西方哲学特别专题

PHI 3592 Special Topics: Western Philosophy: Rawls’s Political Philosophy

Course Outline :

Rawls is regarded by many to be the most important political philosopher in the Anglo-American tradition since J.S. Mill. This course provides a detailed introduction to his theory of social justice. We will focus on two central features: fair social cooperation and political liberalism. These features are responses to two types of diversity. The idea of fair social cooperation is intended to make Rawls’s account of justice acceptable to members of any socioeconomic group. The idea of political liberalism seeks to do the same for members of any reasonable worldview. The goal of the course will be to understand the nuances of Rawls’s arguments on these topics, as well as the challenges to and limits of his approach.

Texts:

– Rawls, John. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement , ed. Erin Kelly (Harvard, 2001).

– Freeman, Samuel (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Rawls ( Cambridge , 2003).