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Justice, as we use the term in this class, is a question about social cooperation. People can produce much more cooperatively than the sum of what they could produce as individuals, and these gains from cooperation are what makes civilization possible. But on what terms should we cooperate? How should we divide, as the philosopher John Rawls puts it, "the benefits and burdens of social cooperation"? Working primarily within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition, we'll discuss different answers to this big question as a way to bring together some of the most prominent debates in modern political philosophy. We'll study theories including utilitarianism, libertarianism, classical liberalism, and egalitarian liberalism, and we'll take on complex current issues like reparations for racial injustice, the gender pay gap, and responses to climate change. This class is meant to be an accessible entry point to political philosophy. No experience with political science or philosophy is required or assumed, and we will spend time on the strategy of philosophy as well: understanding how our authors make their arguments to better respond to them and make our own.

In this course, students will learn and engage with the core debates that have animated political theory in modern times. What is the proper relationship between the individual, the community, and the state? Are liberty and equality in conflict, and, if so, which should take priority? What does justice mean in a large and diverse modern society? The title of the course, borrowed from a book by Michael Sandel, is 'Liberalism and its Critics' because the questions we discuss in this class center on the meaning of, and alternatives to, the liberal ideas that the basic goal of society should be the protection of individual rights and that some form of an egalitarian democracy is the best way to achieve this goal. The course is structured around two historical phenomena: one the one hand, liberal answers to these key questions have at times seemed politically and socially triumphant, but on the other hand, this ascendency has always been challenged and contested. Taking Justice (Poli Sci 103) before this course is strongly recommended but not required.

A critical exploration of some main forms of systematic moral theorizing in Western philosophy from Hobbes onward and their roots in ancient, medieval, and earlier modern ethical thought. Prerequistes are some prior familiarity with utilitarianism and Kantian ethics and a demonstrated interest in philosophy. Grads enroll in 272.

Graduates enroll in 272B.

Grads enroll in 273. In this course, we shall see the birth of modern moral philosophy and its break with medieval and early modern Aristotelian natural law theory. We shall go on to examine some of the most important movements and figures of modern moral philosophy from the 16th to the 18th centuries. We shall read Francisco Suarez (1548-1617), Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Samuel Pufendorf (1632-94), Samuel Clarke (1675-1729), Joseph Butler (1692-1752), Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), Thomas Reid (1710-1796), and Richard Price (1723-1791).

Grads enroll in 273A. The broad field of moral psychology involves the philosophical and empirical study of morally significant mental states and processes (such as moral reasoning, judgment, motivation, and sentiment). This course focuses on philosophical questions - primarily, conceptual and normative ones. We'll look at how best to understand concepts such as love, respect, and autonomy. And we'll consider the tools we have for the normative appraisal of morally significant attitudes such as anger, gratitude, and envy. This class is pitched at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. It's strongly recommended that you enroll only if you've taken some philosophy before - especially ethics (such as 2 or 170).

This is an intensive, undergraduate-only introduction to, and survey of, contemporary metaethics. Can moral and ethical values be justified or is it just a matter of opinion? Is there a difference between facts and values? Are there any moral truths? Does it matter if there are not? Focus is not on which things or actions are valuable or morally right, but what is value or rightness itself. Prerequisites: 80, 181 and one ethics course. Please contact instructor for permission number.

Graduates enroll in 274.

Most people are not our fellow citizens. (Over 95% of human beings, for example, are not Americans.) What do we owe to them as a matter of justice? What do they owe to us? Should you save a foreigner's life instead of buying luxuries for yourself? Should you boycott 'fast fashion' produced by exploited workers abroad? Who must act on climate change? How can a country like the United States justify forcefully preventing anyone from crossing its borders? Is anything absolutely prohibited to win a war? Undergraduates Only.