Issues in Contemporary Political Theory: Justice and Relativism
POL 5223
Thurs. 5:30-8:15
HSS 3.03.16
Email: dengster@utsa.edu
Dan Engster
Office: MS 4.03.36
Office hrs.: Thurs. 2:00-5:00
Office phone: 458-5645
In this class, we will examine the question of whether it is possible to formulate a theory
of justice, or human rights, that applies across a wide variety of religious, cultural, moral
and ideological traditions. The class begins by examining existing religious, moral, and
cultural challenges to universal definitions of justice and human rights. We then look at
two influential attempts by theorists to overcome these challenges: the theory of
deliberative democracy (Habermas, Gutmann) and the idea of an overlapping consensus
(Rawls). We conclude the first half of the course by looking at Richard Rorty’s
ethnocentric defense/attack on human rights and justice. The second half of the course
studies a set of alternative approaches for grounding universal justice, beginning with
Alan Gewirth’s theory of purposive action. We then turn to John Finnis’s account of
natural law theory, and Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach. We conclude with
Axel Honneth’s tentative moves toward developing a theory of justice based upon the
human desire for recognition. The central questions addressed in this class are: What are
the moral grounds, if any, for justice and human rights? Are all values relative? Are
justice and human rights ultimately grounded in anything more than majority consent and
force? Do they need to be? By the end of the course, students should have a firm
understanding of the difficulties involved in attempting to justify a universal theory of
rights and justice, and a good grasp of the central contemporary normative theories that
attempt to do so.
REQUIRED BOOKS:
The following books are available at the UTSA and Campus South Bookstores. They are
also on reserve at the 1604 library.
Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, Second Edition,
(Cornell University Press, 2003). ISBN: 0-8014-8776-5
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980). ISBN:
0198761104
Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy? (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2004). ISBN: 0691120196
Alan Gewirth, Reason and Morality, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980).
ISBN: 0226288765
Jurgen Habermas, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1992). ISBN: 0262581183
Axel Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 1996). ISBN: 0262581477
Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). ISBN: 0521003857
John Rawls, Political Liberalism, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005). ISBN:
0231130899
John Rawls, The Law of Peoples, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
2001). ISBN: 0674005422
Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989). ISBN: 0521367816
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) Papers: You are required to write two papers. The first paper should focus on the
ideas of Donnelly, Habermas, Gutmann and Thompson, Rawls, or Rorty. It should
be 10-12 pages typed and double-spaced. It counts 35% toward your final grade.
The second paper should also be12-15 pages, typed and double-spaced, focus on
some author or idea from the second half of the class, and include a miniature
literature review. It counts 50% toward your final grade. I will pass out
instructions for the papers later in the semester. The first paper is due on Friday
March 9. The second paper is due on Monday May 7.
2) Weekly summaries: You are required to write a two page, typed and doublespaced, summary of each week’s reading assignment. The summaries are due at
the beginning of each class. Your summaries should describe in your own words
the contents of the assigned reading, and raise some questions or criticisms of it.
You will receive a grade of 2, 1, or 0 for each summary. Except in extraordinary
cases, you will not receive credit for your summary unless you attend class, and
even in these extraordinary cases, you will receive at best a grade of 1. Your point
total for these summaries counts 15% toward your final grade.
NOTE: Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class on any written assignment, including
papers or summaries. Plagiarism will result in an automatic F in this course, and a
recommended expulsion from the University. For information on plagiarism, see the
course hand-out: Plagiarism.
COURSE SCHEDULE:
1/18: Introduction
1/25: Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights, p 1-123.
Additional Reading (available outside of my office):
Alison Dundes Renteln, “The Unanswered Challenge of Relativism and the
Consequences for Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly, 7, (November 1985): 514540.
Alison Dundes Renteln, “Chapter 4: Children,” from The Cultural Defense, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2004).
Fareed Zakaria, “Culture is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew,” Foreign
Affairs, 73, (March/April 1994): 109-126.
2/1: Jurgen Habermas, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, p 43-141, 163175.
Additional Reading (available outside my office):
Jonathan Culler, “Communicative Competence and Normative Force,” New
German Critique, 35, (Spring/Summer), 1985: 133-144.
2/8: Amy Gutman and Dennis Thompson, Why Deliberative Democracy? p 1-187
(complete).
Additional Reading (available at UTSA Library – not on reserve):
Seyla Benhabib, Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era
(2002).
Jorge Valadez, Deliberative Democracy: Political Legitimacy and SelfDetermination in Multicultural Societies (2001).
2/15: Rawls, Political Liberalism, p xiii-lx, 3-88, 133-200.
Additional Reading (available outside my office except for Rawls piece):
John Rawls, “Reply to Habermas,” in Political Liberalism, p 372-434.
Andrew Murphy, “Rawls and a Shrinking Liberty of Conscience,” Review of
Politics, 60, 2 (Spring, 1998):247-276.
Susan Okin, “Political Liberalism, Justice, and Gender,” Ethics, 105 (October
1994): 23-43.
Peter Steinberger, “The Impossibility of a ‘Political’ Conception,” The Journal of
Politics, 62, 1, (February 2000):147-165.
2/22: John Rawls, The Law of Peoples, p 1-128, 131-180.
Additional Reading (available outside my office):
Simon Caney, “Survey Article: Cosmopolitanism and the Law of Peoples,” The
Journal of Political Philosophy, 10, 1, (2002): 95-123.
3/1: Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, p xiii-xvi, 3-95, 189-198.
Additional Reading (available outside my office):
Richard Bernstein, “Rorty’s Liberal Utopia,” Social Research, 57, 1, (Spring
1990): 31-72.
3/8: No class.
3/9:First Papers are due in the main Political Science office (MS 4.03.62) by 5:00
pm.
3/12-16: Spring Break. No Class.
3/22: Alan Gewirth, Reason and Morality, p 1-198
Additional Reading (available outside my office):
Martin Golding, “From Prudence to Rights: A Critique,” NOMOS XXIII: Human
Rights, p 165-74.
3/29: Alan Gewirth, Reason and Morality, p 199-365.
Additional Reading (available at UTSA library – not on reserve):
Deryck Beyleveld, Dialectical Necessity of Morality: An Analysis and Defense of
Alan Gewirth’s argument to the Principle of Generic Consistency (1991).
Alan Gewirth, Community of Rights (1996).
Alan Gewirth, Human Rights: Essays on Justification and Applications (1982).
4/5: John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, p 3-133.
Additional Reading (available outside my office)
Robert George, “Recent Criticism of Natural Law Theory,” University of Chicago
Law Review, 55, 4 (Fall, 1988): 1371-1429.
4/12: John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, 134-230, 260-296, 351-413.
Additional Reading (available outside my office):
Anthony Lisska, “Chapter 6: The Finnis Reconstruction,” in Aquinas’s Theory of
Natural Law, p 139-165.
4/19: Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development, 1-166.
Additional Reading (Okin article available outside my office; Sen available at
UTSA library):
Susan Okin, “Poverty, Well-Being, and Gender: Who Counts, Who’s Heard?”
Philosophy and Public Affairs, 31, 3, (2003): 280-316.
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (1999).
4/26: Axel Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition, p 1-47, 67-139, 160-179.
Additional Reading (Honneth article is available outside my office):
Axel Honneth, “Recognition and Moral Obligation,” Social Research, 64, 1
(Spring 1997): 16-35.
Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth, Redistribution or Recognition? A PoliticalPhilosophical Exchange, (2003).
5/3: Student Study Day.
5/7: Final Papers are due in the main Political Science Office (MS 4.03.62) by 5:00
pm.