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PHI 2642 Honors Ethics of Social Diversity
DRAFT
Description: We consider how a liberal society should treat people from diverse backgrounds: Should it ignore differences in race, gender, religion, culture, ethnicity and lifestyle and treat all people equally? Should it recognize diversity as a value actively to be promoted, or as a destabilizing threat to be suppressed? Should a liberal society tolerate illiberal communities? The course is interdisciplinary, drawing primarily on philosophy and political theory but also on film, legal decisions, and the scholarship of social psychologists, economists, and historians. We will engage with theories about liberty, equality, and toleration while also emphasizing the practical implications of these theories by turning to topics such as affirmative action, racial profiling, gay and polygamous marriage, hate speech codes, the cultural defense in the criminal law, and anti-pornography laws. The goal is to be able to apply various critical frameworks to contemporary social and political controversies, and to understand arguments for and against toleration. This course satisfies the Honors College core requirement in Culture, Ideas and Values.
Reading: J.S. Mill, On Liberty; Michael Walzer, On Toleration; Eugene Robinson, Disintegration. Other readings, both required and recommended, are available either on the web or in Blackboard (BB) as indicated below from within the FAU domain or via proxy. If New York Times articles are not accessible via links below, try FAU NYT databases.
Requirements: Participation in discussions. Grading will be based on several short assignments, some of which may take the form of unannounced in-class writings (30%), two 7-8 page papers on topics covered in the course (30% each, totalling 60%; the first paper will be turned in as a draft and again as a revision), and class participation (10%). Each unexcused absence beyond 2 will result in a reduction in one's participation grade of 1/3 letter.
Honor Code: Students agree to adhere to the Honor Code, http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/academics_honor_code.htm.
Schedule:
I. Theoretical Frameworks: Liberalism, Community, Traditions
Classical liberalism seeks to promote individual liberty and protect individual rights. Liberalism encourages individuals to do what they please, unconstrained by prejudice and tradition. But if everyone does whatever they like, it may be difficult to maintain traditions and ties to community. For example, it may be difficult for a Christian fundamentalist community to thrive if people within this community are permitted to gamble, use drugs, view pornography, worship Satan, or lead a homosexual lifestyle. In this introductory section we begin to think about the conflicts between liberty and social diversity on the one hand, and community, tradition and social order on the other.
A. Introduction
Aug. 24: Rdg: Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000)(online); NYT, 'Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims', Dec. 17, 2011, online.
B. Liberalism and the value of freedom
Aug. 29: Rdg:
J.S. Mill, On Liberty, chapters 1, 3, 4, 5
For those interested: Richard Wollheim, “John Stuart Mill and the Limits of State Action,” Social Research 40:1-30 (Spring 1973), online.
Aug. 31: Treating people as free and equal.
Rdg: Kant, excerpts; John Rawls, "The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus," Oxford Jrnl of Legal Studies 7(1):1-25 (1987), Sections 1-5, 8 (online).
C. Problems with individualism, and the need for community
Sep. 5: Rdg: Etzioni, "The Responsive Communitarian Platform"(BB); Robert Bellah, "The Quest for Self"(BB); Williams, "Japan: The Price of Safe Streets"(BB)
Film: Fiddler on the Roof; Stromboli
Sept. 7: Rdg: Lord Patrick Devlin, "Morals and the Criminal Law"(BB)
For those interested:
H.L.A. Hart, "Immorality and Treason"(BB); Bowers v. Hardwick, 178 US 186 (1986)(online); Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003)(online), overruling Bowers v. Hardwick
II. The paradox of toleration
A liberal society values individual freedom but must set some limits to those freedoms as when, for example, individuals use their freedom to cause harm to others. Must a liberal society tolerate views and practices that do not cause harm but are themselves illiberal?
Sept. 12: Rdg: Waldron, "Tolerance and Reasonability," in McKinnon and Castiglione, Culture of Toleration (2003)
Sept. 14: Rdg: Walzer, On Toleration
Sept. 19: Heyd, "Education to Toleration," in McKinnon and Castiglione, Culture of Toleration (2003).
