Topics in Literature and Ethics (288-0-20)

Topic

Ideas of Justice

Instructors

Regina Schwartz

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 212: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

What is the right thing to do? This course will examine ideas of justice in western cultural and literary traditions. Biblical ideas of justice, utilitarianism, rights theory, and more justice theories will be explored. We will read literature alongside these theories, following how such ideas of justice shape the public and intimate lives of people. We will ask how religious ideas of justice inform and depart from secular ideas of justice, how retributive and distributive ideas of justice are imagined and critiqued, and how the relation between justice and law has been conceived. Class participation is required.

Teaching Method

Discussion.

Evaluation Method

Attendance, participation, papers.

Class Materials (Required)

The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates (I will send you the online link).
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do by Michael Sandel. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). ISBN-10 0374532508.
Billy Budd by Herman Melville. (TOR). ISBN-10 1500412910.

More texts to be added.

Class Attributes

Ethical and Evaluative Thinking Foundational Disci
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English and Creative Writing students.