2021w-apphil3110m-03

AP/PHIL3110 3.0 M: Political Philosophy

Offered by: PHIL


 Session

Winter 2021

 Term

W

Format

LECT

Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite

An exploration of major topics in political philosophy, such as the authority of the state, the justification of private property, the nature of rights, theories of justice, and political equality. Prerequisite: At least one of AP/PHIL 2050 6.00 or AP/PHIL 2060 3.00. PRIOR TO FALL 2014: Course credit exclusion: GL/PHIL 3235 3.00.


Course Start Up

Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.

For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.

For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.


    Additional Course Instructor/Contact Details

J. Moufawad-Paul
moufawadpaul@gmail.com

    Expanded Course Description

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-20th 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.

    Additional Requirements

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.

    Required Course Text / Readings

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

    Weighting of Course

Class Participation: 20%

Exposition Essay 1 (due February 7): 25%

Exposition Essay 2 (due March 20) 25%

Critical Essay (due April 14): 30%

    Organization of the Course

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.

    Course Learning Objectives

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.

    Additional Information / Notes

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”.

    Relevant Links / Resources