Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 Catalog 
    
2021-2022 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PHI 350 - Seminar in Philosophy


Spring 2022: Liberty, Equality, and Property: Locke and his Legacy

Instructor: Layman

Many people today identify Locke’s political legacy solely with right-leaning libertarianism. But the truth is more complicated. This seminar explores two strands of thought within Locke’s political philosophy and its reception during the 18th and 19th centuries. The 18th century liberal republican strand radicalized Locke’s conceptions of consent, constitutionalism, and the role of the state, while the 19th century natural property rights strand-itself composed of a libertarian camp and an egalitarian camp-developed his conception of individual property rights to address the moral problems raised by industrial capitalism. Students will dive deeply into a wide range of primary and secondary texts, and each course member will be responsible for active discussion participation and leadership as well as 7,000-8,000 words of graded writing.

Prerequisites & Notes
This course can be repeated for credit given sufficiently distinct topics: check with the department chair. (Fall, Spring)