Welcome to the Course Webpage

This will serve as the main blog and webpage for PHIL/LGST 144 at UCSC for Spring of 2008.

The title of this course is Liberalism and Its Critics.

Please find your way to the relevant materials from the syllabus in the archive bar at the right. Please read the 'Course Description' first and then review the 'Course Requirements' and 'Reading Schedule' documents.

Please familiarize yourself with how to use the blog software if you are not already familiar. Everyone will be expected to post at least a few times to the blog over the course of the quarter. This will be part of your 'participation' grade.

The best way to get answers on questions you have about the course will be through the webpage here. That said feel free to email the Instructor (Colin Koopman) or Course TA (Don Kingsbury) with any questions. Our contact information is on your syllabus. We'll also be checking the blog.

Syllabus: Course Description

Liberalism has long been the dominant theoretical tradition in contemporary political philosophy in both North America and Europe. It is therefore unsurprising that liberalism has been the subject of severe criticism. In this course we will explore: 1) some of the major theoretical and cultural origins of modern liberal theory; 2) some of the foremost work in contemporary liberal theory; and 3) some of the most influential and troubling criticisms of liberalism that have been voiced over the past few decades. For (1) we will begin with a brief tour through the most important sections of John Stuart Mill’s (1806-1873) classic On Liberty. For (2) we will focus primarily on John Rawls’s (1921-2002) political liberalism and we will also spend a little time with works representative of Friedrich Hayek’s (1899-1992) free-market liberalism and Richard Rorty’s (1931-2007) pragmatist liberalism; the idea is to gain a solid understanding of the breadth of liberal theory as it informs contemporary political discourse across the spectrum from Left to Right. For (3) we will consider Michel Foucault’s (1926-1984) genealogical criticisms of certain assumptions which have been made about liberalism as well as Iris Marion Young’s (1949-2006) influential feminist criticisms of certain aspects of liberalism. We will stick mostly to the primary texts, but I will also make useful secondary readings available online for those who are interested. Primary books (Mill’s On Liberty, Rawls’s Justice as Fairness, Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference, and Foucault’s Discipline and Punish) are available at the Literary Guillotine while other readings will be available on eRes.

Syllabus: Primary and Secondard Readings

Readings available for purchase at Literary Guillotine:

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Vintage, 1995)

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty [available online or use the Oxford World’s Classics 1998 edition]

John Rawls, Justice as Fairness (Harvard UP, 2001)

Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton UP, 1990)

Readings on eRes and/or online:

Nancy Fraser, “Solidarity or Singularity: Richard Rorty between Romanticism and Technocracy” (1988) in Fraser, Unruly Practices (University of Minnesota, 1989): 93-110. [eres]

Nancy Fraser, “From Irony to Prophecy to Politics: A Response to Richard Rorty” (1991) in Michigan Quarterly Review v30n2, Spr. 1991: 259-266. [eres]

Nancy Fraser, “Why Overcoming Prejudice is Not Enough: A Rejoinder to Richard Rorty” (2000) in Critical Horizons v1n1, Feb. 2000: 21-28. [online through library]

Emma Goldman, "Anarchism: What it Really Stands For" (1910) in Anarchism and Other Essays. [online at <http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/ANARCHIST_ARCHIVES/goldman/aando/anarchism.html>]

F.A. Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (1945) in American Economic Review v35n4, 1945: 519-30. [online at http://www.econlib.org/Library/Essays/hykKnw1.html]

F.A. Hayek, “Liberalism” (1973) in Hayek, New Studies…(Routledge, 1978): 119-151. [online at http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/oldwhig4ever]

Karl Marx, "On the Jewish Question" (1844). [online at <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/jewish-question/>.]

Thomas Nagel, “The Problem of Global Justice” in Philosophy and Public Affairs 33 (2005): 113-47. [online through library]

Thomas Pogge, “World Poverty and Human Rights” in Ethics and International Affairs 19/1 (2005), 1-8. [online through library]

Richard Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy” (1988), in Rorty, Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers, Volume 1 (Cambridge UP, 1991): 175-196. [eres]

Richard Rorty, “Moral Identity and Private Autonomy: The Case of Foucault” (1989) in Rorty, Essays on Heidegger and Others: Phil Papers, Volume 2 (Cambridge UP, 1991): 193-198. [eres]

Richard Rorty, “Feminism and Pragmatism” (1990) in Rorty, Truth and Progress: Phil Papers, Volume 3 (Cambridge UP, 1998): 202-227. [eres]

Richard Rorty, “Is ‘Cultural Recognition’ a Useful Concept for Leftist Politics?” (2000) in Critical Horizons v1n1, Feb. 2000: 7-20. [online through library]

Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, “The Right to Privacy” in Harvard Law Review IV, no. 5, Dec., 1980. [online at http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6805/articles/privacy/Privacy_brand_warr2.html]

Suggested Supplementary Readings:

Use The Philosopher’s Index and Google Scholar to find supplementary readings on your own. I can give you references for works by the following authors if you would like.

On Mill, there is a good deal of very good work to select from. I recommend anything by Isaiah Berlin or by Alan Ryan.

For work on Rawls see work by Samuel Scheffler, Samuel Freeman, Joshua Cohen, Susan Moller Okin, and Martha Nussbaum. Many of the articles in the Cambridge Companion to Rawls are quite helpful. Be careful not to dig into anything that is too technical to be of much use to you. There is an enormous literature on Rawls, some of it good, some of it bad, and unfortunately much of it is far too technical to be of help for general use. Do not hesitate to email me for recommendations.

