Syllabus
1. Are women morally superior to men ? Boys' moral reasoning (and girls', too...); so is Kant's view best, or are there 'different voices' ? Readings: Gilligan; Küng
2. Are there universal ethical rules ? Yes: act humanely, the Golden Rule (and Just War.) Readings: Küng; Allan 125-7
3. Are moral obligations particular or universal ? Pericles' funeral oration and Walzer's thick and and thin morality. Readings: Thucydides 1-4; Walzer; Singer; Nagel
4. Can there be peace in an anarchical world ? Political realism, prudence, and international morality. Readings: McElroy
5. How could one measure international ethics ? Moral theories and an international moral scale. Readings: Allan 90-105
6. What is bad ? From nuclear Armageddon to Thucydides' Melian dialogue to Hobbes to Just War. Readings: Allan 95-97, 105-111; Thucydides 4-9
7. What is good ? The ideal of agape-paradise, and from stable peace to Just Peace to positive peace to Global Care. Readings: Allan 97-100, 111-29; Thucydides 1-4
8. When is it legitimate to go to war ? And what about humanitarian intervention ? Readings: Allan 109-11
9. What are the ways to a Just Peace ? Recognition, renouncement, and rule. Readings: Allan 115-7; Allan & Keller
10.Is perpetual peace possible ? Yes, Kant tells us, this with rational demons (and even in a Hobbesian world). Readings: Kant; Hobbes
11.Can Gandhi be right, and if yes, how ? The logic of pacifism, power play, and non-violence. Readings: Gandhi; Devji; Gilligan 103-5
12.How could a Just Society of Peoples be built ? Rawls and the limits of liberalism. Readings: Rawls
13.Should I not help everyone ? Cosmopolitan universalism and its particularist - 2/5 - critique (ie. everything global is necessarily local if not glocal). Readings: Singer; Nagel
14.Is a Global Care ethic superior ? Recognition, caring, and lovemaking. Readings: Allan 119-129; Allan & Keller; Nagel
Annotation
Why is it better to make love rather than war ? Because making love - ie. engaging in caring relationships - benefits both care givers and care receivers. Appeals to humanrights and international humanitarian law certainly are important, but should we not focus on non-violent humanitarian intervention care beforehand ? While an armád humanitarian invasion may be needed at times under Just War jus ad bellum rules, are there pacifist alternatives ?
Are there universal ethical rules, in history and Gross civilizations ? Such questions will be central in this introductory international ethics course.
Dependency – not the status of an autonomous adult as envisioned in liberal political theory - characterizes humans. A Global Care ethic, based on feminist theory and religious consensus, priviledging needs rather than rights, concrete social relations rather than abstract principles of justice, is superior to a purely rights based approach. And, are women – the traditionally dominated sex and gender - not morally superior to men ? Focussing on international relations morality, we shall discuss political theory doctrines by Gandhi, Gilligan, Hobbes, Küng,
Kant, Nagel, Singer, Rawls, Thucydides, Walzer as well as the instructor's. Students will be encouraged to think and evaluate their personal ideals of international relations. They will become familiar with concepts and theories helping them to develop their own thoughts about the needs, challenges, and impediments to international morality.