Office: Skinner Hall, Room 217C
Office Hours: Monday 2:30-3:30, Thursday 1-2, and by
appointment
Phone: 538-2387
E-mail: rebarnes@mtholyoke.edu
September 9: Introduction Lecture
What is philosophy? / What is political philosophy?
What are the course expectations?
Short Essay Assignment
Given
September 14: Political Authority
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(p. xiii - 23)
September 16: Political Authority
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(p. 23 - 38)
First Paper Assignment
Given
September 21: Hobbes, State of Nature, Natural Law, and Natural
Rights
Read: Hobbes, Leviathan (chapters
13 - 15)
SHORT ESSAY DUE
September 23: Hobbes, The Source of the Laws of Nature
Read: Hobbes, Leviathan (chapters
16 - 18)
September 28: Hobbes, Justified Political Authority and Civil Society
Read: Hobbes, Leviathan (chapters
19 - 21)
September 30: Locke, State of Nature and Natural Rights
Read: Locke, Second Treatise on Civil
Government (chapters 1 - 4)
October 5: Locke, Property Rights
Read: Locke, Second Treatise on Civil
Government (chapters 5 - 8)
October 7: Locke, Government Formation and Rights in Civil Society
Read: Locke, Second Treatise on Civil
Government (chapters 9 - 11)
October 12: NO CLASS
October 14: Rousseau, State of Nature and Coercive Power
Read: Rousseau, The Social Contract
(book I)
FIRST PAPER DUE
October 19: Rousseau, Structure and Implications of a Just Social
Contract
Read: Rousseau, The Social Contract
(book II)
October 21: Mill, Tyranny of the Majority and Paternalism
Read: Mill, On Liberty (chapters
1 - 3)
Web Reading — Ellison, "Daniel
White for the Greater Good"
October 26: Mill, Freedom of the Press and Experiments in Living
Read: Mill, On Liberty (chapters
4 - 5)
Second Paper Assignment
Given
October 28: Mill, Reconciling On Liberty and Utilitarianism
Read: Mill, Utilitarianism (chapters
1, 2, & 5)
Coursepack — Huxley, Brave New World, chapters 16 (read synopsis first)
November 2: Mill, Dworkin's Defense of Paternalism
Read: Coursepack — Gerald Dworkin, "Paternalism"
Coursepack — Gerald Dworkin, "Paternalism: Some Second Thoughts"
November 4: Feminist Commentary on Hobbes, Locke, and Mill
Read: Coursepack — Okin, Women in Western
Political Thought (chapter 9)
Choose presentation
topics on American politics
November 9: Pornography: The Case For Censorship
Read: Coursepack — Kristol, "Pornography,
Obscenity, and the Case For Censorship"
Coursepack — MacKinnon, "Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech"
November 11: Pornography: The Case Against Censorship
Read: Coursepack — "Brief Amici Curiae
of Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce, et al."
Coursepack — Ronald Dworkin, "Liberty and Pornography"
November 16: Rawls, The Original Position Instead of the State
of Nature
Read: Coursepack — Rawls, "Justice as
Fairness"
Coursepack — Vonnegut, "Harrison Bergeron"
SECOND PAPER DUE
November 18: Rawls, The Principle of Equal Liberty & The Difference
Principle
Read: Coursepack — Rawls, "Justice as
Rational Choice Behind a Veil of Ignorance"
Final Paper Assignment
Given
November 23: Distributive Justice
Read: Coursepack — Singer, "Famine,
Affluence and Morality"
Hampton, Political Philosophy (p. 121 - 133)
November 30: Distributive Justice
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(p. 133 - 168)
Coursepack — Narveson, "Feeding the Hungry"
December 2: IN-CLASS STUDENT PRESENTATIONS ON AMERICAN POLITICS
December 7: The Individual and Society
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(p. 169 - 191)
December 9: The Individual and Society
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(p. 191 - 216)
December 14: Issues of Nationality
Read: Hampton, Political Philosophy
(chapter 6)
Your final paper is due in my
mailbox (in Skinner 217) by noon on December 13.