Syllabus – keep handy for reference
Dr. Aeon J. Skoble
341 Tillinghast, x2460
Email: askoble@bridgew.edu Web: http://webhost.bridgew.edu/askoble
Office hours: M 10-11, TTH 1:45-2:45, or by appointment
Text:
Just and Unjust Wars, Michael Walzer (4th edition)
Additional readings to be distributed as handouts, on reserve in library, or on the web
Overview and objectives:
When is war morally justified? Never? Sometimes? If the answer is “never,” why? If the answer is “sometimes,” what are the criteria? This course will examine these and many other questions concerning war and peace, including: How does the role of states differ morally from that of individuals? What is the proper attitude to take toward an enemy? What exactly is “the Geneva Convention” and why does anyone abide by it? What is “international law”? What is a war crime? What is guerilla warfare? What is terrorism? Should women or gays be integrated into combat units? Are nuclear weapons ethical? You may have some thoughts on all these issues. The point of this course is to develop a systematic and rigorous way to think about them. As with any philosophy class, you may discover that some of your preconceived notions are perfectly correct, while others are incoherent or contradictory. Be ready to examine yourself fully in full open-mind mode.
Requirements:
One of the goals of the first-year seminar program is to introduce you to college-level inquiry in the small-group setting of a seminar. This enables us to engage in productive discussion, and you will see how dialogue of this sort is an essential component of learning. Hence, one requirement of the class is that you come prepared. “Coming prepared” means, first of all, coming. Your attendance is required, since a lot of what we “do” happens in the classroom. “Coming prepared” also means that you have done any required reading prior to class. That way you can make constructive contributions to the discussion and get maximum benefit from the contributions of others. Being prepared for a discussion means, minimally, that you are alert, and not sleeping or distracting yourself with work from other classes. It also means that you are prepared both to talk and to listen: you should have something interesting to say, and you should be willing to listen to what others have to say. You should also be willing to disagree and to be disagreed with, with the understanding that disagreement about an idea is different from a personal criticism. Robust and productive discussion is perfectly compatible with respect and civility, and indeed impossible without them.
Another goal of the first-year seminar program is to give
you a chance to develop your writing skills, complementing what you have
learned or are learning in your writing classes. The first-year seminars are part of the
college’s Core Curriculum, which requires attention
to writing throughout your time here and across disciplines. First of all, writing well is an essential
communication tool, not just for academics, but in virtually all
professions. Second of all, as George
Orwell noted back in 1946, writing well and thinking well are closely related. If you learn to think better, you will learn
to write better, and if you learn to write better, you will learn to think
better. The writing you do on the
subjects of this seminar will enhance your understanding of them, and improving
your writing skills generally will be of general benefit to you. Hence, another requirement of the class is three three-page papers plus drafts. For each paper, you will submit a pass/fail
draft for feedback prior to submitting the final product. Both
your drafts and your final versions are
to be emailed as Word attachments sent from your bridgew.edu account. I will email you the feedback using Word’s
“track changes” and “insert comment” features.
Set formatting thus: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with
one-inch margins all around. On the top
right of the first page, you should put your name, the date and PHIL199 – and
number the subsequent pages. Please be
sure both to run the computer’s spell-checker and to proofread visually. There
is no exam. Your grade will be based on
the papers (first is worth 25%, second is worth 25%, third is worth 35%) and
your seminar participation (15%). Absences
in excess of three will result in grade reductions, as will lack of class
preparation. Note: Papers that you turn
in for assignments in this class may be selected randomly for further program
assessment unrelated to your success in this class. Inclusion of your work in
this institutional assessment will have no impact on your grade in this class
or your academic progress.
Outline and calendar:
Walzer’s book is, as claimed
on the cover, a moral argument with historical illustrations. You will find the historical illustrations
interesting as well as illuminating. I
will supplement his with others from time to time. Since Walzer is making an argument, it’s
possible that some of his conclusions will be ones you disagree with. That’s fine: analyzing his arguments is
useful philosophical work whether or not you end up agreeing with his
conclusions. Part of the historical part
of the book concerns the moral history, that is, the historical development of
moral thinking about war. This will also
be examined. We will look at the
canonical distinction between jus ad bellum and jus in bello, and their corollary principles. We will see how they developed historically
as well as examining their philosophical coherence. You will see that traditional “Just-War
Theory” faces opposition from several different angles. The chapters on guerilla warfare and
terrorism will, I suspect, be of special interest. We will proceed through the book pretty much
as the Table of Contents indicates, although I think the new preface to the 4th
edition will make more sense if we read it later in the semester. We will cover as much of the book as time
allows.
Sept 4 – introduction to
course, themes
Sept 9-11 – begin Part One
Sept 16-18
Sept 23-25 – first paper this
week
Sept 30-Oct 2 – begin Part
Two
Oct 7-9
Oct 14-16
Oct 21 (no class 10/23)
Oct 28-30 – second paper this
week
Nov 4-6 – begin Part Three
Nov 12-13 (NB-W=T)
Nov 18-20
Nov 25 (11/27-Thanksgiving,
no classes) – part four? Tentative.
Dec 2 (no class 12/4) - draft
of third paper due
Dec 9 - final version of third paper due