Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
SYLLABUS
Power: What is power?; who has power?; power, justification and violence.
Democracy: Justifications of democracy; deliberative democracy; paradox of democracy.
Equality: Redistributive taxation - equality of what?; the value of equality; equality and
efficiency; equality of opportunity and positive discrimination.
Liberty: Positive and negative liberty; the value of freedom; autonomy and paternalism.
COURSE OUTLINE
On one view of contemporary political philosophy its central question is: what should the
state do? This course examines four topics that go to the heart of this question.
The first topic, power, explores one of the most central and controversial concepts in
political thought. What is power? Who has it, when, and over whom? How is power
legitimately exercised by individuals, the state, or individuals and groups in response to
the state? When if ever, is it legitimate to use violence to promote political aims?
These and other questions are explored by engaging with both contemporary and
historically important writings in the field.
The second topic, democracy, asks whether a government is legitimate only if it is
democratic, and what democracy requires. There are many different forms of democracy
and this topic explores their competing strengths and weaknesses.
The third topic is another value with hidden complications: equality. Contemporary
political philosophy sits on an egalitarian plateau: the idea that human beings have
equal worth is seldom contested. However, it is obvious that humans are far more
different than they are the same, so what does it mean to say that people are equal? And
given that human beings are in some important sense equal, what normative implication
does this have for how the state should treat them? In what sense, if any, should people
be treated equally?
The fourth topic addresses one of the fundamental values of contemporary political
philosophy: liberty. At least in Western societies, more freedom is widely regarded to be
better than less, and governments are thought to do better the more freedom they allow
their citizens. But what is liberty and what exactly is its value?
Prerequisites
None
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Objectives
Students taking this paper will be expected to:
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5.
Preliminary Reading
DWORKIN, Ronald, Sovereign Virtue: the Theory and Practice of Equality (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).
GEUSS, Raymond, Philosophy and Real Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2008). Also available online at: www.dawsonera.com.
LEFTWICH, Adrian, ed., What Is Politics? (Cambridge: Polity, 2004).
MCKINNON, Catriona, ed., Issues in Political Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2008; 2nd ed. 2012).
NOZICK, Robert, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
RAWLS, John, A Theory of Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972; Rev. ed.
1999), chs. 1-3.
SWIFT, Adam, Political Philosophy: A Beginner's Guide for Students and Politicians. 2nd
ed. (Cambridge: Polity, 2006).
WOLFF, Jonathan, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2002).
READING LIST
Items marked with an asterisk* are important.
POWER
What Is Power? Who Has Power? Power, Justification and Violence
*ALLEN, Amy, 'Feminist Perspectives on Power', in E.N. Zalta, ed., Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 ed.) [Online]. Available at:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-power (Accessed: 19 May 2014).
*DAHL, Robert A., 'The Concept of Power', Behavioral Science, 2 (1957): 201-15.
*LUKES, Steven, Power: A Radical View. 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan, 2005).
ALLEN, Amy, 'Rethinking Power', Hypatia, 13 (1998): 21-40.
BUFACCHI, Vittorio, Violence: A Philosophical Anthology (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009).
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CLEGG, Stewart R., and Mark HAUGAARD, eds., The Sage Handbook of Power
(London: Sage, 2009). [Especially chapters by Gohler, Dowding, Morriss, Tilly and
Jessop]
DOWDING, Keith, 'Rational Choice Approaches to Analyzing Power', in K. Nash and A.
Scott, eds., The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology (Oxford: Blackwell,
2001). Also available online at:
http://www.credoreference.com/entry/bkcps/rational_choice_approaches_to_analyz
ing_power.
FOUCAULT, Michel, Power/Knowledge (Brighton: Harvester, 1980), especially "Two
Lectures" and "The Eye of Power". Another option is his Discipline and Punish
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979), especially Part 3 ch. 3: "Panopticism".
HARTSOCK, Nancy, 'Foucault on Power: A Theory for Women?' in L. Nicholson, ed.,
Feminism/Postmodernism (London: Routledge, 1990).
MACKINNON, Catharine, 'Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination', in A.
Phillips, ed., Feminism and Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp.
295-313.
MORRISS, Peter, Power: A Philosophical Analysis. 2nd ed. (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2002).
WARTENBERG, Thomas, ed., The Forms of Power: From Domination to Transformation
(Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1990).
