01-14-2016

PLSC 118B, THE MORAL FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICS

Yale University, Spring 2016

Ian Shapiro Lectures Tuesday and Thursday 11:35 - 12:25 + 1 htba Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium

Office hours: Wednesdays, 9:30 to 11:30 am Or by appointment with lourdes.haynes@yale.edu

110 Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse When do governments deserve our allegiance, and when should they be denied it? This course explores the main answers that have been given to this question in the modern West. We start with a survey of the major political theories of the Enlightenment: Utilitarianism, Marxism, and the social contract tradition. In each case we begin with a look at classical formulations, locating them in historical context, but then shift to the contemporary debates as they relate to politics today.

Next we turn to the rejection of Enlightenment political thinking, again exploring both classical and contemporary formulations. The last part of the course deals with the nature of, and justifications for, democratic politics, and their relations to Enlightenment and Anti-Enlightenment political thinking.

In addition to exploring theoretical differences among the various authors discussed, considerable attention is devoted to the practical implications of their competing arguments. To this end, we discuss a variety of concrete problems, including debates about economic inequality, affirmative action and the distribution of health care, the limits of state power in the regulation of speech and religion, and difficulties raised by the emerging threat of global environmental decay. There are no prerequisites.

REQUIREMENTS • Students are expected to attend all lectures and sections.

• Regular Students: Midterm 30%, Final 50%, section participation 20%.

• Writing-intensive students: Papers 50%, Final, 30%, section participation 20%.

Paper length ≈ 2,500-3000 words. Due dates: Paper 1 Rough draft: noon Fri Feb 19 Final draft: noon Fri March 4 Paper 2 Rough draft: noon Fri Apr 8 Final draft: 11:00 AM Tue Apr 26

READINGS We discuss some readings that are in the public domain and some that are not. The public domain readings are marked with P and are available at mofopo.com The non-public domain readings, marked with R, can be purchased from the reader available at students.universityreaders.com/store (select “Connecticut” and “Yale University” when creating an account). Alternatively, they can be found in original sources by reference to the Bibliographical Appendix at the end of this syllabus.

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COURSE SYLLABUS AND SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

R = READER; P = PUBLIC DOMAIN INTRODUCTION

Tuesday, January 19 Informational and housekeeping session Thursday, January 21 Introductory lecture

• Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Chs. 2, 3 and 8 [R, 2-37]

I. ENLIGHTENMENT POLITICAL THEORY Tuesday, January 26 (All sections start this week) Natural law roots of the enlightenment

• John Locke, First Treatise of Government, Chs. 1-2, 9 (up to §93, inclusive) P • John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 1 P • Thomas Hobbes, Six Lessons to the Professors of Mathematics P

II. UTILITARIANISM: CLASSICAL AND NEOCLASSICAL Thursday, January 28 Origins of classical utilitarianism

• Jeremy Bentham, “Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,” Chs. 1-3, 7 P

Tuesday, February 2 Classical utilitarianism and distributive justice

• Bentham in W. Stark, Jeremy Bentham’s Economic Writings, 442 [R, 37-38]

Thursday, February 4 From classical to neoclassical utilitarianism

• (No required reading)

Tuesday, February 9 The neoclassical synthesis of rights and utility

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chs. 1-2 P Thursday, February 11 Limits of the neoclassical synthesis

• Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 5 P

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III. MARXISM, ITS FAILURES AND ITS LEGACY Tuesday, February 16 The Marxian challenge

• Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party P Thursday, February 18 Marx’s theory of capitalism

• Marx, Capital (Vol. I), Prefaces, Chs. I, IV, VI, XII, XVI (excerpts) P Tuesday, February 23 Marxian exploitation and social justice

• Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program P Thursday, February 25 The Marxian failure and legacy

• Marx, Theories of Surplus Value, Ch. XVII (Sections 8-11, 14) P • Roemer, “Should Marxists be interested in exploitation?” [R, 40-69]

IV. THE SOCIAL CONTRACT TRADITION Tuesday, March 1 Secularizing natural law

• Locke, First Treatise of Government, Chs. 3-4 P • Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, 2nd Section (focus on p. 19-33) P

Thursday, March 3 The state of nature

• Hobbes, Leviathan, Introduction, Chs. 13-17, 21 P • Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. 2-5 P

Tuesday, March 8 The Rawlsian social contract/Distribute justice and the welfare state

• Rawls, A Theory of Justice, pg. 3-19, 52-56, 102-109, 118-123, 153-160, 221-227 [R, 70-89, 98-121] • Rawls, “Social Unity and Primary Goods,” sect. IV, V in John Rawls: Collected Papers [R, 90-97]

