In this course, we take up the perennial question, What is Justice? We will consider different answers to this question. In doing so, we will focus on how the question is articulated in ancient and modern philosophical works.

This course traces the historical development of Ancient Greek discussions of nature and metaphysics, knowledge, philosophical anthropology, and the ethics born of the love of wisdom for its own sake. The primary texts considered in this course are those of the fragments and testimonia (selections) of the Pre-Socratics beginning with Thales of Miletus (6th Century BC), and essential texts from Plato, Aristotle (5th-4th Century BC), and the Hellenistic period, including Lucretius and Epictetus. 

Major philosophers between the 4th and 14th centuries: Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, members of the Arabic and Jewish schools, Duns Scotus, Ockham.

An examination of the various responses to the call to go beyond conservationalism and reform environmentalism of the 60’s and beyond environmental ethics. Topics include: deep ecology, eco-feminism, social ecology and radical environmentalism.

Historical and contemporary readings on the problem of God: theology and falsification, the problem of evil, faith and knowledge, rationality of religious belief, and immortality.

Philosophical discussion of contemporary philosophical writings and law cases in the areas of free speech, privacy, criminal liability, civil liability, legal insanity, death penalty, legal reasoning and constitutional interpretation, and sex equality and discrimination.

Theory of knowledge; evidence, knowledge and opinion, the a priori, truth, insight; canons of inquiry: history, science, religion, and literature as knowledge.

Highlights of the history of political philosophy, Ancients, Medieval, Modern social contract theories, Marxism, liberalism, and postmodernism, using primary and secondary source materials. Deals with the relationship between politics and truth; the nature of political authority; democratic theory; the nature of the good society and its relationship to particular theories of human nature.

A historical survey of the ethical theories offered to solve moral problems and the cultural traditions in which they arose. Such theories include virtue ethics, natural law, Stoic ethics, utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, emotivism, ultratrunism, existential ethics, and feminist ethics. The course will challenge the students to discover ethical approaches to moral decision-making in post-modern pluralistic society.

The aim of this course is to strengthen proper philosophical research methods and practices in students, as well as assist them in producing a piece of original philosophical writing of a very high quality. This course is not accepted for the General Education Humanities requirement.