Political Science: Ethics and Public Policy

Explores some of the most difficult moral questions that confront citizens and policymakers today. Topics include the ethics of war and torture, abortion and euthanasia, hate speech, immigration, and other related issues. Prerequisites: POLS 1200 or POLS 1012; three hours of Political Science at the 2000-level.

Prereqs enforced by the system: POLS 1200 or POLS 1012; three hours of Political Science at the 2000 level. Minimum Junior standing. Open to Jr/Sr POLS majors only until April 9th. PACE students by permission and override.

This course explores some of the difficult moral questions that arise in American public policy today. How much economic inequality is morally tolerable, and how should resources and opportunities be distributed among American citizens? Should we do away with inheritance, for example, or provide a universal basic income? How should abortion be regulated? Should sex work, hard drugs, and doctor-assisted suicide be legal? Should hate speech be protected by law? What obligations do we have, if any, to people who want to immigrate to America? The course invites you to think carefully and systematically about these and other moral questions, using the tools of moral and political philosophy, and to form your own educated opinions. For each issue we discuss, the readings will present several different and often opposing arguments, each of which you will be asked to evaluate critically.