C. Fabre Political Philosophy Teaching Resources
This site contains topics and readings for my HT 2025 B.Phil Pro Seminar. For previous classes, see here.
Time and location: Fridays, weeks 1-4, and 5-8, 11am-1pm. Wharton Room, All Souls College.
The topics and papers (all of which are available online via the Bodleian) I have selected for the class are diverse - though they are located in the Anglo-American analytical tradition broadly construed. In the first two sessions, we will look at two foundations questions in political philosophy, to wit, the grounds of the duty to obey the law (assuming that there is such a duty), and the question of what we owe to one another as a matter of justice. In the third session, we will turn to one particular failure to do as justice requires, to wit, the wrongdoing of colonialism. In the fourth session, we will consider whether and why citizens may be held responsible for what their state does.
Additional resources: the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy and the International Encyclopaedia of Ethics (available online from the Bodleian). Be careful not to merely rehash the entries. Don’t dispense with reading the primary sources, when you write essays. These resources should be used as a roadmap, not as a substitute for proper philosophical work. For good podcasts, see Philosophy Bites, and Political Philosophy Podcasts, which together have over three hundreds of interviews with philosophers on a huge range of topics. Be aware that audio content is subject to plagiarism rules, so do not cite an interviewee without properly referencing the podcast.
I also include here two very comprehensive reading lists in political theory, both of which cover undergraduate modules but which are useful for graduate work research: Theory of Politics; and Advanced Paper in Theories of Justice.
If you have any question, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]
The class
There will be no presentation. I will introduce the topic at the beginning, summarise half way through, and offer some concluding remarks at the end. In between, the onus will be on you, individually and collectively, to get a good discussion going. My classes are very much run along the lines of: ‘It’s not you against me in relation to the philosophical problem. It’s you and me together against the problem.’ (Jane Heal, Cambridge philosopher, in private correspondence. Brilliant scholar of Wittgenstein/philosophy of language.) In other words: there are no stupid questions; there is no shame in conceding that one was wrong on a particular point, or in admitting that one doesn’t understand a point; and intellectual showing-off is actively discouraged. Finally, I also discourage the use of laptops or tablets to take notes during my classes, unless of course you have a special reason for using them. (I will neither ask nor check.) The reason is simply that if we have a screen to look at and a keyboard to type on, we are less likely to make eye contact with one another, and less likely to have a lively discussion.
Week 1/5 Political Obligation
The question of political obligation (ie, on what grounds if any are we under a duty to obey the law) is arguably the foundational question in political philosophy in the Western tradition. One candidate argument - propounded esp by Jeremy Waldron - grounds that obligation in a natural duty of justice.
Jeremy Waldron, “Special Ties and Natural Duties,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 22 (1993): 3–30.
Week 2/6 Equality
Another central question in political philosophy is that of what we owe to each other as a matter of justice. Many theories of justice appeal to the value of equality: what we owe each other - those theories claim - is equal amounts of certain things (resources, welfare, income, etc.) On another family of influential views, justice only requires that we should have enough of those things, not that we should have as much as others. Harry Frankfurt's influential article defends a variant of that view.
Harry Frankfurt, 'Equality as a Moral Ideal', Ethics 98 (1987): 21-43.
Week 3/7 Colonialism
Many (most?) would argue that colonialism is morally wrong. However, as Lea Ypi shows in her often-cited piece, coming to grips with what colonialism is, and why it is wrong, is harder than we might think.
Lea Ypi, "What's Wrong with Colonialism", Philosophy and Public Affairs 41 (2013): 158-191.
Week 4/8 Citizens' and States' responsibility for wrongdoing
Suppose that my government wrongfully invades another country, or wrongfully refuses to take steps towards reducing carbon emissions. Suppose further that, at the bar of justice, compensation is due to victims of those unjust policies, many of whom are located abroad. On what grounds if any am I under a duty to pay? Does the fact that the wrongdoing was committed before I was born make any difference?
Avia Pasternak, "Limiting States' Corporate Responsibility", Journal of Political Philosophy 21 (2013): 361-381.
