​INTRODUCTION TO    
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
FALL 2015                         

Meets Tuesdays from 9-10 in 46/2003
and Fridays from 1-3 in 65/1175
(and from Week 7 onward there will
be an extra meeting for presentations 
on Tuesdays from 1-2 in 65/1133)

SCHEDULE OF READINGS

For each week, the readings divide into required 
and optional further readings.  I include the optional 
readings just in case you find the topic especially 
interesting or would like to do a presentation
on it.  You are not expected to read them.

Many required readings are in Arguing about Political Philosophy
 (ed. M. Zwolinski), which I recommend buying.

Many supplementary readings are in in Jean Hampton's Political Philosophy 
and Jonathan Wolff's An Introduction to Political Philosophy and
which I also recommend buying.

Part 1: The State of Nature and the Social Contract

Week 1 – Hobbes

Required
Hobbes, T.  Leviathan, Chs. 13-15, 17-18
(Note that these chapters are short and more like sections.)

Optional Further Reading
Cohen, G. A. "Hobbes" in Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy
Duncan, S.  "Hobbes."   WEB
Hampton, J.  PP, selection from Ch. 2
Lloyd, S. and Sreedhar, S. "Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy."   WEB
Wolff, J.  IPP, selections from Ch. 1

Week 2 – Locke

Required
Locke, J.  Second Treatise on Government, Chs.2-3, 8-9
(Note that these chapters are short.)

Hume, D.  "Of the Original Contract"

Optional Further Reading
Cohen, G. A.  "Locke on Property and Political Obligation"
Cohen, G. A.   "Hume's Critique of Locke on Contract"
Gilbert, M.  "Reconsidering the "Actual Contract" Theory of Political Obligation"
Hampton, J.  PP, selection from Ch.2
Tuckness, A.  "Locke's Political Philosophy"   WEB
Wolff, J. IPP, selection from Ch. 1

Week 3 – Rousseau

Required
Rousseau, J. The Social Contract, selections

Optional Further Reading
Berlin, I.  "Rousseau" in Freedom and its Betrayal.
Bertram, C.  "Jean-Jacques Rousseau"  WEB
Peter, F.  "Political Legitimacy"  WEB
Rawls, J.  Lectures on Rousseau in Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
Rousseau, J.  Discourse on the Origins of Inequality​, selections
Sreenivasan, G.  "What Is the General Will?"
Wolff, J. IPP, selections from Chs.1 and 3

Part 2: Anarchism

Week 4 – Defenses of Anarchism

Required
Simmons, A. J.  "Philosophical Anarchism"

Optional Further Reading
Bakunin, M.  "The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State"
Kropotkin, P. "Anarchist Communism: Its Basis and Principles"
Wolff, J.  IPP, selection from Ch.1
Wolff, R.  Selection from In Defense of Anarchism

Part 3: Utilitarianism as Political Philosophy

Week 5 – Mill

Required
Mill, J. S.  Selections from Utilitarianism and On Liberty

Optional Further Reading
Brink, D.  "Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy"   WEB
Hooker, B.  "Rule Consequentialism"   WEB
Lyons, D.  "Mill's Theory of Justice" in Rights, Welfare, and Mill's Moral Theory​
Rawls, J.  Selection from A Theory of Justice on utilitarianism
Rawls, J.  Lectures on Mill in Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy
Sinnott-Armstrong, W.  "Consequentialism"   WEB
Urmson, J. O.  "The Interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill"

Week 6 = Consultation Week.  NO CLASSES OR PRESENTATIONS.

Part 4: Justice

Weeks 7-8 – Rawls

Required
Rawls, J.  Selections from A Theory of Justice

Optional Further Reading
Cohen, G. A.  "Rescuing Justice from Constructivism and
Equality from the Basic Structure Restriction"
Hampton, J.  PP, Ch. 4
Freeman, S.  "Original Position."   WEB
Mills, C. "Rawls on Race/Race in Rawls"
Okin, S.  Selection from Justice, Gender and the Family
Sandel, M.  "The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self"
Wenar, L.  "John Rawls."   WEB
Wolff, J.  IPP, Ch.5

Part 5: Libertarianism and Liberty

Weeks 9-10 – Nozick

Required
Nozick, R.  Anarchy, State and Utopia, Selections

Optional Further Reading
Cohen, G. A.  "Robert Nozick and Wilt Chamberlain: How Patterns Preserve Equality"
Locke, J.  Second Treatise on Government, Ch.5
Nagel, T.  "Libertarianism without Foundations"
Otsuka, M.  "Self-Ownership and Equality: A Lockean Reconciliation"
Vallentyne, P. and van der Vossen, B.  "Libertarianism"   WEB
Zwolinski, M.  "Libertarianism"   WEB

Part 6: Equality

Week 11-12 – Understanding the Value of Equality

Required
Anderson, E.  "What Is the Point of Equality?"
​Parfit, D.   "Equality and Priority"

Optional Further Reading
Arneson, R.  "Egalitarianism"   WEB
Arneson, R.  "Equality and Equal Opportunity for Welfare"
Cohen, G. A.  "On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice"
Cohen, G. A.  "Equality of What? On Welfare, Goods, and Capabilities"
Favor, J. and Lamont, C. “Distributive Justice”   WEB
Nagel, T.  "Equality"
Temkin, L. “Equality, Priority, and the Levelling Down Objection”
Temkin, L. “Inequality”
Williams, B.  "The Idea of Equality"