PHIL 170.001 – Social Ethics and Political Thought

Instructor: David Faraci. This course meets MWF 12:20 – 1:10 p.m. in CW 103.

As members of a society, what obligations do we have to each other and to our government? What obligations does our government have to us? How far does the government’s power extend? Do we have a moral obligation to obey the law, or merely a legal one? These are just a few of the questions addressed by political philosophers. But many of these questions have also been addressed, in a different way, by fiction writers. In particular, science fiction authors frequently imagine future or alien societies in order to explore what the world might look like if these questions are answered in particular ways. In this class, we will be reading works in both philosophy and fiction in an effort to better understand our place in society, and society’s place in the world.