PHIL 2: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading	Value
Effective Term:	Summer 2022
Units:	4
Hours:	4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Degree & Credit Status:	Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE:	Area I: Humanities
Transferable:	CSU/UC
Grade Type:	Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability:	Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

Identify significant political theories held by major philosophers (ex. Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hegel etc.) and/or philosophic schools of thought.
Explain and evaluate historically important philosophical arguments regarding aspects of political theory.

Description

Social and political philosophies of classical, modern and contemporary thinkers. Issues of concern to include the justification and structure of the political state, constitution of government, individual rights and distribution of wealth.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

Analyze a variety of problems in political philosophy from several points of view.
Demonstrate understanding varying conceptions and justifications of political states.
Evaluate varying conceptions of just distributions of social good.

Course Content

Human nature and the State
1. The State of nature
  1. Aristotle
  2. Locke
  3. Hobbes
  4. Montesquieu
  5. Rousseau
  6. Marx
  7. Darwin
2. The role of women in the State
  1. Plato
  2. Aristotle
  3. Rousseau
  4. Wollstonecraft
  5. Mill
  6. Gilligan
  7. Jagger
Justification of the State
1. Defining the State
  1. Locke
2. Social contract
  1. Hobbes
  2. Locke
  3. Rousseau
  4. Kant
3. Contrary views on the social contract
  1. Hume
  2. Bentham
  3. Hegel
4. Anarchy
  1. Bakunin
5. Civil disobedience
  1. Plato
  2. Thoreau
  3. King
  4. Rawls
Democracy and its potential problems
1. Democratic ideals
  1. Rousseau
  2. Kant
  3. Mill
  4. Rawls
2. Against democracy
  1. Plato
  2. Frederick the great and the concept of enlightened despotism
3. Dangers of democracy
  1. Aristotle
  2. Madison
  3. De Tocqueville
4. Separation of powers
  1. Locke
  2. Montesquieu
Economic justice
1. Private property
  1. Locke and labor-based property theory
  2. Rousseau
  3. Hegel
  4. Marx
  5. Nozick
2. The market
  1. Smith and the free market
  2. Marxist response to capitalist free market
  3. Friedman
3. Distributive justice
  1. Aristotle
  2. Hume
  3. Marx
  4. Rawls
  5. Nozick
Justice among groups
1. War and peace
  1. Kant
  2. Cobden
  3. Walzer
  4. Nagel
2. Nationalism
  1. Berlin
  2. Macintyre
3. Minority rights
  1. Affirmative action
  2. Secessionist movements
4. International justice
  1. Famine
  2. Singer
  3. O'neill

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught as an online distance learning section, students and faculty need ongoing and continuous internet and email access.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Examinations
Quizzes
Essays
Term papers
Reading responses

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Oral presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Cahn, Stephen M.. Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts, 4th ed.. 2022.

Goodin, Robert E., and Philip Pettit. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology, 3rd ed.. 2019.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

Readings to be selected from primary and secondary philosophic literature
Written responses to study questions as a means to focus attention on key concepts
Written analysis of political policies and/or systems that allows for application of political theory

Discipline(s)

Philosophy

Academic Catalog