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Draft Syllabus
S.Y.B.A. Philosophy Paper II
Course Title: Social Philosophy
Semester III
Credits: 3
Code: UAPHI301
Marks: 100
Total Lectures: 45
The OBJECTIVES of the course on social philosophy are:
a) To acquaint students with the basic philosophical questions and issues that current
in social philosophy
b) To equip students with argumentative and analytical skills involved in philosophizing through these issues
c) To encourage a spirit of rationality in phil osophizing while appreciating and
respecting differing philosophical ideas and perspectives
Unit I Family and Gender Issues (11 Lectures)
Perspectives on Family & Marriage, Contemporary trends in Family and M arriage -
Single Parent families, L ive – in relationship s, Gay marriages , Feminism: Gender as a
construct , Claims of M asculin ity
Unit II Social Awareness(11 Lectures)
Economic discrimination – Gandhi , Class discrimination – Marx ,
Racial Discrimination – Frantz Fanon , Caste Discrimination – Ambedkar
Unit III War and Pacifism (11 Lectures)
What is War and theories of W ar, Principles of Just War , Justice of War (jus ad
bellum); Justice in war (jus in bello), jus post bellum , Pacifism
Unit IV Engaging Dive rsity (12 Lectures)
Philosophical Perspective of Multiculturalism - Bhikhu Parekh, Critique of
Multiculturalism -Brian Barry , Claims of Refugees and Immigrants – Michael
Dummett , Orientalism -Edward Said
Semester End Exam Evaluation [100 marks]
References and reading list
Unit I
Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals Routledge P ublications ,1985
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Deborah Satz “Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family” Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2013 (on line https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism -
family/ )
Barrie Thorne “Feminist Rethinking of the Family: An Overview” Rethinking the Family: Some Feminist Questions ed. Barrie Thorne and Maril yn Yalom Longman: New
York and London, 1982 Simone de Beauvoir “Introduction” The Second Sex (a new translation by Constance
Borde and Sheila Malovany- Chevallier) Vintage: London, 2009
Jack Sawyer “On Male Liberation” in Feminism and Masculinities ed. Peter Murphy
OUP, Oxford 2004
Unit II
M.K. Gandhi . Trusteeship Navjeevan Publication, 1990
K. Kripalani All men are brothers , Chapter - Poverty in the midst of plenty- Navjeevan
Publication 1960 Franz Fanon “The Fact of Blackness” Black Skin White Ma sks-Grove Press 1967
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels A Manifesto of the Communist Party
1848 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf
B.R. Ambedkar “On the way to Goregaon” in The Essential Writings of B.R. Ambedkar
ed. Valerian Rodrigues OUP, Oxford: 2002
“Who were the Shudras?” in The Essential Writings of B.R. Ambedkar ed.
Valerian Rodrigues OUP, Oxford: 2002
Unit III
Nicholas Fotion War and Ethics: a New Just War Theory (Continuum, 2007)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (on line source) readings on war and pacificism.
