PHIL 330 Moral & Political Theory
Fall 2001
Prof. L. Purdy
316 MacMillan, x3244
lpurdy@wells.edu

 

 
 
 

Objectives:

  1. To become acquainted with classical and contemporary theories
  2. To connect classical theory with contemporary issues

Texts:

Michael L. Morgan, ed. Classics of Moral and Political Theory
Susan Moller Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family
 

Requirements:

Class participation and reports:     30%
Presentation(s) and paper(s):         40%
Final exam :                                        30%

Each of you will report on several pieces of our assigned reading during the course; you will show that you understand and critically evaluate the material. Each of you will also do 1 (long) or 2 (short) presentation/ papers on a topic of your choice.
 

Schedule:


The schedule will be somewhat loose, depending on your ability to understand and critically evaluate material, and on your interests. Most of the reading will come from the course texts, although I’ll be adding some required or recommended reading (mostly via library reserve readings).

Plato: The Apology, Crito, The Republic, Bks. I-VI
Aristotle: NE: Bks. 1, 2, 5; Politics, Bks. 1-2
Hobbes: Leviathan, chaps. 13-18;20-21;30
Locke: Second Treatise of Government:, Bk 2, all
Mill, On Liberty, all; Utilitarianism, all
Marx: The Communist Manifesto
Okin, Justice, Gender, and the Family, chaps. 1-2;7-8

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