Distributive Justice in Contemporary Political Philosophy

Full course description

Distributive Justice concerns the morally correct way of distributing the burdens and benefits of social cooperation among citizens. In the wake of the publication of John Rawls’s monumental A Theory of Justice, there has been an explosion of political philosophizing about this issue, one that continues to this day. This course will examine the work of some of today’s most prominent political philosophers working in the field of justice. In doing so we will study several topics that are related to some of the issues discussed in COR1004 (Political Philosophy). As such the course is designed to be a sequel to that course, and familiarity with the concepts and authors discussed in that course is presumed.

               Having said that, this course is distinctive in several respects. First of all, the course will strictly focus on debates within academia, rather than hot political debates within the wider community. Secondly, the course will exclusively use original primary texts, i.e. original scientific articles and book chapters. Thirdly, the course will be particularly concerned with the construction and evaluation of the minutia of argument.  We will be looking at the strengths and weakness of the arguments presented for certain ethical claims and positions, with the aim of figuring out whether we agree with them, and to determine what our own conception of justice is.