Philosophy, Law and Politics

Topics in Philosophy, Law, and Politics is a philosophical course that draws on some of the best work from all three named disciplines and brings their analyses to bear on important foundational and practical problems. The course is designed especially for those who wish to go on to an academic career teaching moral, political, or legal theory. 

Some foundational questions that may be explored include: How should we understand reasons to do things, and what do reasons have to do with values, obligations, and virtues? What is it to be rational and to make rational choices? How should we understand value conflict, and what should we do in the face of such conflict? What are incommensurable values? Is there a reasonable way to aggregate diverse opinions about evaluative matters within a society? How should an individual or polity confront hard choices? What are the limits of democracy? Should we try to maintain long-established legal and political institutions? Some applied questions that may be explored include: What limits should a state put on speech? Should a government censor pornography? How should we understand consent in the context of allegations of rape and other sexual crimes? Should euthanasia be legal? What would constitute respect for a cultural artifact? When is war justified? Is there any good argument for constitutional monarchy? What are the proper roles of custom and precedent in legal and political decision-making? The course will be deeply interdisciplinary in nature, and its aim is to equip students with the ability to subject complex issues to rigorous theoretical scrutiny from a variety of perspectives. 

In most years the course will be cross listed with the philosophy and politics departments, and BCL students taking the course will thus have the opportunity to engage with peers from these other disciplines during seminars. While the discussions will aim for a high level of philosophical complexity, no background in philosophy is required. Connected to the course is the Philosophy, Law, & Politics Colloquium, which features distinguished visiting speakers who present a work-in-progress and have included speakers such as Elizabeth Anderson (U Michigan), Sally Haslanger (MIT), Margaret Levi (Stanford), Catherine MacKinnon (U Michigan/Harvard), Liam Murphy (NYU), Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley), Sam Scheffler (NYU), Debra Satz (Stanford), Seana Shiffrin (UCLA), Cass Sunstein (Harvard), and Jeremy Waldron (NYU). A seminar for students enrolled in the course is held in advance of each colloquium session to discuss the colloquium paper.

As a topics course, a variety of material will be covered from year to year. 

Assessment is by way of two submissions at two separate points in the year.