Admission requirements
This course is restricted to students who are enrolled in one of the programmes listed in the tab on the right.
For BA students Philosophy: this course is intended to be taken in the second year of the bachelor as background knowledge from the first year is strongly recommended.
Description
This is the core course for students who want to specialize in moral and political philosophy at Leiden University. We are going to read two books cover-to-cover. These are:
Mackie, J.L., (1977), Ethics: inventing right and wrong, Harmondsworth: Penguin
Mackie, J.L., (2024), Theories of Justice and Rights, Oxford: OUP (ed. Victor Moberger & Jonas Olson)
Together, these books are an example of how issues in metaethics, moral and political theory, and applied moral and political philosophy can be combined into one philosophical theory. We will discuss whether this theory is coherent and convincing, focusing in various ways on the degree to which metaethics, moral and political philosophy, and applied ethics are distinct and independent. Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to, the objectivity of morality, the nature of moral disagreement, Utilitarianism and deontology, various issues in applied ethics, and the political philosophies of John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
Course objectives
A student who has successfully completed this course will have:
- Advanced knowledge of some of the central issues in moral and political philosophy, enabling them to start their upper-level BA electives
A student who has successfully completed this course will be able to:
Do philosophical research on a philosophical problem relevant to the course (researching, cognitive)
Analyse the information they found through that research (analysing, cognitive)
Generate a solution to the philosophical problem (generating solutions, cognitive)
Write a short position paper on a topic of this course (written communication, interpersonal)
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture
Assessment method
Assessment
- Final Paper
Weighing
- Final paper: 100%
Students without sufficient attendance will be excluded from the examinaton.
To pass the course, the grade must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
Students can resit the final paper (100%). Students without sufficient attendance or who have a passing grade for the first attempt will be excluded from the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Mackie, J.L., (1977), Ethics: inventing right and wrong, Harmondsworth: Penguing
Mackie, J.L., (2024), Theories of Justice and Rights, Oxford: OUP (ed. Victor Moberger & Jonas Olson)
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
Not applicable.