Philosophy 345                                     Summer 2004

 SOCIAL & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Or
"The Limits of Liberty"
MWF, 12:40-3:53

Course Information & Syllabus

Instructor:         Dr. David Shoemaker (Dave)
Office Hours:    MWF, 11:00-noon, and after class, by appointment
                        Sierra Tower, 502
Office Phone:    677-7501 (you can leave a message on my voice mail)
e-mail:               david.shoemaker@csun.edu (I check it several times every day during the week)
Website:            www.csun.edu/~ds56723/index.htm (contains all handouts and exams)

REQUIRED TEXTS:

                Social and Political Philosophy, edited by James Sterba, 3rd Edition (note the edition)
                Coursepack, with other required readings (available at Matador Bookstore)

GENERAL EDUCATION STATEMENT:

This course satisfies the “Philosophy and Religion” (C-3) section of the General Education Program.  Courses in this section are designed to promote critical reflection on questions concerning the nature, meaning, and value of human existence, the world in which we live, and our relations with one another.  Students should understand the sources and limits of knowledge, and they should appreciate and be able to assess different world views and moral teachings that have played central roles in human culture.

SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1.         To come to some understanding of certain key classic and contemporary theoretical approaches to justifying the authority of the political state.

 

2.         To gain an understanding of the arguments surrounding a few important contemporary social issues having to do with proposed limitations on individual liberty.

 

3.         To discuss, think, and write critically about each of the issues and to reach (and be able to support) your own conclusions on them.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1.         Attendance Policy: In philosophy it is not enough that you’ve read the required texts; you really need some further guidance in order to understand what is sometimes extremely difficult material.  That’s where our in-class discussions come in.  I can virtually guarantee that you will receive no higher than a C in the course if you are not in class almost every day, participating actively in the discussion and taking clear and copious notes.  But words are cheap.  Thus, I’m offering a bit of an incentive: if you miss more than SIX sessions (where one day's meeting constitutes two sessions, one session pre-break and one session post-break) during the course, for any reason whatsoever, that alone will constitute sufficient grounds for your receiving a U/F in the course (it's up to my discretion – if you aren't failed, you'll be docked at least two points per session over the allowed number that you missed).  I will be taking attendance each day at the start of each session (both pre-break and post-break), so make sure you’re here (on time) to sign it.  If you arrive too late for a session to catch the attendance sheet as it’s passed around (10 minutes after the start of the session), I’ll count that as ½ an absence.  IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY – NOT MINE – TO MAKE SURE YOUR INITIALS ARE ON THE ATTENDANCE SHEET EACH DAY YOU ARE HERE.  IF THEY ARE NOT, YOU WILL BE COUNTED ABSENT.

 

2.         Exams: There will be TWO exams given during the course, one after the theoretical segment (after we've finished Rawls) and one after the practical segment (on the last day of class).  These are both required exams; therefore, if I have fewer than two exam grades for you by the end of the course, you will receive a U/F.  (I have a method in place for exam-giving that eliminates the need for make-up exams.)  The (tentative) dates of each exam are on the syllabus.  The exam questions will make reference to specific information from the lectures and the readings, so keep abreast of both.  Each exam will be worth 40% of your overall grade.  All grading in the course (including the final grade) will be done on the plus/minus grading system, with the following translation from points to letter grades: 98-100=A+; 92-97.9=A; 90-91.9=A-; 88-89.9=B+; 82-87.9=B; 80-81.9=B-; 78-79.9=C+; 72-77.9=C; 70-71.9=C-; 68-69.9=D+; 62-67.9=D; 60-61.9=D-; <60=F.

 

3.         Readings: Normally when teaching this course I require reading responses to be turned in for every assigned reading.  This ensures that people actually read the assigned material and are prepared to discuss it in class.  I am not, however, assigning such responses this summer, primarily because it involves a great deal of work, both for you to write the responses and for me to grade them.  And with this being a compressed, five-week session, it would be even more difficult to pull this off.  What this means, however, is that I’m counting on you to be responsible and do all the readings anyway.  If you don’t, the class discussions will be horrible, and you’ll do extremely poorly on the tests.  There are not a huge number of pages you’ll need to read, so this should be easily manageable.  Nevertheless, I know that there will remain some shirkers out there, so I have to do something to ensure that the reading is being done.  Thus, there will be an indeterminate number of pop quizzes throughout the course.  These will be sprung on you randomly, and they will consist of one question that will be simple to answer if you’ve actually read the material assigned for that day.  Your answers on these will together count for 20% of your course grade.  If you are not in attendance on the day and time such a quiz occurs (and it might occur at any point during the day’s session), tough.

