Universität Wien

180010 SE Specialisation: EWJ - Philosophy (2024W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Hinweis der SPL Philosophie:

Das Abgeben von ganz oder teilweise von einem KI-tool (z.B. ChatGPT) verfassten Texten als Leistungsnachweis (z.B. Seminararbeit) ist nur dann erlaubt, wenn dies von der Lehrveranstaltungsleitung ausdrücklich als mögliche Arbeitsweise genehmigt wurde. Auch hierbei müssen direkt oder indirekt zitierte Textstellen wie immer klar mit Quellenangabe ausgewiesen werden.

Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann zur Überprüfung der Autorenschaft einer abgegebenen schriftlichen Arbeit ein notenrelevantes Gespräch (Plausibilitätsprüfung) vorsehen, das erfolgreich zu absolvieren ist.
Moodle
Tu 17.12. 09:45-11:15 Hörsaal 3B NIG 3.Stock

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 07.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 14.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 21.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 28.10. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 04.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 11.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 18.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 25.11. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 02.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 09.12. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 13.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 20.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 27.01. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

We will examine philosophical problems regarding the aggregation and distribution of welfare, as well as the various consequentialist proposals from the recent literature aiming to deal with such problems. In addition, we will explore non-consequentialist theories of justice, including Scanlonian contractualism, desert-based justice (in both its comparative and non-comparative form), and rights-based justice. We will also investigate how these theoretical frameworks deal with the problem of economic rent, as well as with the puzzle of the wrong of exploitation.

More specifically, we will explore some of the following themes:
1. Prioritarianism vs. Egalitarianism vs. Aggregate Utilitarianism
3. Scanlonian Contractualism vs. Consequentialism
4. Consequentialism and Population Ethics
5. The Rawlsian Veil of Ignorance: what would be chosen behind the veil, and why does it matter, morally speaking?
6. Desert-based Justice (Comparative and Non-comparative)
7. Rights-based Justice: Justice in Acquisition and Justice in Transfer
8. Economic Rent and Justice
7. The Puzzle of the Wrong of Exploitation

The course consists of weekly seminar sessions, which are based on detailed discussion of selected texts.

Assessment and permitted materials

The overall grade is calculated on the basis of two components:
1. Seminar work (90 points). For each seminar session, students are required to answer a set of questions specific to that session, aiming to test their comprehension of the required reading, and their capacity for critical and independent thinking.
2. Final essay (10 points).

Scale:
1: 80-100 points
2: 60-79 points
3: 40-59 points
4: 20-39 points
5: 0-19 points

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Students are required to submit, for each session, answers to a given set of questions, by a deadline to be fixed in advance.

In order to pass, students must regularly attend sessions (no more than two unjustified absences), and they must submit answers for every session. The answers must be submitted two days in advance of the session. If students have a justification (e.g., medical difficulties) for not being able to submit the answers in advance of the session, they must submit the answers by a new ad hoc deadline to be convened with the instructor of the course.

Examination topics

For the answers to the session questions, the topics are those assigned for discussion at the relevant session.
For the essay, the topic may be any topic discussed at any session, or any other related topic, subject to the agreement of the instructor.

Reading list

Iwao Hirose, Moral Aggregation (Oxford University Press, 2014);
Johann Frick, “Contractualism and Social Risk”, Philosophy and Public Affairs 43: 3 (2015), pp. 175-224;
Joe Horton, “Aggregation, Complaints, and Risk”, Philosophy and Public Affairs 45: 1 (2017), pp. 54-81;
Lara Buchak, “Taking Risks behind the Veil of Ignorance”, Ethics 127 (2017), pp. 610-644;
Michael Otsuka, “Prioritarianism and the Measure of Utility”, Journal of Political Philosophy 23: 1 (2015), pp. 1-22;
Shelly Kagan, The Geometry of Desert (Oxford University Press, 2012);
Barbara Fried, “Wilt Chamberlain Revisited: Nozick’s ‘Justice in Transfer’ and the Problem of Market-Based Distribution”, Philosophy and Public Affairs 24: 3 (1995), pp. 226-245;
Alan Wertheimer, Exploitation (Princeton University Press, 1996);
G.A. Cohen, “The Labor Theory of Value and the Concept of Exploitation”, Philosophy and Public Affairs 8: 4 (1979), pp. 338-360.
Nir Eyal and Anders Herlitz, "Input and Output in Distributive Theory", Noûs 57: 1 (2023), pp. 3-25.

Additional bibliography will be provided on Moodle.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 08.10.2024 11:06