Emily Dupree

The course is an historically structured survey of ethical theory. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the major ethical theories developed over the history of philosophy and to apply these theories to contemporary social and political problems, such as the authority of government, the significance of consent and democratic rule, charity, friendship, war, and the distribution of wealth. Class time is focused heavily on discussion of the intuitions brought to bear to defend and explain these theories, such as our own impressions of when and why someone is morally responsible for what they do. Major texts include Plato?s Gorgias and Crito, Aristotle?s Nicomachean Ethics, Augustine?s On the Free Choice of the Will, Kant?s Groundwork, Nietzsche?s Genealogy of Morals, Mill?s Utilitarianism, Nozick?s Anarchy State and Utopia, and Rawls? Theory of Justice. Assignments vary, but they might include some or many of the following: weekly reading responses, quizzes, papers, and exams.

Feminist political philosophy has a two-fold history:both as a persistent critique of canonical political philosophy, and as generative of new models of justice. This course explores the two sides of this twofold history. We begin with a survey of feminist criticisms of the canon, including from liberal, Black, and Marxist feminist philosophies. We then turn to the positive accounts from these philosophies, asking whether new models of the state, of the person, and of gender are required to construct theories that adequately represent what justice requires in a world with gender-based oppression. Philosophers we will read include Mary Wollstonecraft, John Rawls, Martha Nussbaum, Susan Okin, Alison Jaggar, Christine Delphy, Audre Lorde, Nancy Fraser, and María Lugones.