Moral Reasoning 22. Justice
Catalog Number: 3753 Enrollment: Limited to 1000.
Michael J. Sandel
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
A critical analysis of selected classical and contemporary theories of justice, with discussion of present-day practical applications. Topics include affirmative action, income distribution, same-sex marriage, free speech vs. hate speech, debates about rights (human rights and property rights), arguments for and against equality, debates about political obligation and the claims of community. Readings include Aristotle, Locke, Kant, Mill, and Rawls.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.
[Moral Reasoning 28. Ethics and International Relations ]
Catalog Number: 0642
Stanley Hoffmann
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 10–11:30, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12, 13
Is ethical action in international affairs possible—or does the absence of global moral consensus and a central world government doom states and citizens to the amoral pursuit of clashing national interests? The course considers contrasting arguments by philosophers and social thinkers (e.g., Thucydides, Machiavelli, Kant, and Weber) as well as specific issues in contemporary international politics: intervention and the use of force, the morality of nuclear deterrence, human rights, distributive justice, and the moral responsibilities of leaders and citizens.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 33. Issues in Ethics]
Catalog Number: 2255
Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr.
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
Is pleasure the only ultimate good? Are individuals’ preferences the only basis for assessing the quality of their lives? What makes acts wrong? Is moral blame applicable only to agents who have free will? Should we accept moral relativism? Readings mainly from contemporary philosophers.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Moral Reasoning 40. Confucian Humanism: Self-Cultivation and Moral Community
Catalog Number: 0466
Wei-Ming Tu
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
Explores a style of moral reasoning informed by Confucian humanism, which takes self-cultivation as the basis for the development of a moral community. Focuses on the perception of the self as a center of relationships and the conviction that society ought to be a community of trust. Although our main concern is to understand Confucian ethics as care ethics, a form of “virtue-centered” morality, attention is also given to a critical analysis of the limits of Confucian ethics in light of contemporary discussions of such issues as human rights and political authority.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 54. “If There is No God, All is Permitted”: Theism and Moral Reasoning]
Catalog Number: 1321
Jay M. Harris
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
This course will examine the ways in which a concept of God has informed Western moral discourse trying to help students engage the literature as they consider why one might think “if there is no God, all is permitted” and why one might think if there is a God, human moral achievement is impossible.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Moral Reasoning 56. Self, Freedom, and Existence
Catalog Number: 6507
Richard Moran
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 2, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 7
How is human freedom possible? Does acting freely mean acting in accordance with reasons or acting arbitrarily, or neither? Are values chosen, discovered, or invented? How is self-knowledge possible and how is it different from the knowledge of others? Specific issues to be discussed include: self-deception and bad faith; the nature of freedom and autonomy; subjectivity and our relation to others; rationality and irrationality. Readings, which will provide an introduction to a few of the major texts of Existentialism, will be drawn from Kant, Sartre, Dostoevsky, and various contemporary writers.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 58. Slavery in Western Political Thought]
Catalog Number: 8892
Richard Tuck
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
The ownership of one man by another is an obvious and profound affront to many of our fundamental ideas about morality, and yet for much of human history it was defended—and often by the greatest moral and political philosophers. How was this possible? The course will trace the theme of slavery through the arguments of political theorists from the ancient world to the present and will study the way in which the rejection of slavery became intellectually possible. These theoretical arguments will be considered in the context of the changing history of slavery as an institution.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 66. Moral Reasoning about Social Protest]
Catalog Number: 7778
Susanna Siegel
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An examination of moral questions that arise in the context of social protest in the US during the 20th century, including the central question of political philosophy: How can political authority be justified? After studying the Attica prison revolt of 1971, we will consider the following questions: Is there an obligation to obey the law? What, if any, are the moral limits to this obligation? Can civil disobedience be justified, and does it always need to be? Texts include classic excerpts from Plato, Hobbes, Rawls, and Marx.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 68. Legalism: Ruly and Unruly Thought and Practices]
Catalog Number: 1631
Nancy Lipton Rosenblum
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course considers the omnipresence of rule-making, rule-following, and legal reasoning in every aspect of our lives—from criminal due process to Harvard course requirements to the rules made and enforced by voluntary associations like the Boy Scouts. We will explore: the distinctive characteristics of legalistic modes of thought; moral justifications offered for legalism; moral objections to legalism and the power of romantic resistance to rule-making and rule-following; and what happens when the various systems of law under which we live conflict. Readings from literature, court cases, and moral and political theory.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Moral Reasoning 74. The Theory and Practice of Republican Government
Catalog Number: 1489
Daniel P. Carpenter
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
A theoretical and historical survey of the evolution of republican (representative) government, with a particular focus upon Anglo-American institutions. We will alternate between philosophical treatments and empirical studies of republican regimes. Questions include: How did republican government evolve centuries before mass elections? Did arguments for legislative supremacy prefigure the rise of parliamentary authority? If so, how? What is the role of virtue in a democratic republic? How can government ensure the “rule of the wise” without fostering autocratic power? What institutions besides elections keep the ruled attuned to the people? What critique might republican theory advance of emerging “populist” arrangements?
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 76. Comparative Religious Ethics]
Catalog Number: 7037
Anne E. Monius (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Predicated on the assumption that global concerns are manifest in highly particularized cultural and religious circumstances, this course seeks to understand Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian framings of and prospective solutions to the problem of communal violence in the modern world. Topics examined in each tradition include: conceptions of moral subjectivity, frameworks for moral education, close readings of novels that grapple with the moral challenges (especially new forms of violence) wrought by colonization and globalization, and explicitly religious responses to such violence in the work of Gandhi, Buddhist monastic communities in Sri Lanka, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 78. Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory]
Catalog Number: 9742
Michael J. Puett
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
How should one make moral choices? What is the best way to live a moral life? How should the state be organized to best encourage proper human behavior? And what happens if the state comes to be formed as an empire? What are the proper moral ways to respond? Questions such as these were at the heart of classical Chinese philosophical debates. This course will be the study of how the classical Chinese thinkers wrestled with these questions and what responses they gave. As we will quickly see, the views that arose in China were among the most powerful and influential in human history. Regardless of whether one agrees with these views or not, they should be studied and taken seriously by anyone who cares about ethics and politics.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Moral Reasoning 80. The Good Life In Classical India]
Catalog Number: 5520
Parimal G. Patil
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
What is a good life? How does it relate to personal happiness, to being a good ruler, citizen, or lover? What is the relative value of justice, citizenship, loyalty, friendship, personal profit, and pleasure? Is the good life the same for everyone? This course is devoted to investigating how classical South Asian intellectuals approached such questions and to thinking critically about their responses. As we will see, far from being mere artifacts from someone else’s historical past, classical South Asian texts provide powerful frameworks for thinking about our own lives and the ways in which we reason about them.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Moral Reasoning 82. Trust, Vision, and Doubt in Ethics, Politics, and Law
Catalog Number: 4453
Scott Brewer (Law School)
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
This course explores the interplay of trust, vision, justification and doubt in ethical, political, and legal thought. It examines how some of the characteristic moral, political and legal faiths of the last few centuries have been transformed under the pressure of skepticism or of a crisis of faith. In this way, it introduces students to the problems and opportunities of reasoning in all the normative disciplines.