The course will survey the moral and political philosophy of David Hume with reference to contemporary societies. We will work through the background to his work and then discuss his theory and its relevance to individual-level and societal-level issues.

Politics G53.1100: Political Philosophy Russell Hardin

Spring 2004, Mondays 2:00-4:00 Office: 762 in 726 Broadway

Office hours: Tu 2:00-4:00 or

by appointment

This course is a discussion seminar. The course will focus on political order and distributive justice and the changing ideas on them from Hobbes to Rawls. Readings will be from varied perspectives, but most will be from the major philosophers Hobbes, Hume, and Rawls.

Course assignments are a term paper of no more than 25 pages and two papers of no more than 5 pages each, double-spaced, on any topic suitable for a particular session. The term paper should be written as a research paper as though for publication. It should therefore not merely tell what some author has said but should contribute to the debate, for example by explaining the connection between order and justice. The short papers are intended to help spur class discussion and each paper must therefore be submitted at the time of the session for which it is written. Ideally, many of the short papers would bring the readings and arguments to bear on clear theses or on specific cases or problems, historical and contemporary. You may use the short papers as opportunities to explore themes for the term paper, but you are not required to do that. The first short paper must be done no later than 8 March and the second no later than 19 April.

We will reserve some time in the last two sessions for brief presentations of term papers. Or we will schedule an extra session at the end for that purpose.

Readings are heavy in some weeks. Use your own judgment of whether you can skim some discussions and concentrate more heavily on others.

REQUIRED BOOKS:

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, edited by Edwin Curley. Indianapolis: Hackett.

David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Oxford University Press

David Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Hackett, 1983

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Harvard University Press, 1971 first or revised edition

Although they are not assigned, some might find three other works of interest: Hobbes, De Cive; Hume, The Natural History of Religion and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

David Hume, Essays Moral, Political, and Literary, ed. Eugene F. Miller, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Press, 1985.

John Rawls, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy, Harvard University Press (especially the essay on Hume, but many may wish to read essays on Kant as well)

Russell Hardin, Morality within the Limits of Reason, University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Reading assignments

I. Jan 26. Modern Political Philosophy

II. Feb 2. Hobbes I

Hobbes, Leviathan, 1-105 (you may skim parts of this, but not those on political order)

Recommended:

Hardin, “Hobbesian Political Order,” Political Theory 19 (May 1991): 156-180

III. Feb 9. Hobbes II

Hobbes, Leviathan, 106-165

Curley’s intro to Hobbes, Leviathan, viii-xlvii

Feb 16: no class, President’s day.

IV. Feb 23. Hobbes III

Hobbes, Leviathan, 165-244

V. Mar 1. From Hobbes to Hume

Hume, “Of the First Principles of Government,” “Of the Origin of Government,” “Of the Original Contract,” “Of Passive Obedience,” in Miller: 32-36, 37-41, 465-487, 488-492

Hardin, “From Power to Order, From Hobbes to Hume,” Journal of Political Philosophy, 1 (March 1993): 195-207

VI. Mar 8. Hume I: The structure of moral and political problems

Hume, T455-484, 574-591, 614-621 skim T592-602

Recommended:

Hardin, Morality within the Limits of Reason, xv-xx, 1-73, 126-137

Hume, EPM 13-20, 38-88 (skim parts), 98-106

Mar 15: spring break

VII. Mar 22. Hume II: Convention

Hume, read the footnotes T504-513

David Lewis, Convention, chaps. 1-3

VIII. Mar 29. Hume III: Justice and Political Society

Hume T477-569

Recommended:

Hume, EPM 20-38

Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy”

Apr 5: no class.

IX. April 12. From Hume to Rawls

Hardin, Morality within the Limits of Reason, chaps 2 and 3

Rawls, John. 1955. “Two Concepts of Rules.” Philosophical Review 64 (April): 3-32.

Rawls, John. 1958. “Justice As Fairness.” Philosophical Review 67 (April): 164-194. (Both of these papers are available on Jstor)

X. Apr 19. Rawls I

Rawls, Theory of Justice, chaps 1 and 2

XI. Apr 26. Rawls II

Rawls, Theory of Justice, chaps 3 and 4

XII. May 3. Rawls III

Rawls, Theory of Justice, chaps 5 and 6