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Syllabus

This document outlines the syllabus for a course on Ethics and Jurisprudence. It lists 13 lectures on various topics in ethics and legal theory, along with required and suggested readings and audio for each lecture.

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liyixin0406
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33 views

Syllabus

This document outlines the syllabus for a course on Ethics and Jurisprudence. It lists 13 lectures on various topics in ethics and legal theory, along with required and suggested readings and audio for each lecture.

Uploaded by

liyixin0406
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Syllabus

LAWS 6007ABC Ethics & Jurisprudence


Prof. Bryan H. Druzin
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (852) 3943 1044
Office: Room 526, 5/F, Lee Shau Kee Building

Lecture Lecture Topic


1 Foundational Ethics I: Consequentialism
2 Foundational Ethics II: Deontology
3 Foundational Ethics III: Virtue Ethics
4 Separating Ethics from law I: Natural Law and Legal Positivism
5 Separating Ethics from law II: Hart and Modern Legal Positivism
6 The Ethics of Punishment I: Theories of Punishment
7 The Ethics of Punishment II: Justifying Punishment
8 Free will I: The Basics of the Problem
9 Free will II: Implications for Law and Punishment
10 Distributive Justice I: Rawls
11 Distributive Justice II: Nozick
12 Ethics Revisited: Moral Relativism
13 Review Class

Required Readings and Listenings

There is no single textbook for this course. The course comprises a mix of readings and audio listenings.
All the readings and listenings for the course are freely available on Blackboard. You may download the
audio files or listen to them directly on Blackboard. If you wish to purchase some of the material in
hardcopy form (although this is not necessary), sections of the following textbook are used across
several lectures: Nigel E. Simmonds, Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (4th ed.,
2013) (later editions are also fine).

1
Lecture 1— Foundational Ethics I: Consequentialism

Required reading
Nigel E. Simmonds, Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (4th ed., 2013)
pp. 17‐34

Required listening
Brad Hooker, ‘On Consequentialism’ (Philosophy Bites, 2007)

Suggested listening if you want to go deeper


Ian Shapiro, ‘The Origins of Classical Utilitarianism’ (Yale University)
(Note: if you can spare 43 minutes, I highly recommend listening to this.)

Lecture 2— Foundational Ethics II: Deontology

Required reading
Fred Feldman, Introductory Ethics (1978) pp. 97‐106
(Note: this is the clearest and most succinct explanation of Kantian ethics I know—Kant is difficult!)

Required listening
Mark Navin, ‘Kantian Ethics’ (University of Pennsylvania)
(Note: this is a very good 20‐minute explanation of basic Kantian ethics.)

Suggested further reading if you want to go deeper


L. Alexander & M. Moore, Deontological Ethics, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
(Note: Sections 2, 5 and 6 are omitted. You may find this material a bit difficult. As such, it is not
required reading.)

2
Lecture 3— Foundational Ethics III: Virtue Ethics

Required reading
Lewis Vaughn, Beginning Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy (2014) pp. 155‐162

R. Hursthouse, Virtue Ethics, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy


(Note: Sections 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4 are omitted)

Suggested listening if you want to go deeper


Galen Strawson, Miranda Fricker, Roger Crisp, ‘Virtue’ (BBC: In Our Time, 2002)
(Note: this is an excellent conversation by three notable philosophers about virtue ethics that touches
on Kant and utilitarianism as well.)

Lecture 4— Separating Ethics from law I: Natural Law and Legal Positivism

Required reading
Raymond Wacks, Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory (3rd ed., 2012) pp. 10‐26,
Chapter 2 ‘Natural Law and Morality’
(Note: some sections are omitted)

Raymond Wacks, Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory (3rd ed., 2012) pp. 57‐74,
Chapter 3 ‘Classical Legal Positivism’
(Note: some sections are omitted)

Suggested further reading if you want to go deeper


L. Green, Legal Positivism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Note: Sections 3 and 4.3 are omitted)

3
Lecture 5— Separating Ethics from law II: Hart and Modern Legal Positivism

Required reading
Nigel E. Simmonds, Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (4th ed., 2013)
pp. 137‐174

Required listening
Nicola Lacey, ‘H.L.A. Hart and Legal Positivism’ (Philosophy Bites, 2014)

Lecture 6— The Ethics of Punishment I: Theories of Punishment

Required reading
Thom Brooks, Punishment (2012) pp. 15‐63, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
(Note: some sections are omitted)

Suggested listening if you want to go deeper


Jonathan Simon, ‘The Philosophy and Psychology of Retribution’ (Berkeley University)
Jonathan Simon, ‘Deterrence and Incapacitation’ (Berkeley University)
Jonathan Simon, ‘Prison Discipline and Rehabilitation’ ((Berkeley University)

4
Lecture 7— The Ethics of Punishment II: Justifying Punishment

Required reading
Thom Brooks, Punishment (2012) pp. 89‐100, Chapter 5 ‘Rawls, Hart, and the Mixed Theory’

Antony Duff, Legal Punishment, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


(Note: Sections 5‐10 are omitted)

Gary Gutting, Foucault (2005) pp. 79‐90

Suggested further listening if you want to go deeper


Stephen West, ‘Discipline and Punish’ (excerpt from Philosophize This, 2018)
(Note: this is a very casual but very clear overview of Foucault’s understanding of punishment and
power.)

Lecture 8— Free will I: The Basics of the Problem

Required listening
Sam Harris, ‘Free will’ (Sydney Opera House)
(Note: make sure you listen to this before class. Harris is a very clear speaker!)

You may consider also getting started on Lecture 9’s readings on compatibilism now, as they are quite
dense and might take some time to absorb

5
Lecture 9— Free will II: Implications for Law and Punishment

Required reading
Michael McKenna, Compatibilism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Note: Sections 2, 3.3, 3.4, 4, 4.1, 5.1, 5.4, 5.5, and 5.6 are omitted)

Sam Harris, ‘Moral Responsibility’

Required listening
Gregg Caruso, ‘Freewill and Punishment’ (Philosophy Bites, 2016)

Lecture 10— Distributive Justice I: Rawls

Required reading
Nigel E. Simmonds, Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (4th ed., 2013)
pp. 47‐84.

Suggested listening if you want to go deeper


Michael Sandel, ‘Distributive Justice’ (Harvard University)

Lecture 11— Distributive Justice II: Nozick

Required reading
Nigel E. Simmonds, Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights (4th ed., 2013)
pp. 91‐112

Required listening
Ronald Dworkin, ‘An Overview of Rawls and Nozick’ (BBC: Men of Ideas, 1978)

6
Lecture 12— Ethics Revisited: Moral Relativism

Required reading
Simon Blackburn, Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (2001) pp. 17‐26

E. Westacott, Moral Relativism


(Note: Some sections of the original text are omitted)

Suggested listening if you want to go deeper


Simon Blackburn, ‘On Moral Relativism’ (Philosophy Bites, 2007)

Lecture 13— Review class


There are no readings for this class.

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