This unit aims to give students with a background in philosophy or politics a strong foundation in political philosophy. The central question of the unit is: what makes a society just or unjust? The first part of the course examines this question from the perspective of mainstream economics and of liberal political thought. The second part of the course looks at some important critiques of liberalism, focusing especially on underlying beliefs about the concepts of freedom and desert. In the final part of the course we use the ideas introduced earlier in semester to analyse the topic of justice in crime and punishment. -- Course Website
Instructor: Dr Toby Handfield
Prerequisites: A first year sequence in philosophy, politics, bioethics, OR ATS1314
