Introduction to Political Theory, Honors: Freedom and Equality
POSC 20203
Spring 2013
Basic Information
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Instructor: Dr. Sam Arnold
Email: s.arnold@tcu.edu
Office: 2007G Scharbauer Hall
Office Hours: TBA
Class time:
Class location:
Course description
We live in a free society, or so many people say. But what is freedom, and how much
freedom should we have? Should we be able to take drugs? Watch pornography? Marry
same-sex partners? What is the relationship between property and freedom?
Specifically, does freedom require capitalism? In the first part of this course, we tackle
these and related questions about freedom, one of the two central concepts in
contemporary political theory. In picking readings, I have prioritized accessibility and
relevance. We’ll read historical greats like John Stuart Mill, cutting-edge journal articles,
book chapters, Supreme Court cases, and pieces drawn from popular sources like The
New York Review of Books.
In the course’s second half, we’ll investigate equality, the other major politicalphilosophical concept. Economic inequality in the U.S. has reached unprecedented
levels: America is now one of the most unequal countries in the developed world, and the
gap between rich and poor shows no signs of shrinking any time soon. But are these facts
cause for worry? Is inequality unfair or otherwise morally objectionable? We’ll
approach these questions through three authors: John Rawls (a liberal), Robert Nozick (a
libertarian), and G.A. Cohen (a socialist).
Learning Goals
First, the bad news. Many students find political theory difficult. The texts are
demanding and require careful, active study. You can’t skim political theory! (Or, you
can, but you won’t get anything out of it.) Instead, you’ve got to attack the readings: read
them, write notes on them, underline key passages, think about them, read key passages
again, write more notes, and so on, until you not only a) understand the author’s
argument but, crucially, b) are able to critically evaluate the author’s argument. Your
goal, in short, is not merely to understand what (say) Marx said about (say) capitalism—
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although that is important—but to develop an intelligent evaluation of Marx’s argument
about capitalism. Does Marx’s argument work, or not? And if not, why not? Where
does he go wrong?
Now, the good news. If you work hard in this class, you will develop a host of invaluable
intellectual tools that will serve you well not only in your other classes here at TCU but—
more importantly—in your life beyond college. This class will help you…
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Read, understand, and evaluate complicated texts and arguments (in any field, not
just political theory)
Think critically about urgent political issues—free speech, gender equality, gay
marriage, income inequality, and more
Write with clarity, precision, rigor, and grace
Discuss controversial political topics respectfully and deeply
Put simply, if you put in the requisite effort, this course can help you become a better
student, a better critical thinker and writer, and even a better citizen. And if you slack off
or coast through the class? Well, I predict that you get out what you put in.
Required Texts
Most readings will be available online on our eCollege course site. The exception is GA
Cohen’s Why Not Socialism?, which you are required to purchase. You can buy it at the
campus bookstore: Barnes & Noble (2950 West Berry St).
Overview of Assignments
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Three 3-5 page “critical summaries”
Two 6-8 page “evaluative essays”
Participation in “in class debates”
Occasional unannounced reading quizzes
Due Dates for Assignments
Writing Assignments
Sunday, Feb 3
Sunday Feb 17
Sunday, March 17
Sunday, April 7
Monday, May 6
Critical Summary #1
Evaluative Essay #1
Critical Summary #2
Critical Summary #3
Evaluative Essay #2
Debates
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F, Feb 1 (hate speech)
W, Feb 13 (pornography and censorship)
F, March 22 (human enhancement)
W, April 10 (universal basic income)
W, May 1 (commercial surrogacy)
Grading Policy
I will determine your course grade as follows:
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Critical Summaries: 30% (10% each)
Evaluative Essays: 40% (20% each)
Participation/performance in debates: 10%
Pop reading quizzes: 10%
Class participation: 10%
I’m not convinced that grades are a good idea. They threaten to misdirect your attention
away from what’s important (namely, intellectual growth) and towards what’s not
(getting a figurative ‘gold star’ from me, the professor). However, grade I must. I’ll try
to do it fairly and in a way that helps you learn.
I plan to use the online gradebook function on eCollege so that you’ll have easy access to
your grades. However, I’m an eCollege noob, so it may take me a while to figure out the
system. I ask for your patience in advance!
I’ll say more about grading standards prior to the first assignment.
