Philosophy of Anarchy (PST 4803) Prof. Jeremy Farris. Spring 2009.

Georgia Institute of Technology PST 4803 F 11:05-1:55 College of Computing 53

Prof. Jeremy Farris DM Smith 025 Office Hours: By appointment Contact: jeremy.farris@gatech.edu Prelude: This course is entitled the philosophy of anarchy. It is, at least in part, about anarchy. It is also about authority (it's conceptual nature), the state, coercion, the legitimacy of state power, freedom, ownership, and the ownership of one's self, the nature of rights, the justification of moral claims, the possibility of normal regulation without justificatory reference to the state, Lockean political philosophy, etc. In short, "the philosophy of anarchy" is a way to ensnare unsuspecting students to participating in an upper level seminar on contemporary political philosophy. Texts

Robert Nozick's Anarchy State Utopia, and Lewis Hyde's The Gift. These are available at Engineer's Bookstore. There is another text, Robert Paul Wolff's In Defense of Anarchism. Please obtain a copy of this book; however, I do not believe that it is for sale at Engineer's. There will be other reading supplied by myself in electronic format. See the tentative schedule to download the appropriate PDFs by week.
Among the texts for this course are John Locke's Second Treatise on Government,

Here are some ISBNs: Nozick : [isbn-13: 978-0-465-09720-3; isbn-10: 0-46509720-0;] Hyde: 978-0-307-27950-7; Wolff: 0-520-21573-7; Locke -- any edition will do. Assessment This course will be assessed by seminar participation. 'Seminar participation means (a) keeping a journal of readings, (b) attending class and discussing materials, and for some, a small bit of in class presentation. The class will also be assessed by a term paper. Participation marks and the mark for the term paper contribute equally to the final grade. Honor Code No doubt you will comply with any reasonable interpretation of Georgia Techs Honor Code. On computers and cellphones. Please do not take notes on your personal lap top machines. It distracts your neighbors (they hear you) and myself (I do not know if you are, say, commenting on

someone's Facebook wall about how very interesting philosophy is.) Also, please place your cell phones on silent before class (an obvious point). Tentative Schedule Jan 9. Preliminary and organizational remarks. Reading: George Woodcock, 'Anarchism: A Historical Introduction' Jan 16. Conceptual Tools: Rights and Liberties

Lief Wenar, 'The Nature of Rights' William Edmundson, 'An Introduction to Rights' chs. 5 & 7 Robert Nozick, ASU, ch. 3 Isaiah Berlin, 'Two Concepts of Liberty'

Jan 23. What is authority?

Hobbes, from Leviathan, (read Chapter 25) and De Cive, Chapter 14 Leslie Green, 'The Nature of Authority' R.P. Wolff, DA, pp. 3-12

Jan 30. How do we understand God's authority?

Plato, The Euthyphro Mark C. Murphy, An Essay on Divine Authority, chs. 1-3, 6

Feb 6. The Paradox of Authority and One Anarchist Argument

Paul MacLaughlin on William Godwin's "anarchism" R.P. Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism, pp. 3-12, 13-73, 74-82 Feb 13. On the Edge of Anarchy: John Locke's Political Theory

Locke, Second Treatise on Government A. John Simmons, On The Edge of Anarchy, chapter 8. This book is a critical exegesis of Locke's political philosophy, especially the Second Treatise. This is a good paper by A. John Simmons on "Philosophical Anarchism" where he provides the useful distinction between "a priori" and "a posteriori" anarchism.

Feb 20. Will the State Arise Anyway?

Robert Nozick, ASU, ch. 1-2, 4-6

Feb 27. Does Liberty Upset Justice?

Robert Nozick, ASU, ch. 7, section 1 G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality, Introduction, Chapter 1

Mar 6. Property and Self-Ownership

Robert Nozick, ASU, ch. 7, section 1 G.A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality, Chapters 2-3 Thomas Nagel, "Libertarianism without Foundations"

Mar 13. Regulation "before" or "beyond" the state

Lewis Hyde, The Gift, part1 Mar 20. No Class. Mar 27. What Is coercion? Is the law coercive?

William Edmundson, Is the law coercive? Scott Anderson's "Coercion" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Apr 3. "Natural Duties & The Particularity Requierment"

John Rawls, "The Natural Duties" (From Theory of Justice) Jeremy Waldron, "Special Ties and Natural Duties"

Apr 10. On Patriotism: A Virtue or Mistake?

Alasdair MacIntyre, "Is Patriotism a Virtue?" George Kateb, "Is Patriotism a Mistake?"

Apr 17. No Class. Writing Week Apr 24. Submission and Discussion of papers. Submission of Journals. (Late submissions of either will be marked down a letter grade.)

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