PHIL 150-01, Social and Political Philosophy, Spring 2008

Abstract

This course will be centered on the question: “What is justice?” Half of the semester will be devoted to a historical survey of the different philosophical conceptions of justice from Plato to twentieth century political theorists like Rawls and Nozick. In the second half of the course, we will turn our attention to human rights violations or what have come to be known as “crimes against humanity,” arguably the greatest challenges to classic and contemporary formulations of justice. Specifically, we will analyze the morality and political viability of recent Truth Commissions (like those in South Africa, Chile, Uganda, Haiti, and Argentina) and International Criminal Tribunals (like those set up by the United Nations for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia). We will also consider the theoretical and practical value of the discourses surrounding “restorative justice” and “transitional justice” over and against more traditional frameworks.