Unit IV
Charles Taylor “The Politics of Recognition” in Colin Farrelly (ed) Contemporary
Political Theory: A Re ader (Sage Publishers, 2004)
Bhiku Parekh. “Equality of Difference” in Colin Farrelly (ed) Contemporary Political
Theory: A Reader (Sage Publishers, 2004)
Brian Barry “The Muddles of Multiculturalism” New Left Review 8, March -April 2001
Edward Said Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978)
Michael Dummett Immigration and Refugees Routledge London and New York, 2001
(chapters 1 -5)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (on line source) reading on multiculturalism
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S.Y.B.A. Philosophy Paper II
Course Title : Political Philosophy
Semester IV
Credits: 3
Code: UAPHI401
Marks: 100
Total Lectures: 45
The OBJECTIVES of the course on Political philosophy are :
a) To acquaint students with the basic philosophical questions and issues that are
current in political philosophy
b) To equip students with argumentative and analytical skills involved in
philosophical reasoning
c) To encourage a spirit of rationality in philosophising while appreciating and
respecting differing philosophical ideas and perspectives
Unit I
Political ideologies (11 Lectures)
Liberalism, socialism , Anarchism, Totalitarianism , Cosmopolitanism Nationalism
Unit II Liberty (11 Lectures)
Two Concepts of Liberty (Berlin):Negative liberty - Hobbes, Locke , Positive liberty -
Rouss eau, Third Concept of Liberty (Phillip Pettit; Quentin Skinner), Right to dissent and
civil disobedie nce – Martin Luther King
Unit III Equality (11 Lectures)
Types of equality Numerical/Proportional /Formal/Moral
Dworkin on the primacy of equality
Gandhi – Sarvodaya (univer sal welfare) , Bhave – Bhoodan movement
Unit IV Justice(12 Lectures)
What is Just ice? Justice as preservation – P lato, Justice as entitlement – Nozick , Justice
as distribution – Rawls , Social Justice - Ambedkar
Semester End Exam Evaluation [100 marks]
References and reading list
Unit. 1.
Robert Goodman, Philip Pettit and Thomas Pogge A Companion to Contemporary
Political Philosophy Blackwell: 2007 ( 2 volumes)
Baradat, Leon. Political Ideologies: their origins and impact (Pearson -Prentice Hall,
2008)
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Bird, Colin. An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Heywood, Andrew. Political Theory: An Introduction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012/13)
Knowles, Dudley. Political Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2001)
Unit. 2.
David Miller ed. The Liberty Reader Routledge 2006 : Readings from the above text as
follows : (a)Two Concepts of Liberty by Isaiah Berlin (b) Negative and Positive Freedom
by Gerald C. MacCallum, Jr. (c) The Republican Ideal of Freedom by Philip Pettit (d)A
Third Conc ept of Liberty by Quentin Skinner
Martin Luther King . “Letter from Birmingham
Jail” https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Letter_Birmingham_Jail.pdf 1963
Unit.3. Stephan Goosepath “Equality” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/
2007
Raymond Plant Modern Political Thought Wiley Blackwell 1991 ( chapter on Dwor kin)
Ronald Dworkin “ What is Equality? Part 1: Equality of Welfare ” Philosophy & Public
Affairs , 10 (3) (Summer, 1981), pp. 185- 246
Ronald Dworkin “What is Equality? Part 2: Equality of Resources” Philosophy & Public Affairs , Vol. 10, No. 4 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 283- 345
M.K. Gandhi Autobiography: Story of My Experiments with Truth (relevant discussion on
Sarvodaya) Navjivan Publishing House: Ahmedabad
'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in Modern Politics) ed.
Anthony Parel, CUP: Cambridge 2010 edition)
Village Swaraj compiled H.M. Vyas Navjivan Publishing House: Ahmedabad,
1962
Ganesh Prasad “Sarvodaya —A Critical S tudy” The Indian Journal of Political Science
Vol. 21, No. 1 (January —March, 1960), pp. 38- 61
Unit.4. Julian Lamont “Distributive Justice” Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/
1993/2013
Mark Lebar “Justice as Virtue” Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/ 2002/2016
Robert Nozick Anarchy, State and Utopia, New York: Basic Books, 1974 (chapter 7 )
John Ra wls A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1971( chapter
1 and chapter 2)
Raymond Plant Modern Political Thought Wiley Blackwell 1991 (Relevant chapters)
Plato, Republic New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006 (Book 1)
B.R. Ambedkar “Annihilation of Caste” in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and
Speeches, Vol. 1. Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1979, pp. 25- 96. (also available online)
Arun P. Mukherjee “B.R. Ambedkar , John Dewey, and the Meaning of Democracy” New
Literary History (2009) 40 (2): 345 -370
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Valerian Rodrigues “Ambedkar on Preferential Treatment” Seminar (2005) , 549, pp 55–
61.