PHIL 431 Law, Society, and Politics



PHIL 431 Law, Society, and Politics

VKC 210, WF, 10:00 – 11:15

Instructor: Gary Watson

Office hours: W, 1-2:30/F, 11:30-1

(and by appointment)

Syllabus

Course Description: This course will focus on three main topics, each related to criminal law:

(I)Theories of criminalization. Why should we have a distinct legal practice of criminal law? What is the defining difference between between criminal law and other parts of law (say) civil law? What does it mean to make certain conduct a crime? What should be criminalized and why?

(II) Theories of Legal Punishment and its Alternatives. What is legal punishment and is it justified? How does it differ from other modes of social control and why should it be preferred to these alternatives?

(III) Criminalizing Speech.

Requirements: Regular attendance and participation and three 5-6 pp. papers, one on each of the three sections of the course.[1] Occasional very short written exercises will be assigned.

Required Texts:

Overcriminalization, Douglas Husak.

The Problem of Punishment, David Boonin

Selected essays and court cases available on-line.

Schedule of Readings

I The Point and Meaning of Criminalization

Week 1

08/24 Introduction and Orientation

[We will begin our discussion of Husak’s book in Week 2 with Chapter 2. Meanwhile read Ch 1 for background to that discussion.]

08/26 Duff, “Theories of Criminal Law”, sections 1-6, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , online : URL = (or on Blackboard, click on assignments)

Week 2

08/31 Husak Ch. 2, 55-92

09/2 Husak Ch. 2, 92-103

Week 3

09/07 Duff, “Crime, Prohibition, and Punishment,” Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2002 (available on Blackboard)

09/09 Husak Ch. 2, 103-119

Week 4

09/14 Husak, Ch. 3, 120-158

09/16 Husak Ch. 3, 159-177

Week 5

09/21 Lawrence v. Texas (Blackboard)

09/23 James Q. Wilson, “Against the Legalization of Drugs” Commentary, 1990 (available on Blackboard)

II The Grounds and Limits of Legal Punishment

Week 6

09/28 Boonin Ch 1

09/30 Boonin Ch 2; legal cases TBA

[First essay due]

Week 7

10/05 Boonin Ch. 3, sections 3.0 -3.2 [you may skip sub-sections 3.2.2, 3.2.3])

10/07 Boonin Ch. 3, sections 3.3

Week 8

10/12 Boonin, Ch. 4 (sections 4.0, 4.1, and 4.3)

10/14 Boonin, Ch. 4, section 4.2; R.A. Duff, Answering for Crime” (on Blackboard). , or R. A. Duff, ‘Crime, Prohibition and Punishment’, Journal of Applied

Philosophy 19 (2002)

Week 9

10/19 Warren Quinn, “The Right to Threaten and the Right to Punish”. Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 327-373 (available on Blackboard).

10/21 Boonin, Ch. 4, section 4.4

Week 10

10/26 Sayre-McCord, “Criminal Justice and Reparations as an alternative to Punishment”, (on Blackboard.)

10/28 Boonin, Ch. 5

III Criminalizing Speech

Week 11

Nov 2 Legal cases (TBA).

Nov 4 No class

Week 12

Nov 9 “There is No SuchThing as Free Speech and It’s a Good Thing Too”, Stanley Fish

[Second essay due]

Nov 11 “Freedom of Expression”, Joshua Cohen

Week 13

Nov. 16 Cohen, continued.

Nov. 18 Obscenity, Pornography, and Censorship (readings TBA)

Week 14

Nov. 23 Pornography as Expression or subordination?

Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Holiday

Week 15

Nov. 30 Hate speech (readings TBA)

Dec. 2 Final discussion

-----------------------

[1] The instructor reserves the right to adjust, with due notice, the form of the written assignments as pedagogy demands—for example, if it seems more useful to substitute an in-class exam for one of the 5-6 page papers.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download