Philosophy of State Violence: War, Colonization, Punishment, and Immigration

Catalog description

The modern state inflicts forms of violence against its own citizens through the criminal justice system and wields violence against foreign citizens and states through immigration enforcement, war, and colonization. But what is the moral and ethical basis of the state's authority to wield such forms of violence? What justifies a state in imprisoning and even killing its own citizens (as the US does via the death penalty), and inflicting the violence of war on other states? This course will examine historical and contemporary perspectives on the ethical basis of the state's right to use force and explore arguments defending and critiquing the use of state violence in the areas of punishment, war, colonization, and immigration enforcement, from a diverse range of perspectives. Offered as LAWS 5746 and PHIL 319 and PHIL 419 . Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Moral & Ethical Reasoning course. Prereq: Passing letter grade in Academic Inquiry Seminar (AIQS) or SAGES First Seminar.