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This module investigates questions that are both central to political philosophy and of current political importance. They include: What does it take for a society to be just? How can we come to own natural resources? Does global inequality matter as much as national inequality? Is it wrong to contribute to climate change? Should states recognise the institution of marriage? What do we owe to future generations?

Module Aims: This module is designed to introduce you to some important debates in political philosophy and to help you develop the skills needed to evaluate them. These skills include the ability to reconstruct complicated arguments, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and identify the connections between them. These skills are fundamental in all areas of philosophy, but they are also important in many other disciplines.

Sample Readings:
> Elizabeth Anderson, ‘What is the Point of Equality?’, Ethics 109 (1999): 287–337
> G. A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (Cambridge University Press, 1995): Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
> Andrea Sangiovanni, ‘Global Justice, Reciprocity, and the State’, Philosophy & Public Affairs 35 (2007): 3–39
> Paula Casal, ‘Why Sufficiency is Not Enough’, Ethics 117 (2007): 296–326
> Julia Nefsky, ‘Consumer Choice and Collective Impact’, in Anne Barnhill, Mark Budolfson, and Tyler Doggett (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2018): 267–286

Philosophy Area B