Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

Political philosophy, in the broadest sense, concerns the question of how we should all live together as a society. It goes beyond morality and ethics in considering the structures of power within which individuals make their choices of how to live. Where the former asks 'What is the right thing to do?' or 'What is the good life?', political philosophy asks questions such as 'What does the just society look like?' Classic topics in political philosophy include the nature and scope of individual rights, the legitimacy of the state, justifications for democracy, the value of equality, liberty, and autonomy, and how to overcome oppression and injustice.

16x1hr lectures; 4x1hr seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in Philosophy and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Philosophy, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes.

None

None

Exam (2 hour duration) - 60%

Essay (2000 words) - 40%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Introduce the central components of influential theories in political philosophy;

■ Familiarise students with the main positions and arguments within each topic;

■ Enable students to deploy these arguments for themselves.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain what political philosophy is;

■ Explain and critically assess major theories concerning topics such as the nature and scope of individual rights, the legitimacy of the state, justifications for democracy, the value of equality, liberty, and autonomy, and how to overcome oppression and injustice;

■ Apply political philosophical concepts to real world situations and personal experience;

■ Develop their own political philosophical positions in response to the literature, and back them up with careful and rigorous philosophical argument.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.