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Lecturer(s)
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Beran Ondřej, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
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Bláhová Sylvie, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Forsberg Anders Niklas, doc. Ph.D.
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Course content
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TENTATIVE READING LIST (not all the texts will be read in their entirety): Chantal Mouffe, "The Limits of John Rawls' Pluralism" Charles Mills, "Racial Liberalism" Mart Kuldkepp, "Western Orientalism towards Eastern Europe" Martha Nussbaum, "Poverty and Human Functioning: Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements" Peter Königs, "Government Surveillance, Privacy, and Legitimacy" Saba Bazargan-Forward, "War Ethics and Russia's Invasion of Ukraine"/Jovana Davidovic, "Why Russian Soldiers Should lay Down Their Arms"/Helen Frowe, "Ukraine and the Ethics of War"/more recent readings on the war in Gaza Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, chap. 1 and 3 (excerpts)/Guy Standing, A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens, sections "Defining Basic Income" to "Criticisms" David Harvey, "The political implications of population-resources theory" Megan Blomfield, "Should land be reclassified as a global commons?"
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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unspecified
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Learning outcomes
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The course consists of short lectures combined with seminar discussions of selected topics from current debates in political thinking. The tentative plan of topics: 1. Introduction; motivation for the outline of the course 2. Antagonism vs. conceptions of public reason (Laclau, Mouffe) - expertise, technocracy and ideology 3. The revival of conservativism 4. Race and racism 5. The problems of colonialism; postcolonialism debates 6. Poverty and exploitation 7. War 8. Debt, economic policies & "traditions", Modern Monetary Theory 9. Capitalist realism, work, UBI 10. Civil disobedience, direct democracy, populism 11. "Overpopulation" and "underpopulation" debates 12. Climate justice 13. AI
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Prerequisites
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Students attending the course must be able to read and discuss philosophical texts in English.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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unspecified
The classes combine the intro lecture with a discussion of the topic (sometimes based on assigned reading; but not all classes will have their assigned readings). Students are expected to attend the course (80%) and participate in the discussion. --- QUESTIONS TO PONDER, relating to the planned classes: 2. Critiques of public reason liberalism 1) Must there be the "right answer" to political questions? 2) If it is there sometimes, in what kinds of cases? 3) Can these be guided by expertise, or particular kind of values? 4) What is the role of experts in policy and politics? 5) What is the role of ideology there? (just a term of abuse?) 3. The contemporary "conservatisms" 1) Is "tradition" a value, or a valid argument? 2) Can rights be only individual, or group-related, too? 3) Should religion count in politics? 4) How true are political truths? 5) What is the role of (claimed) identity in politics? 4. Race and racism 1) Are particular political institutions inherently racist? 2) Is the racist past of a constitution a problem for its legitimacy? (In what way can the past racism project itself into the present?) 3) Can an egalitarian political system (e.g. liberalism) be racist? (ideal vs. non-ideal theory) 5. Colonialism, postcolonialism, orientalism 1) Can privileged national perspectives (former colonial rulers) be reliable voices of universal concerns? 2) Does the political "we" presuppose "others"? 3) The nature of relations to "our" friendly (subsidiary) "others" - political taking care of, prescribing, shaping 4) Are inequalities of the contemporary global politics extensions of the colonial mindset? (cf. also the former Eastern Bloc)? 5) The importance of "identity" (dual, multiple) and "civilisation" in politics 6. War 1) Can there be a just war (other than clear cases of self-defence)? 2) Can pre-emptive warfare count for proportionate/just self-defence? 3) What is the difference between (generic) warfare and war crimes? 4) What is the relationship between statehood (nationhood, citizenship) and war engagement? 7. Poverty and inequality 1) What is involved in poverty? 2) Is poverty an individual problem / if so, how does it reflect on individuals' relationship to institutions/organisations? 3) Can poverty/inequality be addressed/solved as a problem at an international/global level? 4) Is the term itself moralistic/moralising? 8. "Capitalist realism" and Universal Basic Income 1) Does work constitute our dignity and identity? 2) Can Universal Basic Income be justified? (how?) 3) Is capitalism inevitable, or is its "inevitability" insidious sophistry? 9. The politics of "overpopulation" 1) Who is overpopulated? 2) Who has the mandate to judge overpopulation? 3) Is Malthusianism inherently racist? 4) What are possible critical replies to the overpopulation discourse? 5) Can individual rights be violated in the name of securing sustainable population? --- CREDITS REQUIREMENTS: 1) To submit a short (1000-2000 words) mid-term essay about a selected topic (tentative deadline: 31 March) 2) A Problem Analysis text, relating to a topic discussed in the course. It may be either based on the preliminary short essay, or about a different topic. The Problem Analysis text will be graded for the examination ("Zkouška").
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Recommended literature
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