PHL 290: Advanced Political Philosophy Page. TBowen’s Homepage

Thomas Bowen Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Division III Phone: (847) 376-7084 Email: tbowen@oakton.edu Office: 2807

Violence, Political Action & Justice

The 20^th century, like so many others, was primarily a century of war and violence. If the early years of this first decade are any indicator, the 21^st century will also be defined in terms of the wars and acts of violence that mark it. However, the 20^th century also saw the collapse of European colonial rule throughout much of the world, the growth of Solidarity in Poland, the so-called Orange Revolution, the more or less peaceful collapse of Apartheid in South Africa, and, various nonviolent movements for social justice and peace (e.g. Gandhi, MLK, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa). This class will explore the question of “violence” and its role in political life and activity. Specifically, we will address three general questions: what is the role of violence and force in the construction of identities (as American, white, black, male, female, heterosexual, homosexual)? What is the role of violence in the search for and enforcement of justice and law, as well as in the very formation of states? Finally, what possibilities are there for re-imagining or enacting a different way of political action not based on violence?

Course Documents

Course Resources

Syllabus Schedule of Readings (from this Schedule you can find links to these readings that are on the internet –such as are available). Plagiarism Online Texts (thanks to Mitchell Wodka for finding these resources). Prompts for First Short Paper Prompts for Second Short Paper Prompts for Third Short Paper

Below are some links to websites that provide some useful supplementary material. Over-all you should be careful when reading anything on the web –many pages have particular axes to grind, as it were, and so present potentially distorted pictures of philosophical and historical material. The sites below I recommend to some degree or another. If you discover sites that you have found useful, please let me know. EpistemeLinks (this page is a very useful engine for finding etexts for various philosophers). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Dictionary of Philosophical Terms & Names (from the Philosophy Pages) Dictionary of Philosophy of Mind Princeton Group for the History of Modern Philosophy (this particular page contains links to homepages maintained for many of the philosophers we will be studying).