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PHIL 260-0 : Introduction to Moral Philosophy

Description

Philosophical Ideas of Freedom - The concept of freedom has, perhaps more than any other notion, shaped the political imaginary of modern society. It occupies an especially central position in U.S. political discourse. What does it mean to live in the “land of the free”? Is freedom an inalienable property of the individual upon which nothing should impinge, or is it something human beings create together, in ways which necessarily involve collaboration and compromise? How should we prioritize the value of freedom in relation to other values, such as fairness, prosperity, and sustainability?

In this class, we will investigate the philosophical stakes of questions such as these from a variety of theoretical and political standpoints. We will begin by closely reading much of the defining document of modern liberalism, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. We will then consider various attempts to refine or challenge the liberal conception of freedom, in figures such as Isaiah Berlin, Hannah Arendt, Philip Pettit, Friedrich Hayek, Simone de Beauvoir, and Axel Honneth. Finally, we will consider the contemporary limits of liberalism and how to overcome them, as articulated by Franz Fanon, Angela Davis, Patrick Deneen, and Maeve Cooke.