A word on participation
People learn political theory best by doing it: that is, by discussing and criticizing
arguments and ideas with other people. Accordingly, I will give you ample opportunity
to participate in class. Ideally our class will resemble a seminar more than a lecture.
However, this strategy will only work if you arrive to class willing and able to discuss the
readings in an informed, critical way! So please do prepare conscientiously for class.
I recognize that some students are reluctant to speak in class. I understand their
reluctance, but I encourage them to work through it. Learning to present ideas and raise
questions in a group setting is a crucial part of your intellectual development. However,
if you find yourself unable to speak regularly in class, come see me during office hours
and we can discuss other ways in which you might participate.
Course Policies
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My course policies rest on three principles. Course policies should a) create an effective
learning environment; b) treat all students fairly; and c) treat students as adults: that is, as
people who are worthy of respect and accountable for their actions. The following
policies reflect these three principles.
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Attendance: You are required to attend class. Absences will negatively affect
your participation grade. If you have to miss class for a legitimate reason, let me
know as far in advance as possible.
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Late work: You are required to hand assignments in on time. Late assignments
will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade per day. (So an A paper that is one day
late will drop from an A to an A-.) This penalty will be waived if and only if you
have a legitimate excuse. It is not possible to define the category of “legitimate
excuse” exhaustively, but examples will give you the general idea.
o Legitimate excuses include: severe illness; family or personal crisis (death
in the family, etc.).
 Do you need documentation? I am not going to treat you like a
child. It is mildly insulting to ask you to hand me a note proving
you were at a funeral, suffered a personal crisis, etc. So no notes
required. In return, please do not abuse this policy by “crying
wolf”, i.e., falsely claiming an emergency.
o Here are a few excuses that won’t cut the mustard: “I had a lot of work
this weekend.” “My fraternity/sorority/church group/anarchist cell threw
a party and I couldn’t work on the paper.” “I was so busy with sports/the
student newspaper/my intramural team/my job that I couldn’t fit in the
assignment.”
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Laptops/phones/etc.: My policy here is simple. Use laptops for note-taking and
for accessing any course materials that may be online. Do not use them for
anything else. That means, for example, no internet surfing, no Facebook, no
email, etc. etc. The same goes, of course, for phones and other devices.
Information for Students with Disabilities
Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities.
Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Services for
Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11.
Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator
as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further
information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710,
Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.
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Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and
accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the
Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are
seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting
relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to
the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at
http://www.acs.tcu.edu/DISABILITY.HTM.
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Students with emergency medical information or needing special
arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this
information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.
Academic Misconduct
(From section 3.4 from the Student Handbook) Any act that violates the academic
integrity of the institution is considered academic misconduct. The procedures used to
resolve suspected acts of academic misconduct are available in the offices of Academic
Deans and the Office of Campus Life and are listed in detail in the Undergraduate
Catalog (available online @ http://catalog.tcu.edu/undergraduate/).
Specific examples of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to:
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Cheating: Copying from another student’s test paper, laboratory report, other
report, or computer files and listings; using, during any academic exercise,
material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test;
collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during a test or laboratory
without permission; knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or
soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment
unauthorized for release; substituting for another student or permitting another
student to substitute for oneself.
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Plagiarism: The appropriation, theft, purchase or obtaining by any means
another’s work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that
work as one’s own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or
paraphrasing of another’s work without giving credit.
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Collusion: The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered
for credit.
Simply put, don’t cheat. Cheating robs you of the opportunity to learn and betrays a lack
of character and self-respect. Do you want to be the sort of person who cheats his way
through life? Plus, from a purely self-interested point of view, cheating is a bad bet. I
will probably catch you and the consequences are grim. Trust me: it’s much better to
write an awful paper and get a disappointing (but passing) grade than it is to cheat and get
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a zero for the assignment, plus whatever other consequences follow from violating the
school’s honor code.
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Schedule of Topics and Readings1
***All readings available on eCollege unless otherwise noted.***
Introduction: What is Political Philosophy?