WEBER, Max, Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, translated by
E. Fischoff, et al. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978).
WOLFF, Robert P., 'On Violence', The Journal of Philosophy, 66 (1969): 601-16.
YEATMANN, Anna, 'Feminism and Power', in M.L. Shanley and U. Narayan, eds.,
Reconstructing Political Theory: Feminist Perspective (University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997), pp. 144-57.
YOUNG, Iris M., 'Five Faces of Oppression', in T. Wartenberg, ed., Rethinking Power
(Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1992). Reprinted in L. Heldke and P. OConnor, eds.,
Oppression, Privilege, and Resistance (Boston, NJ: McGraw-Hill, 2004).
DEMOCRACY
Justifications of Democracy
*ARNESON, Richard J., 'Defending the Purely Instrumental Account of Democratic
Legitimacy', Journal of Political Philosophy, 11 (2003): 122-32.
*COPP, David, Jean HAMPTON, and John E. ROEMER, eds., The Idea of Democracy
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). [Especially chs. by Arneson,
Christiano, and Estlund]
*DWORKIN, Ronald, 'Political Equality', in his Sovereign Virtue (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2000), pp. 184-210. Also available on Camtools.
*ESTLUND, David, Democratic Authority (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).
Also available online at: http://lib.myilibrary.com/?ID=246327. [Especially chs. 1-3 &
6]
*HARRISON, Ross, Democracy (London: Routledge, 1993). Also available online at:
http://lib.myilibrary.com/?id=18248.
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EQUALITY
Redistributive Taxation
*COHEN, G.A., Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1995), chs. 1-4, 9 & 10. Also available online at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511521270. [Central text with a critical analysis
of Nozick's views]
*FREEMAN, Samuel, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Rawls (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2002). Also available online at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521651670 . [Especially chs. by Daniels, Scanlon,
and Van Parijs]
*NOZICK, Robert, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974), chs. 7 & 8.
*PAUL, Jeffrey, ed., Reading Nozick (Oxford: Oxford: Blackwell, 1982). [Especially chs.
by Scanlon and Ryan, Singer]
*RAWLS, John, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 2001).
*RAWLS, John, A Theory of Justice. Rev. ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
chs. 1-3 & 5.
BARRY, Brian, 'Review of Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Nozick', Political Theory,
3, no. 3 (1975): 331-36.
DANIELS, Norman, Reading Rawls (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975; 2nd
ed. 1989). [chs. by Nagel, Scanlon, Hart, and Daniels]
GEUSS, Raymond, Philosophy and Real Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2008), Part 2, pp. 59-94. Also available online at: www.dawsonera.com.
KUKATHAS, Chandran, and Philip PETTIT, Rawls: A Theory of Justice and Its Critics
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990), chs. 1-3.
POGGE, Thomas, Realizing Rawls (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).
RAWLS, John, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).
[Especially lectures IV and VI]
WALDRON, Jeremy, The Right to Private Property (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1988), ch. 7.
WOLFF, Jonathan, 'Equality: the Recent History of an Idea', Journal of Moral Philosophy,
4, no. 1 (2007): 125-36.
WOLFF, Jonathan, Robert Nozick: Property Justice and the Minimal State (Oxford: Polity
Press in association with Basil Blackwell, 1991), chs. 1, 2 & 4.
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Equality of what?
*ARNESON, Richard J., 'Equality and Equal Opportunity for Welfare', Philosophical
Studies, 56 (1989): 77-93. Reprinted in L. Pojman and R. Westmoreland, eds.,
Equality: Selected Readings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 229-241.
*COHEN, G.A., 'On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice', Ethics, 99 (1989): 906-44.
Reprinted in M. Otsuka, ed., On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice and Other
Essays (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011). Also available online at:
http://lib.myilibrary.com/?id=296502.
*DWORKIN, Ronald, 'What Is Equality?: Part 1: Equality of Welfare and What Is
Equality?; Part 2: Equality of Resources', Philosophy & Public Affairs, 10 (1981):
283-345. Reprinted in his Sovereign Virtue (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 2000), pp. 11-119.
*SEN, Amartya, 'Equality of What?' in S. McMurrin, ed., Tanner Lectures on Human
Values. Vol. I, 1980). Also available online at:
http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/s/sen80.pdf. Reprinted in S.