 

4.         Discussion is the life-blood of philosophy, so what I’d like for us to create in here is a lively environment where we all contribute to the enterprise of making the issues relevant for our everyday lives.  My hope, then, is that you’ll jump in with your own thoughts whenever they arise; that is, whenever you have an objection, worry, question, or idea on the material, say something (to all of us, of course, not just to your imaginary pal).  I also understand that some of you have brilliant ideas but you’re shy, or perhaps you view speaking up in class or challenging something I’ve said as a sign of disrespect to me or your classmates.  I assure you first and foremost that I consider it a sign of respect when you speak up in class, and I hope that you will overcome your reservations for doing so as we go.  But if you simply cannot overcome your aversions to public speaking, I hope you will at least e-mail me regularly with any questions/comments you have.  To encourage all such forms of participation, I offer an incentive: if you are a regular contributor to our class discussions (or e-mails to me, or after-class conversations), I will count that in your favor in borderline final grade situations, giving you up to two points extra.  So, for example, if you’ve averaged an 88 (a B+), but you’ve contributed regularly to the discussion throughout the summer, I’ll gladly kick your grade up to an A- (i.e., 2 points tacked onto your overall grade tally).  (Failing to participate, however, or staring at me with a surly expression the whole time, will not result in a lower score, although perhaps it should.)

 

PROVISIONAL SYLLABUS
(Any changes will be announced in class)

DATES	TOPICS	READINGS+ & ASSIGNMENTS
6/7	- Introduction to course - Arguments and evaluative strategies - Plato’s Republic video
6/9	- The Challenge to Socrates - Building the state	Plato, The Republic, Books II, IV (6-22)
6/11	- Finding justice - Guardians, women, and philosopher kings   - Hobbes's background, the state of nature, and the argument against anarchy	Republic, Book V (22-32)     Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter 13 (141-143)
6/14	- The Rights and Laws of Nature - Contracts and covenants - Getting out of the state of nature into the Leviathan	Leviathan, Chapters 14, 15 (first three paragraphs only), 17, and 18 (143-149, 157-163; you may skim pretty quickly through Chapter 18)
6/16	- Hobbes concluded - Locke's state of nature - The nature of property - The Lockean government and its limits	John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Chapters II, III, V, VII, VIII, and the first two paragraphs of IX (186-200)
6/18	- Rawls's Justice as Fairness: contractualism and general methodology - The Two Principles of Justice	John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (in Coursepack)
6/21	- The Original Position - Maximin Reasoning
6/23	- Libertarianism	John Hospers, "The Libertarian Manifesto" (427-437)
6/25	EXAM #1  - Liberty-limiting principles - The Harm Principle	John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty" (334-339)
6/28	- The Offense Principle - More liberty-limiting principles - Pornography and harm to women	Joel Feinberg, "The Offense Principle" (in Coursepack); Catharine MacKinnon, "Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech" (in Coursepack)
6/30	- Social construction of gender and the ordinance - Pornography videos (don't get excited) - A blistering ad hominem attack by Paglia - Feminist objections to MacKinnon	Camille Paglia, "The Return of Carry Nation: Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin" (in Coursepack); Duggan, Hunter, and Vance, "Feminist Antipornography Legislation: A Critical Analysis" (in Coursepack)
7/2	- DHV continued - In favor of limited speech codes and the regulation of hate speech on campus	Charles R. Lawrence III, "If He Hollers Let Him Go: Regulating Racist Speech on Campus" (in Coursepack)
7/7 no class 7/5	- Lawrence continued - A Millian argument against speech codes - Campus Culture Wars video	Jonathan Rauch, "In Defense of Prejudice: Why Incendiary Speech Must Be Protected" (in Coursepack)
7/9	EXAM #2