Mar 28, 2024  
Catalogue 2022-2023 
    
Catalogue 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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PHIL 320 - Seminar in the History of Philosophy

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2022/23a: Marx on Justice. In this seminar we study the debate over Karl Marx’s stance on justice and morality. On the one hand, Marx is a vociferous critic of capitalism, whose outrage and scorn reflect a deep moral condemnation of capitalist exploitation. On the other hand, Marx’s theory of history seems to commit him to viewing both justice and morality as ideological concepts, tied inextricably to existing relations of production. Scholars of Marx have struggled to explain Marx’s account of justice, with one interpreter concluding that ”at least sometimes, Marx mistakenly thought that Marx did not believe that capitalism was unjust, because he was confused about justice” (G.A. Cohen, Mind, vol. 92, no. 367 (1983): p.444). In order to make progress on these issues, we study a broad range of Marx’s works, as well as analyses by G.A. Cohen, Ziyad Husami, Charles Mills, Nicholas Vrousalis, and Allen Wood. Jamie Kelly.

Topic for 2022/23b: Plato’s Republic. In this seminar we undertake a close study of Plato’s Republic, one of the most influential and challenging texts in the history of philosophy. We approach the dialogue from various angles, with attention to the interplay between theoretical argument, historical context, dramatic irony, poetic allusion, and literary form. One of our goals is to understand how the diverse inquiries pursued in the dialogue—into the virtues of cities and individual souls; the role of art in education; the complexity of human motivation; and the nature and value of philosophical insight—fit together into a unified whole. We read the Republic in English translation, but a satellite group can be arranged for students with Greek who wish to read selected passages in the original. Christopher Raymond.

Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS



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