Sylabus
SYLLABUS
GLOBAL ETHICS: THE CURRENT DEBATES - JPB167
ETCS: 6 credits
Prerequisites: None
Taught in WINTER Semester
Lecturer: Dr Janusz Salamon
Time: TUESDAY, 15.30-16.50
PLACE: Jinonice, classroom C123
CONTACTS:
Email: janusz.salamon at fsv.cuni.cz
Office hours: Monday, 12.30-14.00 & Tuesday, 14:00-15:30 (3 Tuesdays per month) at office 514 (Floor 5) in Jinonice also at other times ONLINE after appointment at https://cuni-cz.zoom.us/j/4572739330
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course being an introduction to the dynamically growing scholarly fields of "global ethics" which is primarily a sub-discipline of political philosophy, since it deals with the issues related to global justice and injustice and with the question of the very possibility of a meaningful cross-cultural ethical and political conversation leading to consensus, political decisions and action making an impact in the real world in which well over a third of the global population lives below the poverty line. The course is thus designed primarily for students of political science, international relations, economics and other social sciences and humanities (including philosophy), whose future work will require an ability to analyze ethical challenges of the increasingly pluralistic world under the conditions of political, economic and cultural globalization. The course will include only as much ethical theory as is necessary to grasp the basic differences between world's main ethical traditions, while most of the classes will be devoted to discussion of real-life ethical challenges faced at present by humanity in the areas of global politics and economy, as well as in individual lives marked by injustice, unfreedom and destitution. While avoiding the reductionist temptation to play down inter-cultural differences in order to bring out cross-cultural commonalities in various ethical traditions, the course will explore possibilities of a genuinely global consensus with regard to the ethical questions that must be addressed by humankind as a whole.
COURSE OUTLINE:
Class 01. Introducing Global Ethics
Class 02. John Rawls' "Law of Peoples" - A Limited Contractarian Basis for Global Ethics
Class 03. The Ethics of Migration and International Hospitality
Class 04. Thomas Pogge on Negative Duties Towards the Global Poor - An Expanded Contractarian Basis for Global Ethics
Class 05. The Obligation of Charity in the Face of the World Poverty and the Injustice of the WTO Trade Regime - Peter Singer's Utilitarian (Non-Contractarian) Approach to Moral Duties Beyond Borders
Class 06. Environmental Protection and the Global Poor
Class 07. Martha Nussbaum on Capabilities Approach to Global Justice - A Non-Contractarian (Aristotelian) Basis for Global Ethics
Class 08. Global Justice for Women: Universal or Local?
Class 09. Amartya Sen's Non-Contractarian Theory of Justice Across Borders (Multiple Identities and Impartial Spectator)
Class 10. Varieties of Anticosmopolitanism
Class 11. Ethics of War and Violent Struggle
Class 12. Nationality, Sovereignty and the Right to Secession
CLASS READINGS:
All readings will be available in electronic format available for download from the course website (in the SIS).
Principal readings will be drawn from the following books:
Thomas Pogge, Keith Horton, Global Ethics: Seminal Essays, Paragon House, 2008.
Thomas Pogge, Darrel Moellendorf, Global Justice: Seminal Essays, Paragon House, 2008.
Kimberly Hutchings, Global Ethics, Polity, 2010.
Mervin Frost, Global Ethics, Routledge, 2009.
D. Bonevac, S. Phillips, Introduction to World Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader, OUP 2009.
Eliot Deutsch, Introduction to World Philosophies, Pearson, 1996.
Eliot Deutsch and Ron Bontekoe (eds), A Companion to World Philosophies, Blackwell, 1999.
H.G. Blocker, World Philosophy: An East-West Comparative Introduction to Philosophy, Prentice Hall, 1999.
Robert Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, World Philosophy: A Text with Readings, McGraw-Hill, 1994.
David E. Cooper, World Philosophies: A Historical Introduction, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.
M.R. Amstutz, International Ethics: Concepts, Theories, and Cases in Global Politics, Rowman and Littlefield, 2008
COURSE GRADING
Final Essay 40%
Final Exam 60%
Total 100%
FINAL EXAM
The Final Exam will be written in class. You will have at least 160 minutes to your disposal. Students will be asked to select in accordance with their preference THREE topics from a list of 5-6 topics (related to the main problems of global ethics explored in the class reading and in the classroom), and to "DISCUSS" (in a form of short essays: at least 3 pages per topic) relevant issues showing both the familiarity with the material explored in the course of the semester, and the ability to think critically about such issues. Thus critical assessment of the theories and arguments - as opposed to mere memorisation - is encouraged and will be rewarded.
FINAL ESSAY
The Final Essay, between 1800 and 2000 words in length, has the deadline for the submission: 48 hours before the Final Exam (each student registers in the SIS). The exam is compulsory for all student who wish to get a pass grade. Thus despite the fact that the Final Exam accounts for up to 60% of the grade, students who will take the written exam but will fail to submit their essay will be failed.
TOPIC of the Final Essay. The Final Essay is meant to give each student the opportunity to APPLY the theoretical frameworks of global ethics to to real-life issues of global significance. Therefore, please, choose ONE of such issues INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF LECTURES in the Syllabus (mass migration, environmental protection, global poverty, nationalism/struggle for national self-determination, war/terrorism/new forms of miiltary conflict) and discuss it in YOUR LOCAL CONTEXT (of you country or region, since you know it well). While analysing the problem in your local context, please, apply SOME of the theoretical frameworks of global ethics explored in the more theoretical lectures/class readings of the course. Take the relevant class reading(s) for the point of departure of your research and then use at least 3 other scholarly articles/books, including them in the references. Please, send the essay to me as an email attachment. (I will scan every essay with anti-plagiarism software which recognises also the use of generative AI programmes.)
GRADING SCALE
A = 91-100 % – excellent
B = 81-90 % – very good
C = 71-80 % – good
D = 61-70 % – satisfactory
E = 51-60 % – minimal pass
F = 0-50 % – fail