For those interested:
David Lewis, ‘Mill and Milquetoast’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 67(2):152-71 (1989), online; T. M. Scanlon, "The Difficulty of Toleration"; Bernard Williams, "Toleration: An Impossible Virtue?": both in David Heyd, Toleration: An Elusive Virtue (1996)
III. Race
Is it ever legitimate to identify people based on their race or should the category be given up? We will discuss the biological basis for using race as a category and focus on the use of race as a category to discriminate against African Americans.
Sept. 21: What are race, culture and ethnicity and should we identify people on the basis of these categories?
Rdg: Steven Jay Gould, Ever Since Darwin (chapters 29-31)(BB); Mismeasure of Man, pp. 324-334 (BB);Smedley and Smedley, "Race as Biology is Fiction", American Psychologist, Jan. 2005, online; James Dao, 'In California, Indian Tribes Cast off Members," NYT, Dec. 12, 2011, online.
Implicit Association Test: click 'Demonstration'/'take a demo test'/select "Race IAT"
For those interested: Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
Sept. 26: Black America
Rdg: Robinson, Disintegration, chs. 1-8
Sept. 28: Black America (continued)
Rdg: Robinson, Disintegration, chs. 9-10; "As Public Sector Sheds Jobs, Blacks are Hit Hardest," NYT Nov. 29, 2011, online; "Segregation Curtailed in U.S. Cities, Study Finds," NYT Jan. 31, 2012, online.
DRAFT of PAPER 1 DUE
For those interested:
Hypertension in African Americans (Scientific American, online);
"Do races differ? Not really, genes show," New York Times, Aug. 22, 2000 (online);
"How Culture Molds Habits of Thought," New York Times, Aug. 8, 2000 (online);
"Shouldn't a Pill be Colorblind?" New York Times, May 13, 2001 (online);
Nicholas Wade,"Race is seen as real guide to track roots of disease," New York Times, July 30, 2002 (online)
Oct. 3: Race and identity
Film: Get on the Bus (Spike Lee)
Rdg: Kwame Anthony Appiah, "Racisms"
IV. Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is an effort to redress past injustices, but in giving special preferences to minorities it arguably perpetuates stereotypes. Does affirmative action make people equal, or perpetuate inequality? Does it provide justice or perpetuate injustice?
Oct. 5: Why do some groups tend to be poorer than others?
Rdg: William A. Darity Jr. and Patrick L. Mason, "Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Gender," Journal of Economic Perspectives 12:63-90 (Spring 1998)(BB); "Race in Brazil," The Economist, Jan. 28, 2012 (BB)
Oct. 10: Equality in theory
Rdg: J.R. Lucas, Against Equality (BB); Bernard Shaw, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism, and Fascism (1928), chapters 9-10, 22 (BB).
For those interested: Harry Frankfurt, "Equality as a Moral Ideal," Ethics 98:21-43 (1987), online.
REVISION OF PAPER 1 DUE
Oct. 12: Is Race-based Affirmative Action the right solution?
Rdg: Shelby Steele, A Negative Vote on Affirmative Action (BB); Amy Gutmann, "Should Public Policy be Class Conscious rather than Color Conscious"(BB); Richard Fallon, "Affirmative Action Based on Economic Disadvantage," 43 UCLA Law Review 1913 (1996)
For those interested: "Rich and Poor Farther Apart in Education," NYT, Feb. 10, 2012, online; Stephen Carter, Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby; Affirmative Action at U.C. Berkeley (NYT Magazine 5/2/99); Dinesh D'Souza, End of Racism; Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom, America in Black and White; Charles Murray, Losing Ground; Coate and Loury, "Will Affirmative Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes," American Economic Review 83(5):1220-40 (1993), online (some sections require background in economics).
Oct. 17: Affirmative action in the courts: university admissions
Rdg: Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 US 306 (2003); Fisher v. University of Texas, 631 F.3d 213 (5th Circuit, 2011)
For those interested: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978); Florida Civil Rights Initiative website
V. Hate Speech Codes
May a state university restrict the liberty of people to express their dislike or hate of people who are different than them?
Oct. 19: The argument in favor of free speech: J.S. Mill's On Liberty
Rdg: J.S. Mill, On Liberty, chapter 2
Question for discussion: would Mill defend anonymous speech? (See Pilchesky v Gatelli, 12 A. 3d 430 (2011) on whether courts may compel the identification of anonymous Internet posters of speech that offends someone).
