Esteve Morera

Office:  S419 Ross

Phone: 736 2100,  ext. 77591

Email: morera@yorku.ca

Office hours: Mondays, 9:30-10:30

or by appointment.

This course will focus on the central issues of normative political theory: justice, liberty, equality, power.  These concepts are at the core of contemporary debates on the good society, the kind of society that is morally justified We will explore these issues from a variety of perspectives, including socialism, anarchism, feminism, liberalism, and anti-colonialism. The course aims at developing the students’ understanding of political philosophy, its central issues, and approaches to this central aspect of philosophical work today.

Bailey, Andrew, et. al.  The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought. Volume 2: The Twentieth Century and Beyond

In-class test (Feb 12) . . . . . . . .  35%

Research paper (April 1). . . . . . 40%

Final exam  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25%

Lecture

1. To develop a solid understanding of key concept, theories, and debates in contemporary political philosophy.
2. To appreciate the subtle differences between liberalism, socialism, anarchism, and other approaches to power .
3. To develop a cogent and judicious approach to political debates

4 ON LEARNING

The easiest method of acquiring the scientific habit is through acquiring the ability to express oneself clearly in discussing and disputing scientific problems. This is what clarifies their import and makes them understandable. Some students spend most of their lives attending scholarly sessions. Still, one finds them silent. They do not talk and do not discuss matters. More than is necessary, they are concerned with memorizing. Thus, they do not obtain much of a habit in the practice of science and scientific instruction. Some of them think that they have obtained (the habit). But when they enter into a discussion or disputation, or do some teaching, their scientific habit is found to be defective. The only reason for their deficiency is(lack of) instruction, together with the break in the tradition of scientific instruction(that affects them). Apart from that, their memorized knowledge may be more extensive than that of other scholars, because they are so much concerned with memorizing. They think that scientific habit is identical with memorized knowledge. But that is not so.

(Ibn Khaldåun. The Muqaddimah : An Introduction to History.  Translated from the Arabic by Franz Rosenthal. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1967.