Philosophy 128 B Spring 1993
Social and Political Philosophy
Time & Place of Classes: M & W 2:30-4:00 P.M. in Olin 245
Instructor: Dr. David Carey
Office: Olin 153
Office Hours: M W 1-2
T Th 3-4, and by appt.
Telephone Number: 527‑5594
Course description:
This is an introductory examination of social and political questions from a philosophical perspective. The course deals with ideas such as the nature and purpose of the state, law, justice, liberty, conscience, equality, and gender. Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Rawls, and Okin will teach the course; Carey will assist them. (See the Map of the Course below.)
Why take this course?:
A primary purpose of liberal education is to prepare people to exercise the most important office in a republic, namely, the office of citizen. To exercise this office well, you need two things: skill and ideas. This course aims at both. (See below.)
Objectives (what is to be gained by the end of this course):
CONTENT:
1. a familiarity with some major philosophical ideas which shape our social and political thinking (e.g., union, justice, equality, liberty).
2. a familiarity with some major texts which have given us a language and a reference point for these ideas.
SKILLS:
1. in reading more intelligently;
2. in discussing more fruitfully;
3. in writing more clearly; and
4. in listening more carefully.
Methods for meeting these objectives:
(1) assigned reading
(2) class discussion
(3) writing
(4) lecture
Nature and purpose of the assignments:
The astute student will have noticed that there is a close connection between these methods and the objectives of the course.
(1) The main work of this course will be careful study and discussion of the assigned readings. The content of the course is to be learned primarily outside of class. Studying the readings prior to class prepares you for an interesting and enjoyable discussion. Class discussion then prepares you for further study and reflection. As noted above in the course description, it is helpful to think of the authors as the primary teachers in this course. Their ideas are the content; their writings exemplify the skills that you are to develop. Hence, dialogue with these authors is the essence of this course.
(2) This dialogue is enhanced when shared with friends. Hence, class attendance is required. This is because the course takes the form of an ongoing conversation, from one meeting to the next. To miss a meeting is to be left out of a substantial part of that conversation. This will impair your participation in, and enjoyment of, subsequent meetings.
(3) Thought often achieves its greatest clarity when put in writing. So each student will write several argumentative essays, keep a journal or notebook, and write brief reflections at the end of each class. Each exam (midterm and final) will include an essay. Instead of either exam essay, you may write a short paper (about 1250-1500 words), due on or before the date of the exam. (This option may be used only for one exam, not both. All students must take the identification portion of the final exam.)
(4) Last and least, the instructor will lapse into lecturing from time to time, as occasion warrants. This will provide further opportunity for you to practice attentive listening.
How progress toward the objectives will be assessed:
CONTENT:
1. Familiarity with the main philosophical ideas will be reflected in daily discussion (based on prior study of the readings) and in your essays.
2. Familiarity with the texts will also be reflected in the discussions and essays. In addition, the final exam will include short passages from the readings; each passage is to be identified by author, title, and thematic relation to the book in which it appears.
SKILLS:
1. Reading, speaking and listening skills will be reflected in daily class activities.
2. Reading and listening skills will be reflected, indirectly, and writing skills, directly, in the essays.
Prerequisites
(what's needed at the start of the course as a basis for doing well):
The main thing needed is skill in reading carefully, word for word. You should be able to find the key thesis of a passage, state it in a sentence, and set out the author's argument for that thesis. You should be able to do this orally in a class discussion, as well as on paper. You should have already mastered standard English grammar, punctuation and spelling.
You needn't have any prior familiarity with the content of the readings, but you should have the habit of looking up unfamiliar words and allusions in standard reference works (dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.). Of course, the more familiar you are with the readings, the better. They are such that they grow more interesting with increased familiarity.
You should also have the habit (virtue) of studying on a regular schedule.
Student responsibilities (given these prerequisites, how to do well in this course):
It is essential that you do the assigned reading prior to each discussion. I consider normal homework to be two hours of study per week per credit and have chosen the assignments accordingly--that is, about four hours per reading. Sometimes the readings will go quickly for you; sometimes they will seem dense and tedious. You may often have to read a passage over and over again to understand it. In fact, you should read each assignment at least twice. In any case, stick to your scheduled eight hours each week; if you should finish an assignment early, write more extensively in your journal or read ahead.
Why the parts of the course come in the order that they do:
We start with the political situation we find ourselves in: the American form of constitutional democracy. To understand it, we look at the founding documents (specifically, a key paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address). Here we encounter a wealth of philosophical ideas. The rest of the course is meant to trace some of these ideas in detail. We take our sources in chronological order to see how the conversation grows from one author to the next, each referring to the earlier writer(s). The aim here is not so much to learn the history of the ideas -- that is, we are not studying the past as such -- as it is to consider significant responses to our own concerns, in the order in which they have developed.
Required Texts (in alphabetical order):
Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics (eds. Baumgarth &
Regan) (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980)
Aristotle, The Politics (tr. Sinclair & Saunders)
(New York: Penguin, 1981)
Locke, Second Treatise of Government (ed. MacPherson)
(Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988)
Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family (New York: Basic
Books, 1989)
Plato, Republic (tr. Grube) (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1974)
Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1971)
Why these readings?:
Once again, imagine this course as an extended conversation. The authors of these readings are primary sources of the ideas which we'll discuss. Plato and Aristotle even today sound the keynotes. Aquinas synthesizes Platonic and Aristotelian insights with a Biblical concern for the well-being of everyone (especially the poor) and thus bridges classical and modern thought. Furthermore, he provides an excellent model of clear, rigorous and precise argumentation, so he serves as an exemplar of skills to be developed in this course. Locke introduces the revolutionary mood of modern democracy, providing much of the vocabulary of the founding documents with which we begin the course. Rawls carries Locke's ideas to what he calls "a higher order of abstraction" and thus offers us a method for testing our conflicting views. Okin challenges us to rethink the whole conversation from a contemporary feminist perspective.