Philosophy and Society: Theories of Global Justice PHIL 1200, Fall 2009

Instructor: Cory Aragon corwin.aragon@colorado.edu Required Texts: Office Hours: MWF 11-12, Buchanans or by appointment

All readings (see Course Schedule) must be accessed through e-reserves (libraries.colorado.edu) or CULearn (culearn.colorado.edu).

Welcome to Philosophy and Society. This course aims to develop your critical reading and thinking skills in the context of an exploration of contemporary theories and issues of global justice. In this course, we will engage in a critical discourse that requires respect, self-reflection, and a willingness to challenge firmly-held beliefs. The work of the scholar is to join a conversation while constructing a carefully supported position of your own within that conversation to both acquire, create, and reshape valuable knowledge. As a way of developing your voice and ideas, this class will be run as a discussion-centered course, with minimal lecture, which means that you will need to be prepared, every day, to participate meaningfully in the class, which includes DOING THE READING, ALL OF IT, EVERY DAY in a thoughtful, engaged way; talking out loud in discussion; and carrying your share of work in smaller group activities. If you have an unusually difficult time speaking in class, please see me immediately. COURSE POLICIES AND CLARIFICATION I have high expectations for myself and high expectations for my students. In addition, the philosophy department expects a lot from its students and places requirements to ensure their success both in our classes as well as in the remainder of their academic career. I begin from the assumption that all of the students in this class are great students. In other words, I assume that everyone has the reading done, has thought about the reading, and has began to think about their own position with regards to the material. This doesnt mean that I think you will completely understand all of the material; but I do expect you to have put forth the effort to try and understand the material, bringing substantive questions of clarification or criticism to class. Class Time: The classes in this course will focus on creating a collaborative learning community placing most of the responsibility for learning on the students. The material upon which we will focus is difficult and, in some cases, raises some fairly sensitive issues. Further, the students of this class come from varied backgrounds. Thus, some subjects might be review for some while new to others. You will be required not only to understand and complete your own work, but also aid your fellow classmates in understanding the material. We are looking to create a collaborative learning environment in which the students are responsible and interdependent in the learning process. The job of the instructor is not to give you the answers but rather to facilitate the class in the process of collaborative learning. In other words, it is the students responsibility to help each other master the material and work through the assignments. Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. I repeat, attendance is mandatory. The curriculum of this course is demanding. Further, the environment of this class relies heavily on a community

of collaborative learning. For both of these reasons, your attendance is not only required, but needed for both your success as well as the success of your classmates. The attendance policy also requires that you are on timedo not be tardy. And again, your full attention and participation in the discussion is required, meaning that you must always DO THE READING. Failure to be in class or on time to class prepared to participate will affect your grade. GRADING Participation grades will include class preparation, discussion, commitment to workshops, thoughtful contributions to small group work, and generally being ready to actively participate in class, every day, in meaningful ways. Additionally, you are expected to submit 20 participation notecards during the course of the semester. Paper grades will be awarded in line with the specified assignment criteria distributed at least on week in advance of the due date. Cs will be earned by students who meet all the minimum requirements for both participation and papers. Bs will be earned by those who reach beyond the minimum in several areas. As are reserved for those whose work is truly outstanding, reaching for and achieving excellence in all areas. Late papers will be marked down one full letter grade. I only accept hard copies of your papers, and any paper (in hard copy) not turned in at the beginning of class on the due date is considered late. Plagiarized papers will result in an F for the entire course and will be turned into the honor council. See the Honor Code at: http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/Home.html. Computer Problems are not an acceptable reason for failing to turn assignments in on time. All scholars, students and faculty alike, must learn to expect computer failures. Back up your work, save hard copies of everything, and do not wait until the last minute to print assignments. Course Requirements: Reading Notecards (10) Interviews (3) Rough Drafts/Workshop Participation (2) Exposition Paper Critical Response Papers (2) Final Project Write-Up Final Project Presentation Course Reflection Paper Attendance Participation TOTAL 10 points 6 points 4 points 10 points 40 points 10 points 10 points 5 points 5 points 5 points 105 points100 points count

COURSE SCHEDULE You are responsible for all assignments, even if given only one day's notice. Absence is never an excuse for failing to complete an assignment, so be sure you have a class contact to keep you current. The following schedule may change during the course of the semester. BE ALERT AND BE IN CLASS.
PART I: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY AND MORAL THEORY Week 1 M 8/24 What is Philosophy? Course Requirements Introductions Doing Philosophy Read: IntroductionDoing Philosophy and Appendix BDeductive Logic Valid Argument Forms by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins Philosophical Critique Read: A Little Logic and Appendix CCommon Informal Fallacies by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins An Introduction to Moral Theory Read: What is Morality? by James Rachels Defending Morality: Against Moral Relativism Read: The Challenge of Cultural Relativism by James Rachels Defending Morality: Against Moral Subjectivism Read: Subjectivism in Ethics by James Rachels NO CLASSLabor Day PART II: THE ETHICS OF ASSISTANCE W F 9/9 9/11 Singers Shallow Pond Read: Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer Singers Shallow Pond (contd) Read: 9/11 and Starvation by Mylan Engel, Jr. and The Singer Solution to World Poverty by Peter Singer ONeills Lifeboat Earth Read: Lifeboat Earth by Onora ONeill Poverty as an Issue of Distributive Justice Read: Poverty and Food: Why Charity is Not Enough by Thomas Nagel An Introduction to Distributive Justice Read: Moral Universalism and Global Economic Justice by Thomas Pogge EXPOSITION PAPER FINAL DRAFT DUE INTERVIEW #1 DUE

