Course level: Undergraduate
Spring 2021
The American University of Paris
This course equips students to analyze (self-)critically problems and conceptions of justice across, between and beyond states. In order to develop a solid understanding of the concept of global justice, the course starts off by examining some of the core problems, historical origins and contemporary realities of global justice. Following that, the course explores three major sets of questions about global justice. First, how should we think of the distributive inequalities across and between countries? We will investigate the cosmopolitan or globalist, nationalist or statist as well as transnational or post-westphalian answers to this question. Second, what are the demands of global justice in concrete contexts such as foreign aid, climate change, migration, trade, education, colonialism and race? We will juxtapose and discuss opposing views regarding the demands of justice in these contexts. Third, is the theorizing of global justice on the basis of liberal ideas about freedom and equality parochial or Western-centric? We will engage with philosophers arguing that this is the case and study African theories regarding concerns of global justice.
This course pays special attention to close reading and discussion of seminal texts from, among others, Immanuel Kant, Charles Beitz, Nancy Fraser and Charles Mills. Readings will be philosophical and social-scientific. The course will include lectures, learning activities in small groups and seminar-style discussions concerning key figures and texts, as well as major philosophical conceptions, political contexts and practical problems of global justice.
More information:
catalog.aup.edu/course/lw3019/spring-2021
Syllabus:
LW/PL/PO 3019 Global Justice (521.98 KB)