Darwall, ed., Equal Freedom (Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press, 1995), pp.
307-30.
*SEN, Amartya, Inequality Reexamined (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992). Also available
on line at: www.oxfordscholarship.com. [Especially chs. 1 & 3]
ARNESON, Richard J., 'Equality of Opportunity for Welfare Defended and Recanted',
Journal of Political Philosophy, 7 (1999): 488-97.
BURLEY, Justine, ed., Dworkin and His Critics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). Also available
online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470996386. [Papers by
Cohen and Otsuka]
CLAYTON, Matthew, and Andrew WILLIAMS, 'Egalitarian Justice and Interpersonal
Comparison', European Journal of Political Research, 35 (1999): 445-64.
CLAYTON, Matthew, and Andrew WILLIAMS, 'Some Questions for Egalitarians', in M.
Clayton and A. Williams, eds., The Ideal of Equality (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002),
pp. 1-19.
DANIELS, Norman, 'Equality of What: Welfare, Resources or Capabilities?', Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research, 50 (1990 ): 273-96. Reprinted in his Justice and
Justification (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 208-31.
RAWLS, John, 'Social Unity and Primary Goods', in A. Sen and B. Williams, eds.,
Utilitarianism and Beyond (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp.
159-85. Also available online at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611964.010.
The Value of Equality
*ANDERSON, Elizabeth S., 'What Is the Point of Equality?', Ethics, 109 (1999): 287-337.
*FRANKFURT, Harry, 'Equality as a Moral Ideal', Ethics, 98 (1987): 21-43. Reprinted in
his The Importance of What We Care About (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988), pp. 134-158 and also available online at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511818172. Also in L.P. Pojman and R.
Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997), pp. 261-73.
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*MASON, Andrew, 'Equality of Opportunity, Old and New', Ethics, 111 (2001): 760-81.
Reprinted in his Levelling the Playing Field (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
Also available online at: www.oxfordscholarship.com.
*NAGEL, Thomas, 'Equal Treatment and Compensatory Discrimination', Philosophy &
Public Affairs 2(1973): 348-63. Also in his Mortal Questions (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1979), available online at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107341050 as 'The Policy of Preference'.
*SHER, George, 'Diversity', Philosophy & Public Affairs, 28 (1999): 85-104.
*THOMSON, Judith Jarvis, 'Preferential Hiring', Philosophy & Public Affairs, 2 (1973):
364-84. Reprinted in S.M. Cahn, ed., The Affirmative Action Debate (London:
Routledge, 1995), pp. 45-69.
*WILLIAMS, Bernard, 'The Idea of Equality', in P. Laslett and W.G. Runciman, eds.,
Philosophy, Politics and Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), pp. 110-31. Reprinted in
his Problems of the Self (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973). Also
available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621253.016.
CAVANAGH, Matt, Against Equality of Opportunity (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002).
EDWARDS, John, Positive Discrimination, Social Justice and Social Policy (London:
Tavistock, 1987).
EZORSKY, Gertrude, Racism and Justice: the Case for Affirmative Action (New York, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1991), chs. 1-4.
GOLDMAN, Alan H., Justice and Reverse Discrimination (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1979).
SCHAAR, John J., 'Equality of Opportunity, and Beyond', in J. Chapman and R. Pennock,
eds., Equality, Nomos 9 (New York: Atherton, 1967), pp. 228-49. Reprinted in L.
Pojman and R. Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997), 137-47.
LIBERTY
Excerpts of much of the listed material can be found in:
CARTER, Ian, Matthew KRAMER, and Hillel STEINER, eds., Freedom: A Philosophical
Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006). [Especially Parts I, VII and VIII]
MILLER, David, ed., The Liberty Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006).
Previously published as D. Miller, ed., Liberty (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1991).
Positive and Negative Liberty
*BERLIN, Isaiah, 'Two Concepts of Liberty', in his Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1969), pp. 118-72. Reprinted in his Liberty (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2002), and in Liberty edited by D. Miller (above). Also available
online at: www.oxfordscholarship.com.
*COHEN, G.A., 'Freedom and Money', in M. Otsuka, ed., On the Currency of Egalitarian
Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2011). Also available online at: http://lib.myilibrary.com/?id=296502.
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