Phil. 333, Political Philosophy and Thought

Phil. 333, Political Philosophy and Thought Fall 2004

Christopher Meyers, Ph.D. Faculty Towers, 103F 664-2072 Office Hours: TTH 4:00-5:30, and by appointment Email: [email protected]

Texts: Robert L. Heilbroner, Marxism: For And Against; John Locke, Second Treatise of Government; J.S. Mill, On Liberty Plato, Republic; Packet on Electronic Reserve

Course Description: "Give me liberty or give me death." "We take these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights." ". . . with liberty and justice for all.” These quotations are familiar to all of us; indeed, they were part of our very upbringing. What precisely do they mean? What is a 'right'? What is 'liberty' or 'freedom'? 'Justice'? Why are these concepts important and how do they fit into a morally grounded system of political governance? This course will attempt to address these and related questions through the study of classical and contemporary readings in political philosophy.

Course Assignments: 1. This course will be discussion format. That is, all students will be required to attend and to participate actively in each class meeting. I will lecture as little as possible; instead, we will discuss the political/philosophical views held by the various authors and the arguments they use to defend those views. Thus ten percent of your final grade will be based on class participation. You will be judged for both the amount and the quality of your contributions. Hence you must come to each class meeting fully prepared (i.e. articles read at least once). For those who do not feel comfortable speaking up in class, you may satisfy this requirement by emailing me your reactions to class conversations and/or by talking with me in my office.

2. In-class quizzes: I will give regular, pretty much daily, quizzes on the reading assignments. These will be true/false and short answer and are worth 25% of your final grade.

3. Class Presentations: You will be assigned to a group for a class presentation. I'll provide more detail in class, but for now, this is worth 25 percent of the course grade, each student is graded individually (but the quality of the group's work will impact individuals' presentations), and prior to the presentation each student must provide me with two things: (1) an outline of your own presentation and (2) a description of what you contributed to the group project, with that description signed by all the group's members. Grading Criteria For Group Project: 25% for complexity and sophistication of topic selected 25% for depth and understanding of material 35% for strength of argument 15% for quality of presentation

4. Paper: The good news is all of the above takes the place of exams. The even better news is that you get to create your own country. That is, imagine yourselves as the founding parents of a new country having to create a system of governance. In doing this you must incorporate fundamental philosophical concepts and political theory into a practical system, a 'constitution.' Please Take Notice: Most of you have never engaged in a project of this sort. I will give you a detailed handout describing what I'm looking for, but you should also come see me (preferably with an outline) before you begin serious work. I will give you a separate sheet on grading criteria but, in general, I give highest priority to the following (in order of importance): Sophistication of preamble, extent to which authors are incorporated, organization, grammar/punctuation/spelling/style, sophistication of system section, and feasibility of proposed system of governance.

IMPORTANT: While only 15% of the paper’s grade is based on writing mechanics, if these are of failing quality, the entire paper fails. This means that even if you have good ideas and show a basic understanding of the concepts and material, you will still receive a failing score if the writing does not meet minimum standards. See handout for details. To help you to achieve these standards, I have arranged with the English Department to have a tutor available—again, I’ll give details in class.

MISC. POINTS: Please turn off all electronic devices upon entering class. If you need to leave class early, please let me know before doing so.

Unless you receive prior approval, assignments will be marked down a full letter grade for every class meeting they are late (or, at the end of the quarter, for every day they are late). Failure to complete either the paper or the group project will result in an "F" for the course, regardless of the grade going in to that assignment. There will be no make-up quizzes. If you need to miss class and inform me of such in advance (i.e., prior to the beginning of that day’s class), I will provide you with an alternative assignment for quizzes, but I allow only two such exceptions.

You may withdraw from the course through October 1 for any reason and without a ‘W’ appearing on your transcript. After this, you may withdraw through November 1 upon discussing your reasons with me (university policy requires that you give "serious and compelling reasons"). My own policy is quite flexible about allowing students to withdraw at any point. University policy, in theory, prevents withdrawal from a single course in the last three weeks of class. If you seek an exception to this policy, speak with me. Important Note: Because my withdrawal policy is so lenient, and because I think they almost always work to the student's detriment, I am very disinclined toward "incompletes." I will grant them only under the following conditions: You must have been keeping up with the work (and receiving a "C" or better) prior to something unusual and beyond your control occurring which prevents completion of course assignment(s). Merely "being overwhelmed with other classes/work" is not sufficient.

Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will result in an immediate "F" for the course as well as possible disciplinary action from the University. Plagiarism is defined as using any source for words or ideas without giving appropriate reference. Examples of academic dishonesty include (note, though, this is not an exhaustive list): looking at others’ quizzes, turning in a paper for me that you wrote for another class (or vice-versa) and verbally seeking answers from other students. Tentative Calendar

September

14. Introduction to Class. 16. Natural Rights. Locke, Chapters One Through Three; Mason & Jefferson (on reserve). 21. Natural Rights, cont. Fang Lizi; Mao; McIntyre (on reserve). 23. Natural Rights, cont. South African Rights (on reserve); Locke, Chapters Four and Five. 28. Natural Rights, cont. Plato, § 416-422a; Aristotle (on reserve). 30. Group Presentations, Mill, Editor’s Introduction

October

5. Liberty, cont. Mill: Strongly recommended, Chapters One and Two; required, TBA 7. Liberty, cont. Mill: Strongly recommended, Chapters Three through Five; required, TBA 12. Liberty, cont. Plato § 376-379; MacKinnon (on reserve). 14. Liberty, cont. Heilbroner, reading TBA. 19. Group Presentations. Begin Justice. King (on reserve). 21. Justice, cont. Plato, § 327-368c, 427d-435c, 441-445. 26. Justice, cont. Rawls (on reserve). 28. Justice, cont. Nozick and Malcolm X (on reserve).

November

2. Group Presentations. Start Systems. Hobbes and Rousseau (lecture only).

4. Systems, cont. Locke, Chapters Seven through Thirteen and Nineteen. 9. Systems, cont. Plato, § 369-378b, 509d-518d, 412c-422a. 11. Holiday 16. System, cont. Plato, § 449-461e, 471c-489c, Book VIII (§ 543-569). 18. Systems, cont. Heilbroner, reading TBA, and excerpts from Manifesto of the Communist Party (on reserve). Papers due for those wishing written comments. 23. Final group presentations and class wrap-up. Papers due for those not wishing written comments.