Phil 1200: Intro to Social and Political Philosophy
Fall 2017
Schedule (subject to change!)
Below is a tentative schedule of what topics we will cover, and what reading(s) you should complete BEFORE each class meeting.
| M, Aug 28 | Topic: About this course—An Intro to Contemporary Social Problems |
| W, Aug 30 | A Brief Intro to Philosophy and its Methods |
| F, Sep 1 | A Brief Intro to Philosophy and its Methods continued |
| M, Sep 4 | Labor Day- No Class! |
| W, Sep 6 | Politics, Irrationality, and Critical Thinking |
| F, Sep 8 | Politics and Irrationality continued |
| M, Sep 11 | Politics and Irrationality Continued |
| W, Sep 13 | Politics and Irrationality Continued |
| F, Sep 15 | Finish Huemer |
| M, Sep 18 | Logic and Arguments Continued |
| W, Sep 20 | Logic and Arguments Continued |
| F, Sep 22 | Finish Logic |
| M, Sep 25 | Cultural Relativism |
| W, Sep 27 | Finish Objections to Cultural Relativism |
| F, Sep 29 | Cultural Relativism Takeaways and Discussion |
| M, Oct 2 | Morality and Religion- Is God the Source of Moral Truth |
| W, Oct 4 | Finish God and Morality |
| F, Oct 6 | Arguments for/against God's Existence |
| M, Oct 9 | Problem of Evil Argument |
| W, Oct 11 | Finish Problem of Evil and Philosophy of Religion section |
| F, Oct 13 | The State of Nature |
| M, Oct 16 | Class CANCELLED |
| W, Oct 18 | Game Theory and Prisoner’s Dilemma |
| F, Oct 20 | MIDTERM EXAM |
| M, Oct 23 | Utilitarianism |
| W, Oct 25 | Utilitarianism (continued) |
| F, Oct 27 | Midterm exams returned and reviewed |
| M, Oct 30 | Utilitarianism (continued) |
| W, Nov 1 | Utilitarianism & Objections |
| F, Nov 3 | Utilitarianism: Objections to Consequentialism |
| M, Nov 6 | **HOMEWORK DUE** |
| W, Nov 8 | Why should we have to share? Are we obligated to donate to ease world hunger? |
| F, Nov 10 | Poverty and World Hunger- Responses to Singer |
| M, Nov 13 |
Singer Continued |
| W, Nov 15 | Distributive Justice, The Original Position and the Veil of Ignorance |
| F, Nov 17 | Class (and Office Hours) Cancelled (per in-class vote) |
| M, Nov 20 | Fall Break- no class |
| W, Nov 22 | Fall Break- no class |
| F, Nov 24 | Fall Break- no class |
| M, Nov 27 | Rawls and Egalitarianism Continued |
| W, Nov 29 | Finish Rawls, Start Libertarianism |
| F, Dec 1 | Libertarianism- Distributive Justice revisited |
| M, Dec 4 | Egalitarianism vs. Libertarianism |
| W, Dec 6 |
Rawls vs. Nozick (continued) |
| F, Dec 8 | Civil Disobedience- When government fails… |
| M, Dec 11 | Civil Disobedience continued |
| W, Dec 13 | Summary day |
Final Exam on official day scheduled by Registrar’s office (Posted in your mycuinfo) |
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Additional Resources for Students
Guidelines on writing a philosophy paper (J. Pryor)
Writing Philosophy Essays (M. Tooley)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
7/3/19: I am thrilled to have accepted a position as an Instructor at the University of Colorado at Denver! I was extremely impressed by the students and community when last I was there, and am excited to be returning to now teach all the core classes for the UCD Philosophy of Science Minor!
5/6/16: I'm honored to be the first person to receive both the CU Boulder Philosophy Department Morriston Teaching Award (2016) and the University of Colorado-Boulder Graduate Teaching Excellence Award (2014-2015)! My thanks go out to the many great teachers and students with whom I've been lucky enough to learn!
Office Hours: By appointment
Location: Remote via Zoom
Please feel free to drop by with any questions, or simply to chat about philosophy, life, the universe and everything...