W, January 16
Helena De Bres, “The Pink Guide to Taking Philosophy
Classes,” pp. 3-10
1) Peter Singer, excerpt from The Life You Can Save (19 pages)
F, January 18
2) Optional: John Shand, Arguing Well, Chapters 2 and 3
(“Arguments” and “How Arguments Fail”)
James Rachels, excerpt from The Elements of Moral Philosophy
M, January 14
Unit 1: Mill’s On Liberty and Freedom of Speech
M, January 21
W, January 23
F, January 25
M, January 28
W, January 30
F, Feb 1
No Class – MLK Holiday
1) Doe v. Michigan [regarding campus speech codes]
2) JS Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 1 (pp. 5-18)
JS Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 2 (pp. 19-55)
JS Mill, On Liberty, Chs 3-4 (pp. 56-93)
David Brink, “Millian Principles, Freedom of Expression, and
Hate Speech,” Legal Theory, 7 (2001), 119-157
Debate #1 – Should TCU adopt a speech code?
***Critical Summary #1 due Sunday, Feb 3***
Unit 2: The Limits of Freedom: Sex, Drugs, and Guns
M, Feb 4
W, Feb 6
F, Feb 8
M, Feb 11
W, Feb 13
F, Feb 15
Catherine MacKinnon, “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech”
Ronald Dworkin, “Women and Pornography,” The New York
Review of Books, 40.17 (1993) 36-42
Caroline West, “The Free Speech Argument Against
Pornography,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 33.3
(September 2003), 391-422
In class writing discussion: read two student essays and complete
questionnaire
Debate #2 – Should the government censor pornography?
Goodridge v. MA Department of Public Health
***Evaluative Essay #1 due Sunday, Feb 17***
M, Feb 18
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John Finnis, “Law, Morality, and ‘Sexual Orientation’” in
Schedule of readings may change at my discretion.
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W, Feb 20
F, Feb 22
M, Feb 25
W, Feb 27
F, March 1
M, March 4
W, March 6
F, March 8
Justice: A Reader pp. 384-392
Stephen Macedo, “Homosexuality and the Conservative Mind,”
in Justice: A Reader, pp. 392-403
S. Gergis, R. George, and R. Anderson, “What is Marriage?”
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 34.1 (Winter 2010),
pp. 245-287
1) Andrew Jacobs, “The Adderall Advantage,” New York Times
July 5, 2006
2) V. Cakic, “Smart Drugs for Cognitive Enhancement: Ethical
and Pragmatic Considerations”
A. Dixon, “Performance-Enhancing Drugs, Paternalism, and
Harm to Sport”
Jessica Flanigan, “Three Arguments Against Prescription
Requirements,” Journal of Medical Ethics
Replies to Flanigan and Flanigan’s response
Michael Sandel, “The Case Against Perfection”
Frances Kamm, “What is and is not Wrong With Enhancement”
March 11-15: Spring Break!
***Critical Summary #2 due Sunday, March 17***
Unit 3: Freedom and the Economy
M, March 18
W, March 20
F, March 22
M, March 25
W, March 27
F, March 29
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, Introduction and
Chapter 1
Jeremy Waldron, “Homelessness and Freedom”
Debate #3—Human Enhancement
Philippe Van Parjis, “Universal Basic Income and Real Freedom
for All”
Lucas Stanczyk, “The Right to Free Choice of Occupation”
No class
Unit 4: Fairness and the Economy
M, April 1
W, April 3
F, April 5
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, excerpts
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, excerpts
Will Kymlicka, “Liberal Egalitarianism,” excerpts
***Critical Summary #3 due Sunday, April 7***
M, April 8
W, April 10
F, April 12
M, April 15
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, excerpts
Debate #4—Universal Basic Income
No class
Will Kymlicka, “Libertarianism,” excerpts
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W, April 17
F, April 19
M, April 22
GA Cohen, Why Not Socialism? Pages TBA
GA Cohen, Why Not Socialism? Pages TBA
Jason Brennan, “Is Market Society Intrinsically Repugnant?”
Journal of Business Ethics (forthcoming)
Unit 5: Odds and Ends
W, April 24
F, April 26
M, April 29
W, May 1
Michael Sandel, “Markets and Morals,” from Justice: What’s the
Right Thing to Do? (pp. 75-102)
Debra Satz, “Markets in Women’s Reproductive Labor,” from
Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale, pp. 115-134
Jennifer Mather Saul, “Feminine Appearance,” from Feminism:
Issues & Arguments, pp. 140-169
Debate #5—commercial surrogacy
***Evaluative Essay #2 due May 6***
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