Universität Wien

180199 PS Collective Responsibility (2022W)

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

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

max. 45 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 12.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 19.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 09.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 16.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 23.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 30.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 07.12. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 14.12. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 11.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 18.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 25.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this course, we will delve deep into the contemporary debate in analytic philosophy on collective responsibility. In our everyday talk we commonly hold groups responsible: Humanity is responsible for climate change, a riot mob is responsible for wreaking havoc in the city center, or a corporation is responsible for evading taxes. These responsibility attributions to various groups are an important part of our responsibility practices, but the exact nature of collective responsibility raises several questions.

We will look at possible answers to questions of the following kind:
- What exactly is collective responsibility? Are there different collective variants of responsibility? Is it moral, legal, causal, or outcome responsibility? Is there a forward-looking variant (i.e., collective duties)?
- What kind of groups, if any, can be collectively responsible in their own right? For example, can we blame Shell as such?
- What does it exactly mean for a group to be responsible? And what does this (potentially) imply for members of that group?
- Is it fair or coherent to hold individuals responsible for the actions of others?
- How does collective responsibility relate to other notions such as (group) agency, obligations, actions, control, knowledge, etc.?

Assessment and permitted materials

Assignments:
- Reading questions (mandatory but not graded)
- Short writing assignment (20%)
- A detailed outline of the essay you plan to write (20%).
- Essay (60%)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Your essay will be graded according to the following criteria:
- Knowledge/understanding of primary literature
- Quality and motivation of hypothesis
- Structure of essay
- Quality of argumentation
- Support/Use of Secondary Literature
- Quality of introduction
- Quality of conclusion

The grades are distributed as follows:
1: 87-100 points
2: 75-86 points
3: 63-74 points
4: 50-62 points
5: 0-49 points

Students must complete each assignment at a satisfactory level in order to pass the course.
Students are expected to be present at 80% of the meetings and hand in reading questions for 80% of the meetings.

By signing up for this class, the student consents to having all their writing assignments checked by the plagiarism-software Turnetin on Moodle.

Examination topics

Collective Responsibility

Reading list

To be announced in first class.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 07.10.2022 15:49