This seminar will focus on contemporary liberalism, recent criticisms of it (from both inside and outside the academy), and rejoinders to those criticisms. We will be particularly concerned with implications for real-life political and social issues in the United States.
Students from law, political science, economics, sociology, history and other fields outside philosophy are very welcome to take this class. Background in fields like this will easily compensate for lack of background in philosophy, and we (me too) can all learn from one another.
Liberalism is a family of views rather than a monolithic doctrine. We will focus on the broadly Rawlsian, egalitarian strand in liberal thought. Positions of this sort stress the dual importance of individual liberty and a decent quality of life (with a variety of opportunities) for everyone. There are various ways to develop and defend these themes, but we will begin with John Rawls' version in A Theory of Justice. Although we will discuss Rawls' methodology (reflective equilibrium, the original position), our principle focus will be on the content of his theory and his discussion of its practical viability. Hence, we will explore the often-neglected later portions of his book that deal with specific institutions, the sense of justice, and issues in empirical and in moral psychology that are relevant to the nurturing and maintenance of liberal ideals in an actual society, particularly the United States in the late twentieth century.
(Disclaimer: A variety of points of view and disagreement will be very strongly encouraged, but in the interests of full disclosure: I am committed to the spirit, though not every letter, of this sort of view. The last thing I want to do in this class -- though not necessarliy outside it :-) -- however, is to produce converts. But none of the participants in an advanced seminar on these matters need pretend to be disinterested.)
There have been attacks on one or another of these ideals by a wide range of political theorists (e.g., communitarians, libertarians, conservatives). Some of these criticisms have been echoed by a growing public sentiment in the United States (and, to varying degrees, in other Western Democracies) that economic redistribution to promote various sorts of equality ignores desert and fosters irresponsibility. Many people also feel that the degree of neutrality about values which liberalism requires in fact promotes a deterioration of society that, among other things, makes it impossible to foster the very values needed to sustain a liberal community. Indeed, questions about the validity of liberal doctrines lie near the surface of recent public debates over healthcare, affirmative action, physician-assisted suicide, gay-marriage, gun control, school vouchers, and various sorts of privatization.
We will examine a range of criticisms of liberalism and ask whether it can be modified to overcome any genuine problems while retaining its essential spirit. We cannot cover all of the relevant issues in a single semester, so we will have to be selective. To some extent, the specific topics we take up will be determined by the interests of those in the class.
In addition to Rawls' books, we will read recent selections from a variety of authors, including academicians (Michael Sandel, Michael Walzer, Benjamin Barber, Ronald Dworkin, Charles Taylor, Robert Nozick, F. A. Hayek, Amartya Sen, Joseph Raz, Yael Tamir, Amy Gutmann, Cornell West, John Gray, Catherine Mackinnon), journalists, politicians, and several relevant decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court (e.g., Lochner v. New York, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Bowers v. Hardwick -- you'll have to learn your way around the library in the Law School as well as Bizzell Library).
Required Texts:
Recommended Texts: