J. Moufawad-Paul
moufawadpaul@gmail.com

Alain Badiou argued that philosophy’s apprehension of politics was simultaneously democratic and non-democratic: it is democratic in the sense that everyone is capable of thinking politics, it is undemocratic because it holds that opinions are not equal to truth and some claims are more correct than others. With this axiom in mind, this course is a survey of various strands of contemporary political philosophy, from the mid-20^th Century to the present, that are concretely related, in different ways, to the current conjuncture. Students are expected to be generally familiar with notions developed from classical to modern political philosophy, particularly from AP/PHIL 2060, in order to fully participate in this course. This course will be held as a seminar and thus synchronously over Zoom (unless the pandemic situation changes) during the allotted time.

Technical requirements for taking the course: Since this is going to be an online seminar due to the pandemic, students will be expected to have computers that can access zoom without crashing. You will not have to have your camera on during the seminars (although it does help some students to see their peers when interacting), but you need to have a working microphone so you can participate.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.

Times and locations: Due to the pandemic, this will be an online course over Zoom and the meetings will be synchronous. Classes will be held on Wednesdays on 11:30 AM and will go until 2:30 PM although, because of the learning situation, they will likely end earlier than normal. Links to the zoom seminars will be provided through the eClass page.

Virtual office hours: Office meetings will be held over Zoom but will be scheduled on an ad hoc basis.

All texts will be available electronically, for free, through the eClass website or York Library’s electronic database.

Class Participation: 20%

Exposition Essay 1 (due February 7): 25%

Exposition Essay 2 (due March 20) 25%

Critical Essay (due April 14): 30%

This course will be organized like a seminar. Students will be expected to have done the readings and come to each session with questions and prepared to engaged with discussion questions. Due to the seminar structure of the course, online meetings will be synchronous on Wednesdays at 11:30 AM. Chances are, due to the online nature of the seminar and the difficulty of engagement that creates, we will not be longer than two hours––but keep the full 180 hours reserved in case discussion continues past 13:30.

To be familiar with contemporary political philosophy and its concerns. To be able to think through political problematics on a deeper level than first and second year philosophy courses. To discover an appreciation of political philosophy as its own sub-discipline of philosophy.

Although it is not a formal pre-requisite, it would be helpful if the students were familiar with the larger canon of social and political philosophy (i.e. what is taught in courses such as PHIL 2060) since much of contemporary political philosophy presumes this background. Having a passing familiarity with the social/political philosophy from Plato to Rawls, or at least some background in this area, will enrich the course experience. To be clear, none of this is required but it will make some of the texts easier to grasp.

Course policies

All papers are to be submitted through Turnitin links on the eClass page.

Students must be familiar with Turnitin and submit files that Turnitin will accept.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated.

Late submissions (unless previously negotiated for reasons of physical/mental health or other legitimate reasons) will lose 2% per day.

Discussion should be civil and students must respect each other. Due to the issues covered in this course, behaviour that is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist will not be tolerated: I do not recognize oppressive/hate speech and chauvinist behaviour as “free speech”.