Political and Legal Philosophy

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The main aim of political and legal philosophy course is to present theories of political community from their historical and philosophical perspectives uncovering their main assumptions and values. Analyzing conceptions of political and legal philosophy students will be acquainted with the most important problems related to these conceptions. During the meetings we will focus especially on the normative models of politics and law and their justificatory function referring to classical and contemporary texts. Main texts will be also confronting with particular case studies.

The main aim of political and legal philosophy course is to present theories of political community from their historical and philosophical perspectives uncovering their main assumptions and values. Analyzing conceptions of political and legal philosophy students will be acquainted with the most important problems related to these conceptions. During the meetings we will focus especially on the normative models of politics and law and their justificatory function referring to classical and contemporary texts. Main texts will be also confronting with particular case studies.

The following issues will be discussed: the role of power; the concept of citizenship; the relation between right and law, ethics and politics; the problem of political and legal justice; philosophical, axiological and anthropological assumptions of main political ideologies such as republicanism and liberalism; the perception of good and evil in a political and legal perspective; justification of modern political constructivism (utopia, social contract); the foundations of the philosophical discourse about modern and postmodern approach to politics and law.

Students will be asked to prepare introductions for the discussion, during the meetings there will be used elements of workshop and roundtable techniques.

Selected literature:

Plato, The Republic (fragments), Laws (fragments);

Augustine, The City of God (fragments);

Morus, Utopia (Fragments);

Machiavelli, The Prince (fragments);

Locke J., Two Treaties of Government (fragments);

Burke E., Reflection on the Revolution in France (fragments);

Nozick R., Utopia, State, Anarchy (fragments);

MacIntyre A., After Virtue (fragments);

Anderson B., Imagined Communities (fragments);

Arendt, Civil Disobedience (fragments), The Roots of Totalitarianism (fragments);

Agamben G., Homo Sacer (fragments);

Rorty R., Irony, Contingency, Solidarity (fragments);

Dworkin R., Taking Rights Seriously (fragments);

Kant I., On the Common Saying (fragments);

Habermas J., Facts and Norms (fragments);

Knowledge:

Student knows

K_W02, research methods and argumentative strategies of political philosophy

K_W05, main directions of development and the most important new achievements in the field of policy philosophy

K_W08, norms constituting and regulating social structures and institutions, as well as sources of these norms, their nature, and ways of influencing human behavior

K_W10, role of philosophical reflection in shaping of political and legal sphere

K_W11, to a deeper extent the relationship between the formation of philosophical ideas and changes in culture, society and the sphere of politics and law;

Acquired skills:

Student can:

K_U01, independently interpret the philosophical text, creatively and innovatively comment and confront ideas derived from various texts

K_U02, specify the degree of significance of the examined problem or argumentation and ideas

K_U03, analyze complex philosophical arguments, identify their assumptions, determine logical and argumentative relationships within them

K_U04, identify advanced argumentative strategies in oral and written statements

K_U06, creatively and innovatively use philosophical and methodological knowledge in formulating hypotheses and constructing critical arguments

K_U09, construct and reconstruct arguments from the perspective of various philosophical positions, taking into account the types of argumentation specific to each of them and noticing convergences and differences between them

K_U10, write creative texts based on self-selected literature, using original, innovative approaches and taking into account new achievements in the field of political philosophy

Social competences acquired:

Student is ready to:

K_K02, recognize gaps in his/her knowledge and skills and search for the possibility of removing these gaps

K_K03, independently undertake professional activities as well as planning and organizing them

K_K04, perceiving and formulating ethical problems related to one’s own research; be responsible to colleagues and other members of society, and be active in solving these problems

K_K05 participate in social and cultural life; is interested in innovative philosophical concepts in connection with other parts of cultural and social life and encourages the implementation of these concepts

Written exam

Number of absences: 2