8/26

8/28

Week 2 M 8/31 W F 9/2 9/4

Week 3 M 9/7

Week 4 M 9/14 W F 9/16 9/18

PART II: NATIONALIST THEORIES OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE A. Libertarian Theories Week 5 M 9/21 Liberty, Side-Constraints, and Patterning Read: Moral Constraints and the State and Distributive Justice by Robert Nozick W F 9/23 9/25 The Entitlement Theory of Distributive Justice Read: Continue Reading Libertarianism at a Global Level Read: Philanthropy by Robert Nozick

B. Liberal Theories Week 6 M 9/28 Social Contract and the Original Position Read: A Theory of Justice, 3, 4, 24, by John Rawls W F 9/30 10/2 Two Principles of Distributive Justice Read: A Theory of Justice, 11, 13, 17, 26, by John Rawls Global Distributive Justice: Extending the Rawlsian Framework Read: The Law of Peoples, 1-3, by John Rawls Global Distributive Justice: Justice in Nonideal Conditions Read: The Law of Peoples, 4-7, by John Rawls Liberal Responsibility for Global Justice Read: Individual Responsibility in a Global Age by Samuel Scheffler

Week 7 M 10/5 W 10/7

C. Communitarian Theories F 10/9 Critiquing Liberalism Read: Liberalism and the Limits of Justice by Michael J. Sandel Week 8 M 10/12 W F 10/14 10/16 Walzers Theory of Complex Equality Read: Complex Equality by Michael Walzer Membership in a Community Read: Membership by Michael Walzer Communitarianism in the International Arena Read: Moral Minimalism and Distributive Justice as a Maximalist Morality by Michael Walzer Communitarian Responsibility for Global Justice Read: The Ethical Significance of Nationality by David Miller Workshop #1: Nationalist Theories of Distributive Justice CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER #1 FIRST DRAFT DUE INTERVIEW #2 DUE

Week 9 M 10/19 W 10/21

PART III: COSMOPOLITAN THEORIES OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE A. Human Rights Theories F 10/23 Critiquing Nationalist Theories of Distributive Justice Read: The Bounds of Nationalism by Thomas Pogge Week 10 M 10/26 An Institutional Understanding of Human Rights Read: How Should Human Rights be Conceived? by Thomas Pogge CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER #1 FINAL DRAFT DUE Responsibility for Institutional Human Rights Read: Assisting the Global Poor by Thomas Pogge Equality in Human Rights Read: Equality of What? by Amartya Sen Human Rights as Capabilities Read: Freedom and the Foundations of Justice by Amartya Sen Women and Capabilities Read: Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings by Martha C. Nussbaum

W F

10/28 10/30

Week 11 M 11/2 W 11/4

B. Socialist Theories F 11/6 Historical Materialism Read: The German Ideology by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels Week 12 M 11/9 W F 11/11 11/13 Alienated Labor Read: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 by Karl Marx A Socialist Critique of Global Capitalism Read: Justifying Capitalism by David Schweickart A Socialist Vision of Distributive Justice Read: Economic Democracy: A Worthy Socialism That Would Really Work by David Schweickart Introduce Final Project Workshop #2: Communitarian Theories of Distributive Justice CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER #2 FIRST DRAFT DUE INTERVIEW #3 DUE PART IV: BEYOND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE: POWER AND OPPRESSION IN THE GLOBAL ARENA W F 11/18 11/20 Critiquing the Distributive Paradigm Read: Displacing the Distributive Paradigm by Iris Marion Young Injustice as Oppression Read: The Five Faces of Oppression by Iris Marion Young CRITICAL RESPONSE PAPER #2 FINAL DRAFT DUE

Week 13 M 11/16

Week 14 11/23-11/27 Week 15 M 11/30

NO CLASSFall Break

Responsibility for Ending Oppression Read: Responsibility, Social Connection, and Global Labor Justice by Iris Marion Young Responsibility for Ending Oppression (contd) Read: Resistance and Responsibility by Ann E. Cudd PART V: SOCIAL ACTION AND CHANGE

12/2

12/4

Final Project Presentations Final Project Presentations Final Project Presentations Final Project Presentations GROUP ASSESSMENTS DUE COURSE REFLECTION PAPER DUE

Week 16 M 12/7 W F 12/9 12/11

NO FINAL EXAM