PLSC 118 The Moral Foundations of Politics (Spring 2004)

PLSC 118b The Moral Foundations of Politics

Ian Shapiro
Spring, 2004

Office hours: Wednesdays, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Room 105, 124 Prospect Street

Tel: 432-5253;
Email: ian.shapiro@yale.edu

When do governments deserve our allegiance, and when should they be denied it? This course explores the main answers that have been given to this question in the modern west. We start with a survey of the major political theories of the Enlightenment: Utilitarianism, Marxism, and the social contract tradition. In each case we start with a look of classical formulations, locating them in historical context, but then shift to the contemporary debates as they relate to politics today.

Next we turn to the rejection of enlightenment political thinking, again exploring both classical and contemporary formulations. The last part of the course deals with the nature of, and justifications for, democratic politics, and their relations to Enlightenment and anti-enlightenment political thinking.

In addition to exploring theoretical differences among the various authors discussed, considerable attention is devoted to the practical implications of their competing arguments. To this end, we discuss a variety of concrete problems, including debates about economic inequality, affirmative action and the distribution of health care, the limits of state power in the regulation of speech and religion, and difficulties raised by the emerging threat of global environmental decay. There are no prerequisites.

Requirements:

· Regular Students: 8-10 page paper due at midterm or in-class midterm (35%); final (55%); participation in section (10%).

· Writing-intensive students: Papers (55%); final (35%); participation in section (10%).

Key:

B = On sale at Bookhaven

R = In reader on sale at Tyco, Elm Street

C = On reserve at CCL

COURSE SYLLABUS AND SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

Tuesday January 13

Informational and housekeeping session

I. Enlightenment Political Theory

Thursday January 15

Introductory lecture

Required:

· Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, chs 1-8, 13-15 (B,C).

Suggested:

· Arendt, Eichmann…, the rest.

Tuesday January 20

Natural law roots of the social contract tradition

Required:

· John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chs I-VIII, XII, XVIII-XIX (B,C).

Suggested:

· Locke, First Treatise of Government, chs I-II, VI-VII.

· Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 1 (B,C).

II. Utilitarianism: Classical and Neoclassical

Thursday January 22

Origins of classical utilitarianism

Required:

· Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, chs 1, 2, 3, 7 (R,C).

Suggested:

· Bentham, Introduction…, chs 5, 6.

Tuesday January 27

Classical Utilitarianism and distributive justice

Required:

· Jeremy Bentham, “The Psychology of Economic Man” (R,C).

Suggested:

· Elie Halévy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism, part I, chs 1,3, part II, chs 1-3 (C).

· Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch 2 (B, C).

Thursday January 29

From Classical to Neoclassical Utilitarianism

Required:

· John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, chs 1-2 (B,C).

Suggested:

· Ian Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 3 (B,C).

Tuesday February 3

The Neoclassical synthesis of rights and utility

Required:

· Mill, On Liberty, chs 3-4.

Suggested:

· Mill, Utilitarianism, chs 1-3 (B,C).

Thursday February 5

Limits of the neoclassical synthesis

Required:

· Mill, On Liberty, ch. 5.

Suggested:

· Mill, Utilitarianism, chs 4-5.

III. Marxism, its failures and its legacy

Tuesday February 10

The Marxian challenge

[Note: Page numbers for all readings from Marx and Engels are from the Tucker anthology (B,C)].

Required:

· Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, pp. 469-500.

Suggested:

· Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” pp. 143-5.

· Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The German Ideology, Part I, pp. 146-202.

Thursday February 12

Marxian exploitation and distributive justice

Required:

· Marx, Capital, Vol. I, pp. 294-344, 361-84. 417-19.

Suggested:

· Useful summaries of the analytical logic of Capital are Ernest Mandel’s introduction to the Viking/Pelican edition of Capital, vol. I (C) and Pierre Jalee, How Capitalism Works (C).

Tuesday February 17

The Marxian failure and legacy

Required:

· Marx, Capital, Vol. I, pp 443-65.

· John Roemer, “Should Marxists be interested in exploitation?” (R,C).

· Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, pp. 525-41.

Suggested:

· Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 4 (B,C).

Thursday February 19

MIDTERM EXAMINATION IN CLASS

IV. The social contract tradition

Tuesday February 24

Appropriating Locke today

Required:

· Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (B,C) chs 1-3.

Thursday February 26

Rights-as-side constraints and the minimal state

Required:

· Nozick, Anarchy… chs 4-5.

Suggested:

· Nozick, Anarchy… chs 8-10.

Tuesday March 2

Compensation versus redistribution

Required:

· Nozick, Anarchy…, chs 6, 7, pp. 149-64, 167-82.

Thursday March 4

The Rawlsian social contract

Required:

· John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, ch. 1, §1-4, 8, ch. 2, § 11-17 (B,C).

Spring Recess: Saturday March 6 – Sunday March 21

Tuesday March 23

Distributive justice and the welfare state

Required:

· Rawls, Theory…, ch. 3, § 20-27, 29-30; ch. 4 § 40, ch. 5 § 41-43, ch. 9 § 79.

Suggested:

· Rawls, “Justice as fairness: political not metaphysical” (R,C).

· Nozick, Anarchy…, pp. 183-231.

· Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch. 5 (B,C).

V. Anti-Enlightenment Politics

Thursday March 25

The Burkean outlook

Required:

· Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (B,C)

Suggested:

· David Bromwich, Introduction to Burke, On Empire, Liberty, and Reform (R)

Tuesday March 30

Contemporary communitarianism

Required:

· Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 1-6 (B,C)

Suggested:

· MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 7-8

Thursday April 1

Contemporary communitarianism

Required:

· Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 9-15

Suggested:

· MacIntyre, After Virtue, chs 16-19

· Shapiro, Moral Foundations of Politics, ch 6(B,C).

V. Democracy and the Politics of Value Pluralism

Tuesday April 6

What not to expect from democracy

Required:

· Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 1-11, 18-28, 315-29, 419-35 (B,C)

Suggested:

· Sourcebook, pp. 330-62.

Thursday April 8

What to expect from democracy

Required:

· Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 12-17, 450-62, 480-88 (B,C)

Suggested:

· Sourcebook, pp. 463-79.

Tuesday April 13

Democracy and constitutionalism

Required:

· Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 191-216, 231-51 (B,C)

Suggested:

· Sourcebook, pp. 217-31.

Thursday April 15

Getting and keeping democracy

Required:

· Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 55-64, 76-92, 99-107 (B,C)

· Courtney Jung, Ellen-Lust Okar, and Ian Shapiro, “Problems and prospects for democratic settlements: South Africa as a model for the Middle East and Northern Ireland?” (R)

Suggested:

· Sourcebook, pp. 217-31.

Tuesday April 20

Democracy and the global order

Required:

· Democracy Sourcebook, pp. 490-525 (B,C)

Thursday April 22

Final lecture

Required:

· Ian Shapiro, “John Locke’s Democratic Theory,” in Two Treatises of Government (B,C)

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