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PL 136 - SYLLABUS FALL 2004 |
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Week 1—Introduction
W, Sep.
8—Philosophy and the Post-War era
Readings:
Russell,
"The Value of Philosophy" (R)
Week
2—The Moral Question of the Bomb
W, Sep.
15—Hiroshima and nuclear deterrence
Readings:
Week
3—"Evil" Totalitarianism
M Sep. 20—1984
Readings:
Orwell, 1984
Week
4—Humanistic Marxism
M. Sep.
27—Marxism and the human condition
W. Sep.
29––Marx: labor, private property, production
Readings:
Fromm, pp.
v-x; 1-69; 93-109; 127 (2), (3)
Weeks
5-6-7-8—The Meaning of Life, Meaninglessness, Post-War Despair
M. Oct.
4—Existentialism
W. Oct. 6—Freedom
Readings:
Sartre, pp.
9-51, 52-60
W. Oct. 13—
The Loman family
Readings:
Miller, Death
of a Salesman
W. Oct. 20—
MIDSEMESTER EXAM
M. Oct. 25—
Meursault and Sisyphus
W. Oct. 27– The Stranger
Readings:
Camus, The Stranger;
"The Myth of Sisyphus" (R)
Weeks
9-10—Law, Authority, and the Individual
M. Nov. 1—
Justice and the sources of legal obligation
W. Nov. 3—
When is breaking the Law "justified"?
M. Nov. 8 —
What do we owe to each other (if anything)?
W. Nov. 10––
Selfishness
Readings:
King, “Letter
from Birmingham Jail” (R)
Rawls,
"Legal Obligation and the Duty of Fair Play " (R)
Rawls, "
The Justification of Civil Disobedience" (R)
Rand, The Virtue
of Selfishness, 1, 3, 4, 12, 14
Week 11––Law
and Social Change
Readings:
Civil Rights
Act (1964); Title IX Higher Education Amendments (1972) (R)
Virginia
Black, “The Erosion of Legal Principles in the Creation of Legal Policies” (R)
Jane
English, “Sex Equality in Sports” (R)
Weeks
12-13 –– Just and Unjust Wars
M. Nov. 22––
The crime of war; The rules of war
M Nov. 29–– The justification of
victory
W. Dec. 1—
The moral status of noncombatants; guerrilla wars
Readings:
Walzer, Just
and Unjust Wars, Chs. 2, 3, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 19 (pp. 309-16)
Week 14
––"Good" Totalitarianism
W. Dec.
8—Utopia
Reading:
Skinner, Walden
Two
USEFUL WEB
SITES:
On
plagiarism:
http://www.colby.edu/library/research/instruction/plagstudents.shtml
Online
philosophy encyclopedia: