Professor Brian J. Shaw
Spring 1996

Office: Chambers 329-D
Phone: (704) 892-2393
E-mail: brshaw@davidson.edu
Hours: M/F 2:00-3:30; Tu/Th 8:00-9:30 and by appointment

Karl Marx, On the Jewish Question (photocopy handout)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (International)

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Geneology of Morals (Anchor)
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, Utopia (Basic)

Susan Okin, Justice, Gender and the Family (Basic)
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Harvard)
Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice (Basic)

(All texts are available in paperback editions at the Student Store.)

The course seeks to expose students to the thought of some of the seminal political philosophers of the late 19th and 20th centuries. While this is the third and concluding part of a three-part historical survey of political philosophy, the course assumes no knowledge of the preceding course materials. Instead, this course commences with an examination of Marx's and Nietzsche's repudiation of classical liberalism, and then explores some of the ways in which contemporary thinkers have sought to renew and expand this tradition.

The goals of the course are two:

1) to familiarize students with the thinking of some of the best and most influential political minds of our time; and

2) to engage students in the inescapable controversies which these thinkers raise, but which remain as yet unresolved.

Our means to accomplish both goals is a close reading of some of their most representative works.

The evaluation of each student's comprehension of the course materials consists primarily of three take-home, open-book, open notes course reviews. The first will be handed out Thursday, February 8 and returned to the instructor by 12:00 noon on Friday, February 16. The second review will be handed out Thursday, March 21 nd returned to the instructor by 12:00 noon on Friday, March 29. The final review will be handed out Tuesday, April 30 and returned by noon on Wednesday, May 8.

Each review will be typed and no longer than six (6) pages. The first two reviews will be penalized one letter grade for every class day they are late; the final review will be penalized one letter grade for every day it is late. All reviews will be typed.

In addition to these three assignments, a portion of each student's course grade will be determined by his or her participation in class discussion. The weight of each requirement is the following:

The course is structured overwhelmingly around the discussion of the assigned texts. It is accordingly extremely important that students familiarize themselves with the readings before each class meeting. It is also important that students conscientiously attend class. Each student is allowed 3 unexcused cuts; absences in excess of this number will result in a grade of "F" for class discussion.

While this course is not cumulative in the usual sense, it is quite developmental, and the reviews and discussions will reflect this characteristic. It is thus important that students make every effort to keep abreast of the schedule of readings. It is very difficult to assimilate this material in any "cram course" fashion. Although admittedly demanding on occasion, the schedule should be manageable, and it is expected that students will be prepared on time.

All provisions of the Davidson Honor code are in effect for this course, and all written work shall be pledged in accordance with it.

I. Introduction II. Liberalism Rejected: Marx, Engels, Nietzsche III. Liberalism Revived: Rawls and Nozick IV. Liberalism Extended: Walzer and Okin

I. Introduction: The Intellectual and Political Setting (January 16)
Required Reading: none

II-A. Marx and Engels: The Socialist Critique of Liberalism (Jan 18-30)
Required Reading: The Communist Manifesto (all)
"On the Jewish Question" (all)
Recommended:
S. Avineri, Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought
I. Berlin, Karl Marx
G. Cole, The Meaning of Marxism
H. Draper, Marx's Theory of Revolution (3 Vols.)
J. Elster, Making Sense of Marx
E. Fischer, The Essential Marx
L. Kolakowski, Main Currents of Marxism (Vol.I)
G. Lichtheim, Marxism: The Origins of Socialism
D. McLellan, Karl Marx; The Thought of Karl Marx
R. Schmitt, Introduction to Marx and Engels
P. Singer, Marx

II-B. Nietzsche: Aristocratic Revolt Against Liberalism (Feb 1-15)
Required Reading: The Genealogy of Morals (all)
Recommended: C. Brinton Nietzsche
F. Copleston, Friedrich Nietzsche
A. Danto, Nietzsche as Philosopher
E. Heller, The Importance of Nietzsche
K. Jaspers, Nietzsche
W. Kaufmann, Nietzsche
D. Myers, Marx and Nietzsche
R. Schacht, Nietzsche
J. Stern, Friedrich Nietzsche
R. Solomon, Reading Nietzsche
T. Strong, Nietzsche and the Transfiguration of Politics
S. Warren, Nietzsche and Political Thought

III-A. John Rawls: Liberal Equality (Feb 20-March 12)
Required Reading: A Theory of Justice (selections)
Recommended: B. Barber, The Conquest of Politics
B. Barry, The Liberal Theory of Justice
A. Brown, Modern Political Philosophy
K. Baynes, Normative Grounds of Social Criticism
W. Galston, Liberal Purposes
C. Kukathas, Rawl's Theory of Justice and Its Critics
W. Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy
G. Postolos, Justice as Fairness and Metaphysics
J. Rawls, Political Liberalism
M. Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
D. Schaefer, Justice or Tyranny?
J. Wellbank, John Rawls and His Critics
C. Wolfe and J. Hittinger, eds., Liberalism at the Crossroads
R. Wolff, Understanding Rawls

III-B. Robert Nozick: Libertarianism and Rights (March 14-28)
Required Reading: Anarchy, State and Utopia (selections)
Recommended: B. Barber, The Conquest of Politics
A. Brown, Modern Political Philosophy
F. von Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
W. Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy
J. Locke, Second Treatise on Civil Government
L. Lomasky, Persons, Rights and the Moral Community
T. Machan, Individuals and Their Rights
C. Murray, In Pursuit of Happiness
J. Narveson, The Libertarian Idea
R. Nozick, The Examined Life
J. Paul (ed), Reading Nozick
D. Rasmussen and d. Douglas, Liberty and Nature
M. Sandel (ed), Liberalism and Its Critics
G. Woodcock, Anarchism
J. Wolff, Robert Nozick

IV-A. Michael Walzer: Liberalism and Communitarianism (April 2 16)
Required reading: Spheres of Justice (selections)
Recommended: S. Avineri (ed), Communitarianism and Individualism
D. Bell, Communitarianism and Its Critics
M. Daley (ed), Communitarianism: A New Ethics
A. Etzioni (ed), Rights and the Common Good
M. Glendon, Rights Talk
S. Holmes, The Anatonomy of Antiliberalism
W. Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy
W. Kymlicka, Liberalism, Culture and Community
A. MacIntyre, After Virtue
A. MacIntyre, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?
D. Miller and M. Walzer, eds., Pluralism, Justice, and Equality
R. Rorty, Contingency, Irony and Solidarity
D. Rasmussen (ed), Universalism vs. Communitarianism
M. Sandel, The Limits of Liberalism
I. Shapiro, Political Criticism
A. Mulhall and Swift, Liberals and Communitarians
C. Taylor, Multiculturalism
C. Taylor, The Sources of the Self
M. Walzer, Interpretation and Social Criticism

IV-B. Susan Moller Okin: Liberalism and Feminism (April 18-May 2)
Required Reading: Justice, Gender and the Family (selections)
Recommended: Z. Eisenstein, Feminism and Sexual Equality
J. Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman
J. Flax, Thinking Fragments
E. Fox-Genovese, Feminism Without Illusions
C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice
N. Hartsock, Money, Sex and Power
A. Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human Nature
K. MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State
J. Mill, The Subjection of Women
S. Okin, Women in Western Political Thought
C. Pateman, The Problem of Political Obligation
R. Tong, Feminist Theory
M. Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women