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The primary objective of this course is to introduce you to the leading edge of work in some major political theory traditions. Of course, the real "leading edge" doesn't appear in textbooks but only in professional journals and colloquia, so we will certainly be behind the time, but (with the exception of Marx) we will be studying the work of scholars in the last few decades. There are disadvantages to this, however. If you go on to graduate school in political theory, you will not have read Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, the Mills, and so on. Your recompense, and the reason I teach the course this way, is that you will have a better idea of what I consider to be the freshest and most promising approaches in the field.
The two texts for the course are as listed below. Both are required. Not listed are those of our readings that can be found online; these will have links given where their titles are given in the schedule.
| ASSIGNMENT | DUE | WEIGHT |
| Commitment
(preparation, attendance, attention, and
participation) |
[ongoing] |
20 |
| Exam #1 (in-class) | 2/20 | 17 |
| Exam #2 (in-class) | 3/29 | 20 |
| Journal | various, + 4/28 | 20 |
| Exam
3 [final exam] (take-home) |
5/5 (posted); 5/11 (due) | 23 |
| Extra credit | [N/A] | Added credit |
| Course-specific extra credit | [N/A] | Added credit |
| WK | DAY | CLASS CONTENT AND PREPARATION |
| 1 |
1/18 |
First
day material. Syllabus. Policies.
Roll call. |
| 1/20 | Topic(s): The moral stage sequence structure of political theories Reading: Text, Ch. 1: "Rawls and Justice as Fairness" Journal: Why this class? Related reading: John Rawls (1971) A Theory of Justice; John Rawls (1993) Political Liberalism |
|
| 2 |
1/23 | Reading: Same as above |
| 1/25 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 1: John Rawls "Justice as Fairness" |
|
| 1/27 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 2: John C. Harsanyi "The Maximin Principle" Journal: p.13, q.3 or 4 Related reading: An essay justifying the difference principle being applied even to freeloaders |
|
| 3 |
1/30 J's: 0 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 3: Richard J. Arneson "Primary Goods Reconsidered" |
| 2/1
J's: 1 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 4: Alex Callinicos "Equality of What?" |
|
2/3 J's: 2 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 5: John Kekes "A Question for Egalitarians" |
|
| 4 |
2/6
J's: 3 |
Reading: Text, Chapter 2: "Nozick and the Entitlement Theory of Justice" |
| 2/8
J's: 4 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 6: Robert Nozick "The Entitlement Theory of Justice" |
|
2/10 J's: 5 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 7: Eric Mack "How Liberty Upsets Patterns" | |
| 5 |
2/13 J's: 6 |
|
| 2/15
J's: 7 |
|
|
2/17 J's: 8,9 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 8: Robert E. Litan "On Rectification in Nozick's Minimal State"
|
|
| 6 |
2/20 |
Exam 1 |
| 2/22
J's: 0 |
|
|
2/24 J's: 1 |
|
|
| 7 |
2/27 J's: 2 |
Reading: Text, Chapter 3: "Gauthier and Justice as Mutual Advantage". See also my online notes here. |
| 3/1
J's: 3 |
Reading: Text, Chapter 4: "Dworkin on Equality". When completed, my online notes will have a link here. |
|
3/3 J's: 4,5 |
Reading: Text, Chapter 5: "Communitarianism" |
|
| 8 |
3/6 J's: 6 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 11: Michael J. Sandel "The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self" |
| 3/8
J's: 7 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 12: Will Kymlicka "Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality" |
|
3/10 J's: 8,9 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 13: Michael Walzer "Complex Equality" Lecture: "Third Friday" Lecture by Tom Powers on multiculturalism. Held, as with Steve Vanderheiden's lecture, in the fourth floor Rotunda in the Library. |
|
SPRING
BREAK [Mar 13-17] |
||
| 9 |
3/20 J's: 0 |
Chilton overview survey lecture on Marx Reading: Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels (1848) The Communist Manifesto |
| 3/22
J's: 1 |
Reading: Karl Marx (1859) "'Preface' to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" |
|
3/24 J's: 2 |
Reading: Karl Marx (1875) "Critique of the Gotha Program" [Ignore the "Foreword" and the "Letter to Bracke"] and Karl Marx (ca. 1851) The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon [Ignore the "Preface"] |
|
| 10 |
3/27 J's: 3,4 |
Review day |
| 3/29 | Exam 2 |
|
3/31 J's: 5 |
Reading: Text, Chapter 8: "Feminism" Journal: p.169,
q.3 |
|
| 11 |
4/3 J's: 6 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 17: Susan Moller Okin "The Public/Private Dichotomy" |
| 4/5
J's: 7 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 18: Iris Marion Young "The Ideal of Community" |
|
| 4/7
J's: 8,9 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 19: Nancy Fraser "Recognition or Redistribution?" Related reading: Nancy Fraser & Axel Honneth (2003). Redistribution or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange. NY: Verso. |
|
| 12 |
4/10 | Reading: Text, Chapter 7: "Deliberative Democracy" Journal: p.143, q.1 (esp. the "Why or why not" part) |
| 4/12 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 20: Iris Marion Young "The Deliberative Model" |
|
| 4/14 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 21: Amy Gutmann & Dennis Thompson "Deliberative Democracy Beyond Process" |
|
| 13 |
4/17 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 22: John S. Dryzek "Legitimacy and Economy in Deliberative Democracy" |
| 4/19 | NO CLASS: MIDWEST POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, PALMER HOUSE, CHICAGO |
|
| 4/21 | ||
| 14 |
4/24 | |
| 4/26 | Reading: Text, Chapter 6: "Multiculturalism" Journal: p.127, q.1 Related reading: Seyla
Benhabib (2002). The Claims of Culture: Equality
and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton. |
|
| 4/28
All J's: |
Reading: Reader, Ch.23: Charles Taylor "The Politics of Recognition" Journal: p.127, q.3 (and q.4 if appropriate) Related reading: Axel Honneth (1996). The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge, MA: MIT. |
|
| 15 |
5/1 |
|
| 5/3 | Reading: Reader, Ch. 24: Bhikhu Parekh "Equality of Difference" |
|
5/5 |
Reading: Reader, Ch. 25: Chandran Kukathas "Liberalism and Multiculturalism" Final exam (take-home) will be posted by midnight tonight. | |
| Thursday, May 11, 2005: Final exam due in my office or department mailbox by 4:00. (You are free to hand it in earlier as long as you give it directly to me.) | ||
| Monday, May 15, 2005: All grades and an annotated version of the final exam are posted on the web today. | ||
COURSE POLICIES & STATEMENTS [Read them!]
I am committed to being your firm ally in your education. I'm interested in you, not just your talents as a political analyst. Lots of things happen to students outside of school that nevertheless affect their ability to learn and perform. Every student, without exception, has always done the best s/he could, if all the circumstances are taken into account. This includes you. Therefore, if you have trouble figuring out what to study, or if you study hard and get a bad grade on an exam or assignment anyway, or things simply aren't going well in your life, come and talk to me. Please don't just suffer in silence!