SYLLABUS

Global Ethics and Global Justice - JPM647

Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague

Instructor: Dr Janusz Salamon, PhD

ETCS: 6 credits

Prerequisites: None

TIME: MONDAY, 11:00-12.20

PLACE: Nove Butovice campus, classroom 312 [Under the COVID conditions the lectures will also be streamed via ZOOM and recorded.]

In-class lectures simultaneously streamed live on Zoom at

https://cuni-cz.zoom.us/j/95416950850

CONTACTS:

Email: janusz.salamon at univ-oxford.com

Office hours: Tuesday, 11.00-12.30

1. 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.

2. Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

· Comprehend and have a clear understanding of the basics of the main ethical traditions of the world

· Compare and contrast in a culturally informed and sensitive way the diverse approaches of various ethical traditions to the urgent ethical problems of our globalizing world

· Apply the tools of the ethical analysis and ethical decision-making in a cross-cultural context

3. Teaching methodology

Lectures, home assignments with follow-up analysis and discussion in class.

4. Schedule

Class 01. Introducing Global Ethics

Class 02. John Rawls' "Law of Peoples" - A Limited Contractarian Basis for Global Ethics

Class 03. Martha Nussbaum on Capabilities Approach to Global Justice - A NON-Contractarian Basis for Global Ethics

Class 04. Amartya Sen on non-contractarian Justice Across Borders

Class 05. Thomas Pogge on Negative Duties Towards the Global Poor - An Expanded Contractarian Basis for Global Ethics

Class 06. Varieties of Anticosmopolitanism

Class 08. Global Ethics of Environment Protection

Class 09. Global Justice for Women

Class 10. Can War be just?

Class 11. Terrorism and Asymmetric Conflicts

Class 12. Right to Secession

Class 13. World Hunger and Morality

5. Reading Material

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 (ca. 2500 words) 50%

Final Exam 50%

Total 100%

EXAM & FINAL ESSAY INSTRUCTION

Since due to COVID we are not able to hold an in-class written examination FOR ALL participants, we must settle for a combination of ‘final essay’ and ‘final exam’ in an oral form conducted online. Consequently, - since this course is attended by dozens of students – we have to spread the examination throughout the entire exam period, from early January till mid-February. For this reason, I will enter in the SIS only one exam date for this course, since any exam dates I would enter would in fact ‘symbolic’. Thus the actual exam date is up to you to choose and communicate it to me via email. I should be able to adapt to your chosen date, but I will propose the hour, since – for legal reasons – we have to have at least 2 students present during the online oral exam (we are not allowed to record the exam), therefore I will have to also play the role of a matchmaker. Consequently, if only one of you will ask to be examined on a given day, the exam will not be possible, unless we will find a second student to join us. Thus it would be helpful (although it is not required of you) if you would agree between yourself to ask as a pair to be examined on a given day. Should you have any questions regarding the registration for the exam in the SIS or regarding the manner in which the exam will be conducted, please, let me know via email.

The FINAL ESSAY will be due "at least 48 hours before the oral exam" since I need to familiarize myself with it in order to be able to ask you during the final oral exam some questions related to your essay, thus reassuring myself that the essay is indeed your brainchild. The detailed essay instruction will be presented in class.

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