Political Science 118b The Moral Foundations of Politics Ian Shapiro Spring, 2005
Monday, Wednesday 10:30 pm - 11:20 p.m., 1HTBA Office hours: Wednesdays, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Room 101, 124 Prospect Street Tel: 432-5253; Email: [email protected]
When do governments deserve our allegiance, and when should they be denied it? This course explores the main answers that have been given to this question in the modern west. We start with a survey of the major political theories of the Enlightenment: Utilitarianism, Marxism, and the social contract tradition. In each case we start with a look of classical formulations, locating them in historical context, but then shift to the contemporary debates as they relate to politics today.
Next we turn to the rejection of enlightenment political thinking, again exploring both classical and contemporary formulations. The last part of the course deals with the nature of, and justifications for, democratic politics, and their relations to Enlightenment and anti-enlightenment political thinking.
In addition to exploring theoretical differences among the various authors discussed, considerable attention is devoted to the practical implications of their competing arguments. To this end, we discuss a variety of concrete problems, including debates about economic inequality, affirmative action and the distribution of health care, the limits of state power in the regulation of speech and religion, and difficulties raised by the emerging threat of global environmental decay. There are no prerequisites.
Requirements: • Regular Students: o Option A: In-class midterm (35%); final (55%); participation in section (10%). o Option B: In class midterm (35%); 8-10 page paper due on last day of reading period (20%); final (35%); participation in section (10%)
• Writing-intensive students: Papers (55%); final (35%); participation in section (10%). Key:
B = On sale at Bookhaven R = In reader on sale at Tyco, Elm Street C = On reserve at CCL 2
COURSE SYLLABUS AND SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
Monday January 10 Informational and housekeeping session
I. Enlightenment Political Theory
Wednesday January 12 Introductory lecture Required: • Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, chs 1-8, 13-15 (B,C).
Suggested: • Arendt, Eichmann..., the rest.
Friday January 14 (MLK Day Monday) Natural law roots of the social contract tradition Required: • John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chs I-VIII, XII, XVIII-XIX (B,C).
Suggested: • Locke, First Treatise of Government, chs I-II, VI-VII. • Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 1 (B,C).
II. Utilitarianism: Classical and Neoclassical
Wednesday January 19 Origins of classical utilitarianism Required: • Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, chs 1, 2, 3, 7 (R,C).
Suggested: • Bentham, Introduction…, chs 5, 6.
Monday January 24 Classical Utilitarianism and distributive justice Required: • Jeremy Bentham, “The Psychology of Economic Man” (R,C).
Suggested: 3
• Elie Halévy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism, part I, chs 1,3, part II, chs 1-3 (C). • Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch 2 (B, C).
Wednesday January 26 From Classical to Neoclassical Utilitarianism Required: • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, chs 1-2 (B,C).
Suggested: • Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 3 (B,C).
Monday January 31 The Neoclassical synthesis of rights and utility Required: • Mill, On Liberty, chs 3-4.
Suggested: • Mill, Utilitarianism, chs 1-3 (C).
Wednesday February 2 Limits of the neoclassical synthesis Required: • Mill, On Liberty, ch. 5.
Suggested: • Mill, Utilitarianism, chs 4-5.
III. Marxism, its failures and its legacy
Monday February 7 The Marxian challenge
[Note: Page numbers for all readings from Marx and Engels are from the Tucker anthology (B,C)].
Required: • Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, pp. 469-500.
Suggested: • Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” pp. 143-5. • Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The German Ideology, Part I, pp. 146-202.
Wednesday February 9 Marxian exploitation and distributive justice 4
Required: • Marx, Capital, Vol. I, pp. 294-344, 361-84. 417-19.
Suggested: • Useful summaries of the analytical logic of Capital are Ernest Mandel’s introduction to the Viking/Pelican edition of Capital, vol. I (C) and Pierre Jalee, How Capitalism Works (C).
Monday February 14 The Marxian failure and legacy Required: • Marx, Capital, Vol. I, pp 443-65. • John Roemer, “Should Marxists be interested in exploitation?” (R,C). • Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, pp. 525-41.
Suggested: • Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 4 (B,C).
Wednesday February 16 Midterm Examination in class
IV. The social contract tradition
Monday February 21 Appropriating Locke today Required: • Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (B,C) chs 1-3.
Wednesday February 23 Rights-as-side constraints and the minimal state Required: • Nozick, Anarchy... chs 4-5.
Suggested: • Nozick, Anarchy... chs 8-10.
Monday February 28 Compensation versus redistribution Required: • Nozick, Anarchy..., chs 6, 7, pp. 149-64, 167-82.
Wednesday March 2 5
The Rawlsian social contract Required: • John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, ch. 1, §1-4, 8, ch. 2, § 11-17 (B,C).
Spring Recess: Saturday March 5 – Sunday March 20
Monday March 21 Distributive justice and the welfare state Required: • Rawls, Theory..., ch. 3, § 20-27, 29-30; ch. 4 § 40, ch. 5 § 41-43, ch. 9 § 79.
Suggested: • Rawls, “Justice as fairness: political not metaphysical” (R,C). • Nozick, Anarchy..., pp. 183-231. • Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 5 (B,C).
V. Anti-Enlightenment Politics
Wednesday March 23 The Burkean outlook Required: • Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (B,C), pp. 85-142, 187-95.
Suggested: • David Bromwich, Introduction to Burke, On Empire, Liberty, and Reform (R) • Burke, Reflections (B,C), the rest.
Monday March 28 Contemporary communitarianism Required: • Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 1-6 (B,C)
Suggested: • MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 7-8
Wednesday March 30 Contemporary communitarianism Required: • Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 9-15
Suggested: • MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 16-19 • Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch 6(B,C). 6
V. Democracy and the Politics of Value Pluralism
Monday April 4 What not to expect from democracy Required: • Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 1-11, 315-20, 419-35, 459-62 (B,C)
Suggested: • Sourcebook, pp. 330-62.
Wednesday April 6 What to expect from democracy Required: • Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 455-58, 480-88, 12-17, 447-54, 480-88 (B,C)
Suggested: • Sourcebook, pp. 463-79.
Monday April 11 Democracy and constitutionalism Required: • Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 191-216, 232-51 (B,C)
Suggested: • Sourcebook, pp. 217-31.
Wednesday April 13 Getting and keeping democracy Required: • Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 55-64, 76-92, 99-107 (B,C) • Courtney Jung, Ellen-Lust Okar, and Ian Shapiro, “Problems and prospects for democratic settlements: South Africa as a model for the Middle East and Northern Ireland?” (R)
Suggested: • Sourcebook, pp. 217-31.
Monday April 18 Democracy and the global order Required: • Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 490-525 (B,C)
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Wednesday April 20 Final lecture Required: • Ian Shapiro, “John Locke’s Democratic Theory,” in Two Treatises of Government (B,C)
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