Markets, Morality & the Future of Capitalism

Catalog description

This course invites students to carefully evaluate one of the fundamental building blocks of capitalism, namely the institution of markets. What is the point of markets? In what ways do markets free us and in what ways do they constrain us? Are there some goods for which it is wrong to have a market? Are markets somehow undemocratic? Is equality compatible with the existence of markets? In reflecting on these questions we will necessarily also be reflecting on the basic structure of our own societies. This course will develop your ability to make and evaluate arguments, both in writing and in conversation, and thereby help you think clearly and critically about politics and society. It will also expose you to an array of arguments from across the political spectrum that will present powerful challenges to your existing beliefs and thereby force you to consider what you really believe and why. Grades will be based on two papers and class participation.