On Hayek, see work by John Gray and Jeffrey Friedman. In addition, Amartya Sen also has a few nice pieces on Hayek online (just search fo them). Many of the negative assessments of Hayek tend to miss the point, though there is certainly much to be wary of.

On Rorty, see work by Richard Bernstein, Thomas McCarthy, Barry Allen or by me. Be wary: much of the published work on Rorty is not very good at all. Please do not be shy about consulting with me before diving into the secondary literature on Rorty.

Foucault has stimulated an immense literature from just about every different disciplinary background one can think of. On Foucault in general see David Hoy and Thomas McCarthy, Critical Theory and Paul Rabinow and Hubert Dreyfus, Michel Foucault. On Foucault and the history of American prisons see Michael Meranze’s Laboratories of Virtue. Much of the best work on Foucault is in the context of feminist scholarship; see Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, Jana Sawicki, Disciplining Foucault and Amy Allen, The Politics of Our Selves and The Power of Feminist Theory.

As for further readings on Young, much of her work is still too new for there to be a sprawling secondary literature. Those interested in her work should consider reading her second book, Inclusion and Democracy, which is also very good. In addition to Young’s work, I suggest work by moderate feminist liberals like Martha Nussbaum and Susan Moller Okin and also by more radical feminists including Carole Pateman, Mary Dietz, and bell hooks.

Syllabus: Reading Schedule

Tues, Apr 1 Introduction: Liberalism, the Public and the Private

PART I: Theories of Liberalism

Thur, Apr 3 - Classical Liberalism:

• Mill, On Liberty, Book I (pp. 1-19)

Tues, Apr 8

• Mill, On Liberty, Book IV (pp.83-103)
• Warren and Brandeis, “The Right to Privacy”

Thur, Apr 10 - Egalitarian Liberalism:

• Rawls, Justice as Fairness, Part I (pp.1-29)

Tues, Apr 15

• Rawls, Parts I and II (pp.29-66)

Thur, Apr 17 ------- no class meeting on Thur Apr 17 -------

Tues, Apr 22

• Rawls, Part III (pp.80-93, 130-134), IV (pp.153-157, 168-176), V (pp.180-202)

Thur, Apr 24 - Global Egalitarian Liberalism:

• Pogge, “World Poverty and Human Rights”
• Nagel, “The Problem of Global Justice”

Tues, Apr 29 - Free-Market Liberalism:

• Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”
• Hayek, “Liberalism”

Thur, May 1 - Pragmatist Liberalism:

• Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy”
• Rorty, “Moral Identity and Private Autonomy”
  

** FIRST SHORT ESSAY DUE THURSDAY MAY 1 AT BEGINNING OF CLASS AND BEFORE CLASS VIA EMAIL TO Prof. Koopman**


Part II: Critics of Liberalism

Tues, May 6 - Genealogical Critics:

• Foucault, Discipline and Punish (pp.3-31)

Thur, May 8

• Foucault (pp.135-169 + skim pp.32-134)

Tues, May 13

• Foucault (pp.170, 184-194; pp.195-228)

Thur, May 15

• Foucault (pp.264-285; pp.293-308)

Tues, May 20 - Feminist Critics:

• Young, Justice & the Politics of Difference, Intro + Chap. 1 (pp.3-38)

Thur, May 22

• Young, selections from Chaps. 2 and 3 (pp.39-48, 63-65, 66-70, 76-88)
• cf. Rawls, Justice as Fairness, Part IV §§50-52 (pp.162-178)

Tues, May 27

• Young, Chapter 4 (pp.96-121)
• cf. Young, selections from Chaps. 6 and 8 (183-191, 232-234, 236-241, 248-251)
  

Thur, May 29 - Anarchist and Marxist Critics:

• Emma Goldman, "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For" (online)
• Karl Marx, "On the Jewish Question" (online)
  

Tues, Jun 3 - Cultural Politics:

• Fraser, “Solidarity or Singularity: Rorty…” (1988)
• Rorty, “Feminism and Pragmatism” (1990)
• Fraser, “From Irony to Prophecy to Politics” (1991)

Thur, Jun 5

• Rorty, “Is ‘Cultural Recognition’ Useful? ...” (2000)
• Fraser, “Why Overcoming Prejudice is Not Enough…” (2000)

** FINAL RESEARCH ESSAY DUE THURSDAY JUNE 5 AT BEGINNING OF CLASS AND VIA EMAIL TO Prof. Koopman **

Syllabus: Course Requirements

1. Participation in-class and online (25%)
You are expected to attend class and contribute to discussions. This portion of your participation grade will include a handful of short in-class group assignments, very short writing assignments (i.e., a few 1-2 page response papers), and most certainly required contributions (in the form of short questions and responses) to the course blog. A portion of your participation grade will be based on your contributions to discussions in class.

2. Short Argumentative Essay with an extended annotated bibliography (25%)
You will write a short argumentative essay of approximately 3-4 pages with an accompanying annotated bibliography mapping out a program of possible further research. The essay itself need only directly engage with our primary readings. For the accompanying annotated bibliography you are expected to go the library and research at least three additional secondary readings to include a short summary of each in your bibliography. This essay will be due (both hardcopy and electronically) about halfway through the course and I will give you a page or so of written feedback on your essay. You will be expected to revise this essay in light of my comments, expanding it into a longer final research essay that will be due at the end of the term.

3. Final Research Essay (50%)
You will write a final research essay of about 8-9 pages (or longer if you wish but see me first). This is expected to be a revision of, and improvement upon, your short argumentative essay from earlier in the term in light of the comments that you will receive on the first shorter essay. The longer essay should engage with the assigned primary literature and some relevant secondary literature that I can help you locate.