Student Effort Hours:
| Autonomous Student Learning |
203 |
| Lectures |
22 |
| Total |
225 |
|---|
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The best way to learn philosophy is to philosophise, that is, having a debate putting forward our strongest arguments and carefully considering the objections of our interlocutors, refining our reasoning and engaging again with critics… Part of the job is questioning our own views and double-checking our intuitions. Think Socratic method. However, before developing a normative judgement that can be well defended one needs to know at least some of the relevant theory. Your learning in this module thus involves different activities and sources.
Readings
The readings selected for this module are mostly original contributions to the normative political theory literature rather than textbooks explaining ideas and traditions. The class schedule below sets out the required readings for each session.
All required readings must be completed before the class for which they are assigned.
Handouts
There are thematic handouts on key issues and themes of the module. These summarise important definitions, distinctions, and questions on the topic in question. It might be helpful to have the handout at hand while doing the readings.
Classes
This class is meant to be conducted in seminar style. There will be no lectures summarising the readings. Instead, students are expected to come prepared and to initiate in-class discussion by bringing up their questions and concerns. Questions of understanding are particularly welcome, since the readings are contributions to debates and it cannot be expected that students understand the implications of the specific background.
There usually will be an introduction of central themes supported by slides, but students are always invited to bring up questions and ideas that might lead to another focus. Classes provide room for active learning, that is for trying out your ideas on the issue. You are expected to come prepared to discuss the ideas discussed and arguments made in the required readings.
There is an in-class exercise for each weak which counts towards the active participation grade which accounts for 10% of the overall grade.
Questions
Philosophical issues are by their nature puzzling, so please expect to be puzzled a lot during this module, probably even confused. If you do not have questions, you are doing it wrong! Please make sure to note down any questions you have on the readings, the handouts, and the lectures and to let me know about them: I will work any such queries into the plan for the next class. Please remember to note the page number for any unclear passages.
Where you want a direct and personal response, please sign up for a slot during my office hour.
Writing
Your grade in this module depends largely on a written assignment, so please practice writing as much as you can. It will be extremely helpful to make notes while reading relevant literature. Please remember to also note down your questions as well as any insights you gained during classroom discussions.
While you take notes, please remember to note down the relevant page numbers as for this module all references to particular claims in the literature (be it in form of direct quotations or simply in form of referring to an idea discussed by another author) must be accompanied by a properly formatted in-text reference that includes the relevant page number.