This course is an introduction to the main topics in political philosophy.

The main aim of this course is to provide the students with the argumentative tools to reflect critically on these concepts, learning to argue for and against a variety of positions on crucial political issues of our time, both at the domestic and global level. The basic skills to be assessed are the following: 1. ability to read philosophical texts and to grasp their specific language; 2. ability to grasp the connections between premises and arguments and to find them in the texts; 3. ability to put forward and defend one's own views and criticizing others’, during guided discussions; 4. ability to emphasize similarities and differences between competing claims; 5. capacity to give articulate oral and written expression to critical analytical thinking

The course will cover the following topics: theories of political obligation (anarchism, contractarianism, democratic theories, fair play, consequentialism) and of distributive justice (utilitarianism, egalitarianism, prioritarianism, sufficientarianism), as well as views on central concepts such as citizenship, migration, power, legal and social norms, human rights.

Reading list: 1. Arneson, Richard, 2013 “Egalitarism” https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/egalitarianism 2. Besson, Samantha 2011. “Human Rights: Ethical, Political . . . or Legal? First Steps in a Legal Theory of Human Rights”. In Donald Earl Childress, The Role of Ethics in International Law, Cambridge University Press, 210-245. 3. Bobbio, Norberto, 1996. Age of Rights, Polity Press (extracts) 4. –––, 1993. Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law Tradition, University of Chicago Press (extracts) 5. –––, 1987. The Future of Democracy. A Defence of the Rule of the Game. Polity Press (extracts) 6. Erman, Eva, 2014. “The Boundary Problem and the Ideal of Democracy”, Constellations, 21, 535-46. 7. Goodin, Robert E., 1988. “What is So Special about Our Fellow Countrymen?”, Ethics, 98, 4, 663-68. 8. Hart, Herbert L.A., 1961, The Concept of Law, Clarendon (extracts) 9. Huemer, Michael, 2013, The Problem of Political Authority. An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey, Palgrave Macmillan, chs. 1-5 10. Kochenov, Dimitry, 2020. “Ending the passport apartheid. The alternative to citizenship is no citizenship—A reply”, in International Journal of Constitutional Law, 18, 4, 1525–1530: https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/18/4/1525/6169921 11. Kramer, Matthew, 2024. Rights and Right-holders. Cambridge University Press; chapter 5 on right-holders (extract) 12. Lamont, Julian and Christi Favor, 2017, "Distributive Justice", https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/justice-distributive/ 13. Magaña, Pablo, 2024. The Boundary Problem in Democratic Theory: A Methodological Approach in Res Publica, 30:305–322 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-023-09617-z 14. Parfit, Derek, 1997, “Equality and Priority,” Ratio 10, pp. 202–221. 15. Raz, Joseph, 2006, ‘The Problem of Authority: Revisiting the Service Conception’ 90 Minnesota Law Review 1003–44, 1014 16. Renzo, Massimo and Leslie Green, 2022, "Legal Obligation and Authority", https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/legal-obligation/ 17. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter, 2023, “Consequentialism”, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/ 18. Temkin, Larry S., 1993, Inequality, Oxford University Press, chapters 1, 2, 7,8 19. Weale, Albert, 2020, Modern Social Contract Theory, Oxford University Press (extracts) https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198853541.003.0019 20. Weale, Albert, 2018. The Will of the People. A Modern Myth. Polity Press, 2018 (extracts) 21. Weber, Max, 1946, Essays in Sociology, Duncker & Humblot (extracts) 22. Wenar, Leif, 2023, "Rights", https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/rights/

The course employs both lectures and seminars to provide the students with the necessary skills to approach political philosophy. In particular, the course will be organised as follows: 1 Lecture(s) will introduce the main ideas concerning a given topic; 2 Seminar(s) will focus on some specific readings and issues (the complete list of readings is below, §5). 3 During the classes, students are given the possibility to react to the readings, discuss with the teacher and other students in pro-and-con form the concepts and theories under scrutiny so as to enable an active knowledge acquisition process concerning both to the matters discussed in the lectures and to the readings at the heart of the seminars. All classes require active engagement and participation.

The final assessment for this class will be based on: 1. 50% oral exam on the part of the course taught by Gianfranco Pellegrino, especially items 9, 12, 14, and 18 of the reading list. 2. 50% written exam on part of the course taught by Patricia Mindus in two-steps: 2.1. 25% mid-term exam. During mid-term week, a written exam, carried out in class, on a date established at the start of the course, will require students to respond to 3 questions concerning the lectures of weeks 3, 4 and 5, and the items 4, 5, 8, 15, 19 and 20 of the reading list. The questions can be chosen among nine questions. See scoring guide on Learn for the marking criteria. Those who did not sit the exam and/or refuse the mid-term grade are subject to a more onerous end-term exam. Those who pass the mid-term exam are exempt from questions relating to items 4, 5, 8, 15, 19 and 20 of the reading list in the second written exam. 2.2. 25% end-term exam. On the penultimate day of class, a multiple-choice questionnaire will need to be answered in class, in the following forms: Modality A for students having passed the mid-term: 20 multiple-choice questions to be answered in class in 30 min (15 questions for students with DSA), on the part of the course taught by Patricia Mindus, save for items 4, 5, 8, 15, 19 and 20 of the reading list below. The questions will be distributed randomly. Correction can take place immediately. Modality B for students not having passed the mid-term: 40 multiple-choice questions to be answered in class with the safe browser in one hour (30 questions for students with DSA). The questions will be distributed randomly. Correction can take place immediately. Modality C for students having passed the mid-term who refuse their grade on the end-term exam: 30 min written examination to answer three short questions, with safe browser, focusing on understanding an extract from the readings. Students may choose from 3 texts. The students opting for this option remain in the room for a further 30 minutes to complete this task while the students in modality B complete their end-term in the same room. Modality D for students opting for modality B but fail or refuse their grade: The students have to make an oral presentation in the last class that focusing on the readings. However, they are not free to choose the readings that will be distributed following the order in which they are listed on the syllabus and in the ascending order of their student number. The presentation lasts exactly 5 min during which the student explains: 1) what is the main idea defended by the author in the text; 2) how many and what arguments are given in favour of said thesis; 3) what the antithesis of the thesis would be. This set-up gives all students a possibility to retake a test for each of the written exams. Students who pass the mid-term exam and the end-term are exempt from any further examination on part of the course taught by Patricia Mindus. Students who do not sit or pass both of these exams will have failed the part of the course taught by Patricia Mindus (50%). Students with non-attending status must submit two take-home papers, concerning the parts of the course taught by Prof. Mindus, and need to reach an agreement concerning the contents of the take-home exams with her prior to submission. They will take an oral exam with prof. Pellegrino.