Philosophy 235
Human Rights and Human Liberties
Fall 2009

Click here for the syllabus.

Scroll to bottom for newest entry.  Please check this page frequently for announcements, assignments, web links of interest, and so on.

To begin with, here are some sites you ought to get to know.  Our department web site includes this list of student research tools (with some amusements at the bottom).  Note especially William Stephens' guidelines for paper writing.

No course in political philosophy would be complete without this.

For Tuesday Sept. 8, please read in the textbook: the Preface, pages 1-2, pages 7-19, pages 56-62.  Also, please read this little essay: "I, Pencil" -- either here or here.
For Thursday, Sept. 10, add: pages 19-33.
For Tuesday Sept. 15, please read Plato's dialogue "Crito."  
For Thursday, Sept. 17, please read Thoreau on Civil Disobedience as well as Bruce Benson's "Where Does Law Come From?"
For Tuesday Sept. 22, read the selection by Thomas Aquinas in your textbook, as well as the following: On the "divine right of kings," start here for an overview, and then read some Primary Source material, Robert Filmer's essay Patriarcha.  Also, Romans 13: 1-7 is sometimes cited as a rationale.  (Is it?)   This page offers some amusing examples of claims to power which seem dubious.  Also, chapters 2-5 of this are relevant.  Optional reading: the scene from Shakespeare's Henry V in which it is "proven" that King Henry has a "right" to invade France (clip also).
For Thursday the 24th, also add material on Vitoria and the School of Salamanca.  General overview here; primary sources here and here.  Yes, you should read the primary sources as well as the predigested stuff.
For Thursday, Oct 1: you should have already read the selection in the textbook by Hobbes.  For Thursday, please also read this essay on the evolution of merchant law, and these essays on the evolution of social order in the frontier West.  Also not a bad idea to revisit the Benson essay from the week of 9/17 and I, Pencil from the week of 9/8 (both linked above).
For Thursday, Oct. 8: you should already have read excerpts from Locke's Second Treatise in your textbook.  Now also please read this 18th-century document which you'll find draws heavily on Lockean theory.  You should read the whole thing even if you think you've seen it before.
Optional: some wiki on the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
For Thursday Oct 15: read the Constitution of the United States, as well as the selections from the Federalist Papers in your textbook.  Read this document from the French Revolution, and then the selection in your textbook by Edmund Burke.
Optional: the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to two people whose work touches on a theme we've come across in class lately regarding trust.  Here is a short and very helpful column explaining further.
Additional reading on the American Revolution and its relation to Lockean theory.
Historical background for communism and fascism: here first and then here for Russia; here for Italy.

Third Paper Assignment:
Guidelines: Papers are to be submitted electronically.  Write the paper in Word, and attach the Word document to an email originating from your bridgew.edu email account.  It should be in my inbox not later than noon on December 3rd.  The email should have "PHIL235 - third paper" in the subject line.  The Word document itself should be formatted thus: Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced, 1-inch margins.  Title is optional.  Page numbering on.  Your name, date, and PHIL235 in the header or at least on the top right of the first page.  You may use MLA, APA, or Chicago style, provided you are using it correctly and consistently.  (If you have no preference, use Chicago.)  Do not insert extra lines between paragraphs.  Do not plagiarize - besides the reasons listed here, I'll know and you will fail the course, no second chances.  If you are not sure what constitutes plagiarism, ask.
Topic:  Read this excerpt from Nozick's book.  Answer the question at the bottom as best you can, and more specifically, in light of the problem he suggests here, how can rights and democracy be protected simultaneously?  Or can't they?  Either way, explain your reasoning.

Second Paper Assignment: This assignment is closed.  Watch this space for the third assignment.
Guidelines: Papers are to be submitted electronically.  Write the paper in Word, and attach the Word document to an email originating from your bridgew.edu email account.  It should be in my inbox not later than noon on November 3rd.  The email should have "PHIL235 - second paper" in the subject line.  The Word document itself should be formatted thus: Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced, 1-inch margins.  Title is optional.  Page numbering on.  Your name, date, and PHIL235 in the header or at least on the top right of the first page.  You may use MLA, APA, or Chicago style, provided you are using it correctly and consistently.  (If you have no preference, use Chicago.)  Do not insert extra lines between paragraphs.  Do not plagiarize - besides the reasons listed here, I'll know and you will fail the course, no second chances.  If you are not sure what constitutes plagiarism, ask.
Topic: Assess Locke’s argument that our natural right of self-ownership implies a natural right to acquire additional property.  Include in your analysis some discussion of the self-ownership premise itself.

First paper assignment:  This assignment is closed.  Watch this space for the second assignment.
Guidelines: Papers are to be submitted electronically.  Write the paper in Word, and attach the Word document to an email originating from your bridgew.edu email account.  It should be in my inbox not later than noon on October 6th.  The email should have "PHIL235 - first paper" in the subject line.  The Word document itself should be formatted thus: Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced, 1-inch margins.  Title is optional.  Page numbering on.  Your name, date, and PHIL235 in the header or at least on the top right of the first page.  You may use MLA, APA, or Chicago style, provided you are using it correctly and consistently.  (If you have no preference, use Chicago.)  Do not insert extra lines between paragraphs.  Do not plagiarize - besides the reasons listed here, I'll know and you will fail the course, no second chances.  If you are not sure what constitutes plagiarism, ask.
Topic: Assess Plato's argument that democracies are self-undermining and are likely to degenerate into tyrannical regimes.  Is his reasoning sound?  If it is, explain. If not, provide criticism and counter-example.