Modern Political Philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of the nature and justification of coercive institutions. Central to this justification are the questions "who gets what?" (the question of distributive justice), "who gets to say so?" (the question of authority and legitimacy), and "how can we ensure that a just state, once established, can maintain itself?" (the question of stability). In this course we explore a variety of answers to these questions, developed by prominent philosophers in the last half century. The course focuses on primary texts by representatives of the most influential positions in the field, thereby developing an overview of the field as that developed since Rawls' publication of his landmark work A Theory of Justice (1971). Students learn what is distinctive about approaches such as Rawlsian Liberalism, Libertarianism, Communitarianism, Feminism, Perfectionism, Egalitarianism, the Capability Approach, and Republicanism.