Thursday, March 10 MIDTERM EXAMINATION IN CLASS

Tuesday, March 29 The “political-not-metaphysical” legacy

• Rawls, “Justice as fairness: political not metaphysical.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 14 (1985): 226-48 [R, 122-141] • Shapiro, “Resources, Capacities, and Ownership.” Political Theory 19.1 (February 1991), 47-72 [R, 142-165]

Thursday, March 31 The Nozickian minimal state

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• Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia, pp. 3-17, 26-35, 54-63, 78-84, 88-90, 108-119 [R, 166-183]

Tuesday, April 5 Compensation versus redistribution

• Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia, pp. 149-164, 174-182 [R, 184-227]

V. ANTI-ENLIGHTENMENT POLITICS

Thursday, April 7 The Burkean outlook

• Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (excerpt 1 and 2) P • Patrick Devlin, “Morals and the Criminal Law” [R, 228-245]

Tuesday, April 12 Contemporary communitarianism

• Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, Chs. 1-3 [R, 246-277] Thursday, April 14 Contemporary communitarianism

• MacIntyre, After Virtue, Ch. 5 [R, 248-289]

VI. DEMOCRACY Tuesday, April 19 Republicanism vs. democracy

• Hamilton, Jay, and Madison, The Federalist Papers, Papers No. 1, 9, 10 14, 39, 48, 51, 62, 70, 78 P

Thursday, April 21 In Search of the General Will

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and the First and Second Discourses, Book I Ch. 6-7, Book II Ch. 3 P • William H. Riker, Ch. 5, “The Meaning of Social Choices” in Liberalism against Populism, pp. 115-23 [R, 290-299] • Jürgen Habermas, “Three Normative Models of Democracy” [R, 300-311] • James Fishkin, “Deliberative Polling: Toward a Better-Informed Democracy” [R,312-327]

Tuesday, April 26 Majority rule

• Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. 17-19 P • Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Ch. XXI and XXII [R,328-351] • Buchanan and Tullock, The Calculus of Consent, excerpt from Ch.6 [R,352-361] • Shapiro, “John Locke’s Democratic Theory,” in Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, pp. 309-333 [R, 362-383] • Douglas Rae, “The Limits of Consensual Decision” [R, 384-429]

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Thursday, April 28 Democracy, Science, and Rights

• Shapiro, “Elements of Democratic Justice.” Political Theory. [R, 430-467] (Reading Period: Friday, April 29 — Thursday, May 5) Review session will be scheduled during Reading Week.

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Bibliographical Appendix for Students who do not want to buy the Reader

Below are additional details on the readings not in the public domain. You will need to purchase, rent, or borrow copies of the relevant books. Articles in scholarly journals can be found in print collections or accessed via library resources as indicated. Thursday, January 21

• Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Penguin Classics, 2006 (Chs. 2, 3 and 8) Tuesday, February 2

• Bentham in W. Stark, “The Psychology of Economic Man”, Jeremy Bentham’s Economic Writings Vol. 3, Unwin Brothers Ltd. 1954 (Read footnote on page 442, Starting at “Absolute equality…”)

Thursday, February 25

• Roemer, “Should Marxists be interested in exploitation?” Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 14, No.1, Winter 1985

Tuesday, March 8

• Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Belknap Press, September 1999 o pp. 3-19: Chapter 1 (Sections 1 – 4) o pp. 52-56: (Section 11. “Two Principles of Justice”) o pp. 102-109: Chapter 3 (Sections 20 & 21) o pp. 118-123: Section 24 o pp. 153-160: Section 29 o pp. 221-227: Section 40

• Rawls, “Social Unity and Primary Goods,” sect. IV, V in John Rawls: Collected Papers, Harvard University Press, 1999

Tuesday, March 29 • Rawls, “Justice as fairness: political not metaphysical.” Philosophy & Public Affairs. Vol. 14,

No. 3, Summer, 1985 (Sections 2-6) • Shapiro, “Resources, Capacities, and Ownership.” Political Theory 19.1, February 1991

Thursday, March 31 and Tuesday, April 5

• Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia, Basic Books, 2013. Page numbers shown the syllabus. Thursday, April 7

• Patrick Devlin, “Morals and the Criminal Law”, The Enforcement of Morals, Oxford University Press, 1965

Thursday, April 21

• William H. Riker, Liberalism against Populism, Waveland Publishers, July 1968, Ch 5: “The Meaning of Social Choice”, Sections 5.A and 5.B

Tuesday, April 26 • Buchanan and Tullock, The Calculus of Consent, The Collected Works of James M.

Buchanan, Vol. 3, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999. (Read Chapter 6, up through “the Choice of Optimal Rules” section.)

• Shapiro, “John Locke’s Democratic Theory,” in Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Yale University Press, 2003