Philosophy 365 S

                                                            Political Philosophy

                                                                 Winter 2005

 

 

McLennan 118                                                                                                             Professor Gopal Sreenivasan

Wed 3-6                                                                                                                      215 Huron Street, Room 921                                                                                                                                       (416) 978-2824

                                                                                                                                 gopal.sreenivasan@utoronto.ca

  

                                                                                                           

Readings

 

The following are available for purchase in the University Bookstore:

 

            Skinner, Liberty before liberalism (Cambridge, 1998).

            Course Reader.

 

In addition, four papers are available online as links from the online syllabus.  Note that these readings are not included in the course reader.

 

 

Assignments

 

There will be three essays (2000 words) required in this course.  There will be no examinations.  The essays will each be worth 33 percent of the final grade.

 

 

Tutorials

 

The lecture in this class will run from 3 to 4:30 each week, followed by a half hour break.  From 5 to 6 there will be an optional tutorial with the instructor, which will be open to half the class every other week. 

 

(From my point of view:  there will be tutorial every week with [at most] half of you.  From your point of view:  you have the option of six tutorials, one every other week).

 

Schedule

 

 

January 5          Introduction.

 

Liberty

 

Jan 12              Berlin, “Two concepts of liberty,” Four essays on liberty (Oxford, 1969).

Jan 19              MacCallum, “Negative and positive freedom,” Philosophical Review 76 (1967): 312-34.

Jan 26              Skinner, Liberty before liberalism (Cambridge, 1998).

February 2       Pettit, Republicanism (Clarendon, 1997), chh. 1 and 2.

 

Equality

 

Feb 9               Williams, “The idea of equality,” Problems of the Self (Cambridge, 1973), ch. 14. 

                        First essay due.

Feb 16             Reading week.

Feb 23             Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 2nd ed. (Harvard, 1999), §§11-14 and 17. 

March 2           Sen, “Equality of what?,” in S. Darwall (ed.) Equal Freedom (Michigan, 1998): 307-30.

March 9           Parfit, Equality or Priority? in J. Harris (ed.) Bioethics (Oxford, 2001): 347-386.

 

Democracy

 

March 16         Dworkin, Freedom’s Law (Harvard, 1996), Introduction.

                        Second essay due.

March 23         Waldron, “A rights-based critique of constitutional rights,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 13

                                    (1993):  18-51;

                        Waldron, Law and Disagreement (Clarendon, 1999), chh. 12-13.

March 30         Spector, “Judicial Review, Rights, and Democracy,” Law and Philosophy 22 (2003):  285-334.

April 6              Sreenivasan, “Does the GATS undermine democratic control over health?,” Journal of Ethics (2005):

                                    269-81.

 

End of lectures.

 

                        Third essay due April 22.

 

Office hours

 

Tuesdays 1-3.  Room 921, 215 Huron Street.  I will also hold office hours by appointment.

 

 

Late penalties

 

Essays submitted after the due date will be penalised one increment of a grade (e.g., from B to B-).  Essays submitted a week or more late will be penalised a further increment for each week late.

 

 

Plagiarism

 

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence.  It comes in various forms, all of which carry grave penalties.  If in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, ask.  You should consult the Philosophy Department’s statement on plagiarism.

 

Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.

 

 

Writing help

 

Help in writing is available from the Philosophy Department’s essay clinic.  You are also encouraged to consult the Department’s guide to writing a philosophy essay.

 

 

 

 

 

5 January 2005