Philosophy 115

This course examines central issues and concepts in political philosophy: freedom, equality, justice, authority, and citizenship. Drawing on the works of main representatives of social contract theory (Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls), the first part of the course analyzes key principles of modern and contemporary political thought including basic liberties and human rights. The second part of the course is devoted to a discussion of critical responses to the framework of the social contract that seek to modify it, to expand its scope, or to develop conceptual alternatives to it. In light of current challenges like climate change, migration, or populism such responses have been formulated from the vantage points of, for instance, democratic theory, critical race theory, and recognition theory.