Social and Political Phil

Catalog description

This course serves as an introduction to major works in the history of social and political philosophy. With a survey of important figures and texts from pre-modern, modern and contemporary periods, the course will address basic philosophical questions about the individual, society and the political order, such as: What is justice? In what sense is the political order a kind of community? What is the philosophical basis and justification of law and political authority? What are the social and political implications of a commitment to human freedom and equality? What are the necessary social conditions for realizing freedom, justice and human flourishing? Major authors might include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Smith, Kant, Marx, Mill, Arendt, and Rawls.