monday 18th April: Satz, The Moral Limits of Markets: The Case of Human Kidneys, pp. 269–77 only (PDF on D2L)
Wednesday 20th April: Meyer, Sacrifice and the Possibilities for Environmental Action
Friday 22nd April: Review and discussion

Unit 5: Social justice

Monday 25th April: Young, Five Faces of Oppression, in Cahn
Wednesday 27th April: Shelby, Racism, Moralism and Social Criticism
Friday 29th April: Review and discussion
Monday 2nd May: Nussbaum, The Feminist Critique of Liberalism, in Cahn
Wednesday 4th May: Final exam review
Wednesday 11th May, 10:30am–12:30pm: Final exam

UA-mandated notices

https://academicaffairs.arizona.edu/syllabus-policies

Absence and Class Participation

The UA’s policy concerning Class Attendance, Participation, and Administrative Drops is available at: http://catalog.arizona.edu/policy/class-attendance-participation-and-administrative-drop

The UA policy regarding absences for any sincerely held religious belief, observance or practice will be accommodated where reasonable, http://policy.arizona.edu/human-resources/religious-accommodation-policy

Absences for groups of more than three students that are pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean Designee) will be honored. See: http://policy.arizona.edu/employmenthuman-resources/attendance

Threatening Behavior Policy

The UA Threatening Behavior by Students Policy prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to oneself. See http://policy.arizona.edu/education-and-student-affairs/threatening-behavior-students

Accessibility and Accommodations

At the University of Arizona, we strive to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience barriers based on disability or pregnancy, please contact the Disability Resource Center (520-621-3268, https://drc.arizona.edu/) to establish reasonable accommodations.

See http://drc.arizona.edu/instructors/syllabus-statement.

Code of Academic Integrity

Students are encouraged to share intellectual views and discuss freely the principles and applications of course materials. However, graded work/exercises must be the product of independent effort unless otherwise instructed. Students are expected to adhere to the UA Code of Academic Integrity as described in the UA General Catalog. See: http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies/code-academic-integrity and http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/academic-integrity/students/academic-integrity

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Subject to Change Statement

Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor; see http://policy.arizona.edu/faculty-affairs-and-academics/course-syllabus-policy-undergraduate-template