Week 2: Introductions; Understanding political obligation (Plato’s Republic and Crito)

1. How is a moral dilemma defined? What are some examples of moral dilemmas? (Do note that examples are not the same as definitions!)

2. What are the three kinds of goods, according to Socrates? In which of these categories does justice (or, uprightness?) belong according to Socrates? What about according to Glaucon?

3. In the readings from Republic, Glaucon presents the story about the ring of Gyges: what is the point of this story?

4. According to Shakespeare, “’tis better to be vile, than vile esteemed”: How does this relate to Glaucon’s argument? What is Socrates’s response to it?

5. In Crito, Socrates challenges the view that one should escape from the society if the society threatens one’s well-being.

6. What is Crito’s challenge, and how does Socrates (who conveys the view of the Laws personified) respond to this?

7. Would Socrates be inclined to offer the same answer in today’s society (given contemporary laws), or would he be likely to change his mind?

Weeks 3-4: Classical SCTs: Hobbes’s Leviathan; Locke’s Second Treatise

1. What is the state of nature? What is its significance to Hobbes' social contract theory?

2. What is a right of nature? A law of nature? What are some of the specific rights of nature (esp. the first three, plus the summary principle)?

3. How does Hobbes define justice (and injustice)?

4. What is the “fool’s objection”? How does Hobbes respond to this objection?

5. How does Hobbes describe the forming of the society (the Leviathan)? What is the relationship between the sovereign (who is in charge of the society) and the subjects who make the contract?

6. What kinds of rights do the subjects in Hobbes' society have? Why would rational individuals choose to be a part of a Hobbesian society, especially if they come from a state of nature?

7. How does Locke define political power? What is essential for legitimate political power?

8. How does Locke describe the state of nature? How does his description differ from Hobbes's? How are the two descriptions similar?

9. How does Locke define property? What is its significance to his contract theory (see the lecture notes)

10. In forming the society, what happens to the rights that each individual had in the state of nature?

11. Why, according to Locke, is absolute monarchy incompatible with a civil society?

12. If unanimous consent is required for forming the commonwealth, why does the minority in the society have to abide by the majority's will?

13. How does Locke argue for the need of establishing a commonwealth?

14. What is the extent of the legislative power in Lockean commonwealth? What is Locke's rationale for the separation of powers (between legislative and executive powers)? What is the relationship between these two powers?

16. Compare and contrast the SCTs as proposed by Hobbes and Lo>

Weeks 5-6: Contemporary SCTs (Gauthier, Nozick, Rawls

1. How does Gauthier define rationality? How does ‘prisoners’ dilemma’ illustrate the concept of rationality (especially when it comes to self-interested individuals)?

2. What are the differences between the contractarian and the contractualist versions of the SCT?

3. How does Gauthier view the (contractarian) society, given his view of human nature?

4. How does the main point of Nozick’s argument compare to various advertisements e.g., for medicine?

5. Definitions: MPA, DMPA; according to Nozick, isn’t a DMPA the same as a state/commonwealth? Why/why not? (Alternatively: what are the necessary conditions for statehood?) See in particular the “Thieves’ Guild” example.

More definitions: minimal state (aka. night-watchman state), a more expansive state (aka. nanny-state).

6. What is Rawls’s idea of “the original position”? What does he mean by “the veil of ignorance”?

Week 6: Critiques of SCTs (Hume)

1. According to Hume, what does the historical record tell us about SCTs?

2. From Hume’s point of view, what reasons do individuals have for joining a society?

3. In light of the applications we’ve studied (DOI, COTUS), how would Hume view these? (or: how might he view these – given that Hume’s writings pre-date both the DOI and the COTUS)

Week 7: Applications of SCT (DOI, Locke, COTUS)

1. What is the relation of ideas expressed in the US Declaration of Independence and Locke’s Second Treatise? (both in general, as well as in particular)

2. What is the relation between the DOI and the COTUS? (both in general, as well as in particular)

3. What are the two main schools of interpreting the COTUS? What is the guiding principle of each? What are the respective benefits? What about drawbacks?

4. What is the separation of powers doctrine (in Articles I through III of the COTUS)? How would Locke view this? How would Hobbes?

Some specifics about the COTUS:

* Definitions: Bill of attainder, corruption of blood;
* 7th Amendment (and how casually this gets abandoned);
* 9th Amendment argument, of how the enumerated rights of individuals should not detract the rights of others;
* The required procedure for amending the COTUS (Art.V);
* Voting rights (and their expansion, according to the COTUS);
* plus whatever else is covered in detail in the class discussion on COTUS;
* The level of knowledge that average US citizens have of the COTUS.

5. Given Locke’s formulation of the SCT (according to which everyone party to the contract transfers their natural right for self-protection to the commonwealth), how would he view, e.g., the contemporary interpretations of the Second Amendment to the COTUS?

6. Given how Locke’s views formed the underpinning for the DOI, how would Locke – or the Founding Fathers – view the present-day situation in the US (given all the contemporary political strife)?

7. Put slightly differently: how do the contemporary grievances (about the NSA, or the IRS, or …) compare to the grievances included in the DOI?