17.01/24.04 Class Home

17.01/24.04 Justice

Fall 2003

Professor: Joshua Cohen

TAs: Ishmawil Karim Abdul-Matin, Clare E. Batty, Jason Andrew Decker, Wenkai He, Brett V Kubicek, Shariann Lewitt, Bernhard Nickel, Vikram Aditya Siddharth, Eric Swanson, Amos J Zehavi

Lecture: MW 2-3pm (54-100)

Information:

Abraham Lincoln said that the United States was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. In Justice, we discuss the meaning of that conception and dedication. We explore three broad questions about the ideal of a just society and the place of values of liberty and equality in such a society:

Which liberties must a just society protect? Liberty of expression? Sexual liberty? Economic liberty? Political liberty?
What sorts of equality should a just society ensure? Equality of opportunity? Of economic outcome? Political equality? Equality for different religious and cultural groups?
Can a society ensure both liberty and equality? Or are these warring political values?

We will approach these questions by examining answers to them provided by three contemporary theories of justice: utilitarianism, libertarianism, and egalitarian liberalism. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of these philosophical theories, we will discuss their implications for some issues about liberty and equality that are topics of current controversy and that exemplify our three broad questions about liberty and equality.

17.01/24.04 Justice

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