This course will discuss the fundamental problems of human beings relating to one another in a civilized society. These problems deepen dramatically in importance and difficulty when we call upon the coercive power of the state to settle our disputes. The texts in this class will examine questions of justice, duty, right, and law, and they will ask about the extent to which these are grounded in positive human legislation versus the extent to which they are grounded in a higher divine or natural order.
We will read: Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Choephoroe, Eumenides; Plato, Euthyphro, Laws I, IV, Apology, Crito; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics V, Athenian Constitution; Exodus 19–20, Deuteronomy 5–6, Matthew 15, 22:15–40, Romans 7–8; Plutarch, Lives “Solon”; Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II QQ. 90, 94–97; Hobbes, Leviathan 14–15, 26–28; Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice; Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws I, XIV–XVII, XXIX; Rousseau, A Discourse on Political Economy, The Social Contract II; Kant, The Science of Right Part I; Articles of Confederation, Constitution; Hegel, Philosophy of Right III.IIB; Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov XII.