For those interested: Joshua Cohen, "Freedom of Expression," Philosophy and Public Affairs 22(3):207-63 (1993), online; Thomas Scanlon, "A Theory of Freedom of Expression," Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(2):204-26 (1972), online; Snyder v. Phelps (2010), online.
Oct. 24: Campus Hate Speech Codes
Rdg: Andrew Altman, Liberalism and Campus Hate Speech: A Philosophical Examination, Ethics 103:302-17 (January 1993), online; R.A.V. v. St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992): online
Recommended: Friday Night Lights, Season 1:15 ("Blinders")/16 ("Black Eyes and Broken Hearts")
VI. Race and criminal justice
A disproportionate number of minorities are on deathrow; is unequal justice still justice? It is common practice for police to treat people of color with greater suspicion, based on statistical data that they are more likely to commit certain crimes. Should we use racial profiling?
Oct. 26: Capital punishment and racial disparities
Rdg: Steven Nathanson, Does it Matter if the Death Penalty is Arbitrarily Administered?(BB); Ernest van den Haag, Refuting Nathanson (BB)
Oct. 31: Rdg: Baldus et al, Disposition of Nebraska Capital and Non-Capital Homicide Cases (1973-1999): A Legal and Empirical Analysis (2001), online report (appendices); Stanley Rothman and Stephen Power, "Execution by quota?", Public Interest v. 116 (Summer 1994)
For those interested:"Study Finds Racial Bias in Public Schools," New York Times, March 1, 2000, p. A14 (byline: Tamar Lewin); Disparities in sentencing for vehicular homicide based on victim race/gender (Glaeser and Sacerdote, National Bureau of Economic Research paper, April 2000)
Nov. 2: Racial profiling
Rdg: Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Color of Suspicion," New York Times, June 20, 1999 (online)
For those interested: ACLU website on racial profiling
VII. Gender and Sexual orientation
Women earn less than men generally and are seen by many as the target of explicit as well as less overt discrimination. In this section we consider a few of the many controversies associated with the category of gender and with sexual orientation.
Nov. 7: Gender as a category; Women and Work
Rdg: Economist Special Report on Women and Work, Nov. 26-2011 (bb); UAW v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 499 U.S. 187; "Pentagon Allows Women Closer to Combat, But Not Close Enough for Some," NYT Feb. 10, 2012, online.
Nov. 9: Pornography and Prostitution
Rdg: Hudnut v. American Booksellers Assoc., Inc., 771 F. 2d 323; Debra Satz, "Markets in Women's Sexual Labor," Ethics 106(1):63-85 (1995), online.
Nov. 14: Homosexuality
Rdg: Michael Levin, "Why Homosexuality is Abnormal," The Monist 67, 2 (1984)(bb); Burton Leiser, "Homosexuality, Morals, and the Law of Nature," in LaFollette, Ethics in Practice (1997)(bb)
Nov. 16: Gay marriage
Rdg: Brook Sadler, "Re-thinking civil unions and same-sex marriage," Monist 91:578-605 (2008), online; Jeff Jordan, "Is it wrong to discriminate on the basis of homosexuality?", Journal of Social Philosophy 25(1):39-52 (1995)(BB);
Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 704 F. Supp. 2d 921 (N.D. Cal. 2010)
Nov. 21: Polygamy
Rdg: Sarah Song, "Justice, Gender, and the Politics of Multiculturalism"(BB)
VIII. Multiculturalism
Nov. 28 Amish
Rdg: Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972); Sean Hamill, “Religious Freedom vs. Sanitation Rules,” New York Times, June 14, 2009 (online)
Dec. 5 Islam
Rdg: Sultaana Lakiana Myke Freeman v. Florida (2005), online; Galeotti, "The Islamic veil in French Schools"(2002)(BB)
Dec. 7 Cultural Defense
Rdg: Maine v. Kargar; Tunick, "Can culture excuse crime?--evaluating the inability thesis," Punishment and Society 6:395-409 (2004), online
For those interested: Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights
Paper two due
Additional notes:
Policy on Accommodations: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), students who require reasonable accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) -- SR 110 (561-799-8010) – and follow all OSD procedures.
Academic Integrity Policy:Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information, see University Regulation 4.001 and http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/students/honorcode.html
Classroom Etiquette Policy: In order to enhance and maintain a productive atmosphere for education, personal communication devices, such as cellular telephones and pagers, are to be disabled in class sessions.
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