PHIL 330: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

SPRING 2025
PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTORS, CONTACT INFORMATION, AND OFFICE HOURS:

John Beatty, [email protected], Zoom of ce hours: Friday noon-2:00

Kinley Gillette, TA, [email protected], Zoom of ce hours: TBA
Erin Chiu, Philosophy Undergrad Administrator, [email protected]

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

In this class, we will focus on the concept of “political authority,” and the related
notions of “right to command” and “obligation to obey.” States generally have the
power to command their subjects, compel them to obey, and punish them if they do not.
But are there any good reasons for us to obey, other than the fact that we are often
forced into doing so, and other than the fear of further force against us if we disobey?
Are we perhaps obligated to obey? Or in other words, do states have the legitimate
authority and right to command and enforce their commandments (and if so, under
what restrictions and conditions)?

In the process of pursuing these central issues, we will also have the opportunity to
consider a number of related issues, including: human nature and politics, autonomy,
anarchism, paternalism, social contract theory, Marxism, liberalism, libertarianism,
democratic theory, and distributive justice. We will be reading classic and contemporary
sources. We will also consider real life exercises (and abuses) of authority, along with
some empirical studies (and a ctional future) as sources of philosophical questions and
to illustrate philosophical points.

MECHANICS:
Familiarize yourself with the Canvas course website.

Lectures are “in person.”

You will write two essays due midway through the course, and two more essays due at
the end. Each essay is 5-6 pages (double-spaced, 12 point). You’ll have one week to
complete the rst two essays, and same for the nal two essays. Thus your nal grade
will be based on four essays, each of which counts equally. Note well: Your essays should
re ect the assigned readings, and lectures and discussions. That’s what you’ll be
examined on. You’ll be asked to make use of readings, lectures and discussions to
explain the reasoning behind positions that you don’t necessarily accept, and/or
positions that you do accept but perhaps take for granted and have not examined
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critically. You are expected to support your points with references to the readings, citing
page numbers from the editions assigned. to support your points with references to the
readings, citing page numbers from the editions assigned.

John will say more in class about essay expectations.

READINGS:

All required readings are available online, on the Canvas course website, with the
exception of Max Barry’s Jennifer Government, available in the bookstore (for the last
week, so you have plenty of time to get a copy).

“POLICIES AND RESOURCES TO SUPPORT STUDENT SUCCESS”

Please familiarize yourself with the above-named UBC Senate website: https://
senate.ubc.ca/policies-resources-support-student-success. There you will nd the
following principles and linked resources:
• UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles
but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access
including those for survivors of sexual assault. (links provided on the website)
• UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic
community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of
academic freedom. (links provided on the website)
• UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for
religious, spiritual and cultural observances. (links provided on the website)
• UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas
generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions.
(links provided on the website)

“ACADEMIC INTEGRITY”
In connection with the last principle (above) concerning academic standards, you
should familiarize yourself with UBC’s website on academic integrity, https://
academicintegrity.ubc.ca/, including the policy statement that “Doing your own work,
acknowledging the contributions of others, and seeking help when you need it are all
part of what academic integrity means at UBC, as is avoiding tools and services that
subvert these practices.”
On the same website, https://academicintegrity.ubc.ca/regulation-process/academic-
misconduct/, you will nd, and should familiarize yourself with, “Types of Academic
Misconduct,” which include “falsi cation” of information provided to UBC and your
instructors, “cheating,” “plagiarism,” “impersonation,” and “contract cheating.” Study this;
don’t presume you already know what each form of misconduct involves.

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 PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE OF TOPICS

(see the corresponding reading list that follows)

Part I

Jan 9 Introduction

Jan 16 (a) Authority and autonomy: Kant, Arendt, and Milgram’s experiment
(b) Authority and autonomy: Wolff (Chapt 1)

Jan 23 (a) Authority and autonomy: An historical case study (no readings)
(b) Backing up and starting over: Plato on “doctors” of the state and
philosopher kings

Feb 6 (a) Hobbes on social contracts

(b) Rousseau on social contracts

Feb 13 (a) Rousseau (cont’d)

(b) Hume on social contracts

Feb 20 Midterm break

Part II

Feb 27 J.S. Mill on liberty

Midterm essay prompts posted on “Assignments” page

Mar 6 Midterm essays due, as per instructions

No class

Mar 13 (a) J.S. Mill on representative democracy

(b) Marx on ideology, liberal illusions

Mar 20 (a) Berlin on liberty

(b) Wolff (Chapts 2-3) on anarchism vs representative democracy

Mar 27 Rawls on the original position and distributive justice

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Apr 3 (a) Nozick on libertarianism
(b) Barry on whether the state will surrender to the market
Final essay prompts posted on “Assignments” page

Apr 10 Final essays due, as per instructions

REQUIRED READINGS

In addition to these readings, you are also responsible for passages from additional
sources that will be included on slides and handouts.

Keep in mind that you need to read and cite from these editions.

Part I

Kant, Immanuel. “What is Enlightenment?” [1784]. Kant: Political Writings, 2nd ed. Hans
Reiss (ed), H.B. Nisbet (transl). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Selected
passages available on Canvas.

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil [1963]. New York:
Penguin. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Milgram, Stanley, Obedience (video to be shown in class). http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/

cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=10551158.

Wolff, Robert Paul. In Defense of Anarchism [1970]. Berkeley: University of California

Press, 2003. Chapter 1. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Plato. The Republic [written approximately 375 BC], Desmond Lee (transl). London:
Penguin, 1987. Selected passages available on Canvas.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan [1651]. London: Penguin, 1985. Selected passages available
on Canvas.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. On the Social Contract [1762], Maurice Cranston (transl).

London: Penguin, 1968. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Hume, David. “Of the Original Contract” [1748]. Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary.
London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1875, pp. 443-460. Available on Canvas.

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty [1859], in On Liberty, Utilitarianism, and Other Essays, Mark
Philip and Frederick Rosen (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. Selected
passages available on Canvas.

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 Part II

Mill, John Stuart. Considerations on Representative Government [1861], in On Liberty,

Utilitarianism, and Other Essays. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Marx, Karl. “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” [1843], in Karl Marx:
Selected Writings, 2nd ed, David McLellan (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Selected passages available on Canvas.

Marx, Karl. “On the Jewish Question” [1843], in Karl Marx. Selected passages available
Canvas.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The German Ideology [completed in 1846, but not
published until 1932], in Karl Marx. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Berlin, Isaiah. “Two Concepts of Liberty” [delivered as a lecture in 1958], in Four Essays
on Liberty, pp. 118-172. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969. Available on Canvas.

Wolff, Robert Paul. In Defense of Anarchism [1970]. Berkeley: University of California

Press, 2003. Chapters 2-3. Selected passages available on Canvas.

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice, rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Selected passages available on Canvas.

Mills, Charles W. “Ideal Theory as Ideology.” Hypatia 20 (2005): 165-184. Selected

passages available on Canvas.

Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books, 1974. Selected
passages available on Canvas.

Satz, Debra. “Voluntary Slavery and the Limits of the Market.” Law & Ethics of Human
Rights 3 (2009): 86-109. Selected passages available on Canvas.
Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. New York: Doubleday, 2003. You need to read and cite
from this edition.