2022-2023

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Topic: The Philosophy of Games

In this course we will investigate two main questions. What characteristics make a certain activity a game? And what is the value of playing games? Along the way, we will consider several further questions about the place of games in our practical lives. How does game playing relate to consumption of fiction, and how should we make sense of works that are both fictions and games? Are there moral or epistemic hazards of game playing under certain circumstances, or of ‘gamifying’ certain activities? What can a philosophical investigation into games teach us about the shape of our practical agency more generally? Readings will include portions of Bernard Suits’ classic work on games, The Grasshopper, as well as more recent writings by C. Thi Nguyen and other philosophers currently working on games. This course will involve readings in several areas of philosophy as they apply to an investigation of the nature of games, including metaphysics, the philosophy of action, ethics, and aesthetics/the philosophy of art.

Topic: The Ontological Argument

This course will cover the history of the ontological argument for the existence of God. We will find that there is in fact no single ‘ontological argument,’ but many arguments that share in common an underlying set of concerns, all of them attempting to demonstrate the existence of a divine mind through reflection upon the activity of thinking. This subject is of interest not only for the philosophy of religion, but also for metaphysics and epistemology more broadly, because it seeks to vindicate the objectivity of thought through analysis of the structure and conditions of thought itself. Assigned readings for the course will include works by Plato, Sts. Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas and Bonaventure, Bl. Duns Scotus, Descartes, Kant, and Hegel, among others.

This lecture-discussion course will examine Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's intellectual development, from the time he wrote Sorrows of Young Werther through the final states of Faust. Along the way, we will read a selection of Goethe's plays, poetry, and travel literature. We will also examine his scientific work, especially his theory of color and his morphological theories. On the philosophical side, we will discuss Goethe's coming to terms with Kant (especially the latter's third Critique) and his adoption of Schelling's transcendental idealism. The theme uniting the exploration of the various works of Goethe will be unity of the artistic and scientific understanding of nature, especially as he exemplified that unity in "the eternal feminine." (B) (IV)

This course introduces some of the most important and influential accounts of science to have been produced in modern times. It provides an opportunity to discover how philosophers, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists have grappled with the scientific enterprise, and to assess critically how successful their efforts have been. Authors likely include Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Robert Merton, Steven Shapin, and Bruno Latour. (B)

This lecture-discussion class will focus on a close reading of Darwin's two classic texts. An initial class or two will explore the state of biology prior to Darwin's Beagle voyage, and then consider the development of his theories before 1859. Then we will turn to his two books. Among the topics of central concern will be the logical, epistemological, and rhetorical status of Darwin's several theories, especially his evolutionary ethics; the religious foundations of his ideas and the religious reaction to them; and the social-political consequences of his accomplishment. The year 2019 was the 210th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 160th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. (B) (IV)

This course combines economic theory (the theory of the firm), legal theory (labor law), and labor history, with political philosophy to examine questions of justice for workers that are often ignored in academic political philosophy. The course begins by considering very basic questions from economic theory, including what markets are, and why production in the economy is organized through firms, and what economists have to say about why firms are arranged so hierarchically. Given this background, we next turns to consider injustices at the work, including worker domination, exploitation, and the casualization of employment. We consider responses including universal basic income that decouples access to goods from work; worker organization and resistance through the labor movement and tools such as collective bargaining; and finally, the reorganization of the economy to foster either shared control over firms or worker cooperatives. Along the way we consider the right to strike, the connection of race and labor, and different visions of a more just future for workers. (A)

This course explores how the theory of justice relates to political practice and change. We will examine different theories about the relationship of theory to practice, including utopianism, system failure analysis, and pragmatism. We will consider what role both the idea of a just society and an analysis of the unjust status quo plays in our theorizing about justice. Among topics to be explored include the role of the utopian horizon in practice; how to be a realist without being a cynic; whether the addressee of political philosophy is universal or particular; what the role of the oppressed is in both theorizing and bringing change; and how the political philosopher relates to agents of change. Along the way we will engage with thinkers such as Erik Olin Wright, G.A. Cohen, Elizabeth Anderson, Tommie Shelby, David Estlund, and Pablo Gilabert. Time permitting we may also examine a few historical texts that engage directly with these questions, including Aristotle, Kant, Marx, and Lukács. (A) (I)