Course Information
| Instructor | Professor David Emmanuel Gray |
| Contact | GUQ 1D45, degray@cmu.edu, @ProfessorDEG |
| Office hours | Sunday, Tuesday: 1:00pm–5:00pm Thursday: 2:00pm–5:00pm |
| Class time | Sunday, Tuesday: 11:30am–12:45pm Thursday: 12:35pm–1:25pm |
| Class location | GUQ 0A13 |
| Syllabus | PDF. |
| #PST19. | |
| Teaching Assistant | Fatema Alsayed, fks@andrew.cmu.edu, @fatemaks |
Grading
- Participation (Twitter)
- Reading Question Reviews (Assignment)
Verbal: sample rubric (explanation).
Written: sample rubric (explanation), formatting requirements, and templates for MS-Word and for Pages. - Two Analytic Summaries
Rubric (explanation), formatting requirements, and templates for MS-Word and for Pages. - Four Position Papers
Rubric (explanation), formatting requirements, and templates for MS-Word and for Pages.
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15% |
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10% |
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20% |
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55% |
Grade Calculator (Excel)
Schedule
| Date | Topic/Readings | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 (Tue) | Course Introduction |
Analytic summary #1 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 1/10 (Thu) | 🚨 Class will be held from 11:30am–12:45pm 🚨 Realism: Prudence, Power & Skepticism About Justice (Unit #1) Reading Guide. Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War. |
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| 1/12 (Sat) | Analytic summary #1 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. | |
| 1/13 (Sun) | Realism Reading Guide. Hobbes, Leviathan: Chapters 11, and 13–15. |
Analytic summary #2 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 1/15 (Tue) | Realism Reading Guide. Hobbes, Leviathan: Chapters 17–19. |
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| 1/17 (Thu) | Realism Reading Guide. Machiavelli, The Prince. Video: Scenes on rigging an election from Battlestar Galactica. |
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| 1/19 (Sat) | Analytic summary #2 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. | |
| 1/20 (Sun) | Realism Reading Guide. Hardin, “The Feast of Malthus”. Video: This Place, Tragedy of the Commons. Optional: Hardin, “Living on a Lifeboat”. |
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| 1/22 (Tue) | Realism Reading Guide. Sen, Development as Freedom: Chapters 8 and 9. Optional: Zoepf, “Shopgirls”. |
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| 1/24 (Thu) | Utilitarianism: Happiness, Well-Being & Justice for the Greater Good (Unit #2) Reading Guide. Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. |
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| 1/27 (Sun) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Mill, Utilitarianism: Chapter 2. |
Position paper #1 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 1/29 (Tue) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Mill, Utilitarianism: Chapter 5. |
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| 1/31 (Thu) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Sections 5 and 6. |
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| 2/3 (Sun) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Mill, On Liberty: Chapter 1. |
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| 2/5 (Tue) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Mill, All Minus One: John Stuart Mill‘s Ideas on Free Speech Illustrated. |
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| 2/7 (Thu) | Utilitarianism Reading Guide. Lithwick, “Condemn-Nation”. Optional: Kelo v. New London: Justice Stevens’ opinion and Justice O’Connor’s dissent. |
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| 2/9 (Sat) | Position paper #1 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. | |
| 2/10 (Sun) | Libertarianism: Property, Markets & Justice in Respecting Autonomy (Unit #3) Reading Guide. Locke, Second Treatise of Government: Chapters 1–4, and 6. |
Position paper #2 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 2/12 (Tue) | ⚽ Qatar National Sports Day ⚽ | |
| 2/14 (Thu) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Locke, Second Treatise of Government: Chapter 5. |
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| 2/17 (Sun) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Locke, Second Treatise of Government: Chapters 7–9, 11, and 13. |
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| 2/19 (Tue) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia: “The Entitlement Theory”, “How Liberty Upsets Patterns”, and “Redistribution and Property Rights”. |
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| 2/21 (Thu) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty: “Equality, Value, and Merit”. |
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| 2/23 (Sat) | Position paper #2 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. | |
| 2/24 (Sun) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Friedman & Friedman, Free to Choose: “Created Equal”. |
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| 2/26 (Tue) | Libertarianism Reading Guide. Anderson, “Is Women’s Labor a Commodity?” Anderson, Value in Ethics and Economics: “Personal Relations and the Market”. |
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| 2/28 (Thu) | Liberal Egalitarianism: Equality, Responsibility & Justice as Fairness (Unit #4) Reading Guide. Nickel, “Poverty and Rights”. |
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| 3/3–3/7 | 🌴 Spring Break 🌴 | |
| 3/10 (Sun) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Scanlon, “ When Does Equality Matter?” |
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| 3/12 (Tue) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Sections 1, 3, and 4. |
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| 3/14 (Thu) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Nussbaum, “Women and Equality: The Capabilities Approach”. |
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| 3/17 (Sun) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Sections 11–13, and 17. |
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| 3/19 (Tue) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Sections 24–26. |
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| 3/21 (Thu) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Section 40. |
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| 3/24 (Sun) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Rawls, A Theory of Justice: Sections 14, 41, and 48. |
Position paper #3 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 3/26 (Tue) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia: “Natural Assets and Arbitrariness”, “The Positive Argument”, “The Negative Argument”, and “Collective Assets”. |
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| 3/28 (Thu) | Liberal Egalitarianism Reading Guide. Sandel, “Picking Winners”. Rachels, Can Ethics Provide Answers?: “Coping with Prejudice”. |
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| 3/31 (Sun) | Communitarianism: Community, Membership & Justice for the Common Good (Unit #5) Reading Guide. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Book I, Chapters 2, 3, and 13; Book II, Chapters 4–7, and 9. |
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| 4/2 (Tue) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Aristotle, Politics: Book I. |
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| 4/4 (Thu) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Sandel, “Honor and Resentment”. Gray, “Vodafone Qatar’s Amazon Adventure”. |
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| 4/6 (Sat) | Position paper #3 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. | |
| 4/7 (Sun) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Aristotle, Politics: Book III, Chapters 1, 4–7, 9, and 12–13. |
Position paper #4 topic posted. (Rubric, explanation, formatting requirements, and MS-Word template.) |
| 4/9 (Tue) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Book VI, Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 7–13. Politically Incorrect, “Courage and the 9/11 Hijackers”. |
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| 4/11 (Thu) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Sandel, Democracy’s Discontent. |
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| 4/14 (Sun) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. MacIntyre, After Virtue: “The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life and the Concept of a Tradition”. |
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| 4/16 (Tue) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Walzer, Spheres of Justice. |
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| 4/18 (Thu) | Communitarianism Reading Guide. Kinsley, “Abolish Marriage”. Yousef, “I’m Qatari, and I Want to be Able to Decide for Myself Who I Marry”. |
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| 4/21 (Sun) | 🐰 Easter 🐰 | |
| 4/23 (Tue) | Epilogue: Leadership Reading Guide. Plato, Republic: “The Allegory of the Cave”. Plato, Apology. |
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| 4/27 (Sat) | Position paper #4 due by 11:59pm (midnight) via TurnItIn. 🚨 Free passes may not be used for this assignment. 🚨 |