Course Description:

How are we to understand the political commitment to equality, so central in much post-Enlightenment moral and political theory? If we are, as persons, to be regarded as equals, in what respects are we to be so regarded, and with respect to what opportunities, liberties, and resources? How is the commitment to equality best realized? As actual people in real times and places, we are marked by a vast array of differences (e.g., of power, vulnerability, need, gender, culture, ethnicity). Which differences, if any, should make a difference, and what difference should they make in the design of just and respectful social and political practices and arrangements? Does recognizing and responding to "facts" of difference jeopardize the commitment to equality, or is it – to the contrary –a requirement of this commitment, properly understood? What is the status of these "facts," and are our categories of "difference" themselves sometimes normatively loaded in ways that are problematic– that support rather than subvert social and political inequality insofar as they are invoked? We will study these and other questions through the examination of alternative accounts of “equality”; theories of injustice and oppression; the nature and perils of privilege; the "dilemma of difference," the demands of “moral repair,” and proposals for reform.

In addressing these themes, we’ll study and reflect together on great philosophical writings, bringing them into conversation with real-life and fictional narratives (drawing, e.g., on history, current events, film, literature, and life experience).