PHIL 273.002 – Justice, Rights, and the Common Good: Philosophical Perspectives on Social and Economic Issues

Instructor: Asya Passinsky. This course meets MWF 12:20 – 1:10 p.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

This course will examine philosophical theories of justice, as well as philosophical accounts of specific forms of injustice. The first part of the course will center around the question: When is a society ideally just? We will examine three different approaches: utilitarianism, justice as fairness, and egalitarianism. Readings will include selections from Anderson, Dworkin, Mill, and Rawls. In the second part of the course, we will investigate specific forms of injustice that persist in non-ideal societies including racial injustice, gender injustice, and epistemic injustice. Topics to be addressed may include segregation, affirmative action, the gendered division of labor, the wrongness of oppression, and testimonial injustice. Readings will be drawn from works by contemporary authors including Anderson, Fricker, Mikkola, Mills, Schouten, and Shelby. This course will be largely discussion based, and students will be expected to actively participate in discussion.