Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory – Spring 2016

Spring Semester 2016
Professors Joshua Cohen and Kinch Hoekstra

All classes meet in room 202 Barrows Hall. (see map) Fridays at 12:00 noon-3pm. To request a copy of papers contact: amatullahas@berkeley.edu

Course description:

This course is designed as a workshop for the presentation and discussion of work-in-progress in moral, political, and legal theory. The central aim of the course is to provide an opportunity for students to engage directly with philosophers, political theorists, and legal scholars working on normative questions. Another aim is to create a space that brings together people from different disciplines who have strong normative interests or who speak to issues that philosophers and political theorists should know something about.   Toward this goal, we will devote a few sessions to featuring the work of economists, historians, psychologists, sociologists, and other social scientists.

The format of the course will be as follows. For the first two hours of the course, a student will lead off with a 15-minute comment on the presenter’s paper and the presenter will have 5-10 minutes to respond before we open up the discussion to the entire assembled group.  The first two hours will be open to non-enrolled students and faculty who wish to participate in the workshop discussion. At the end of the two hours, those who are not enrolled will leave, and for the third hour of the course, the guest presenter will continue the discussion with students enrolled in the course.  Enrolled students must serve as a discussant for at least one presenter’s work-in-progress and write several short response papers and a final paper of 12-15 pages.  The course is cross-listed with the Philosophy and Political Science Departments.