Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

To introduce students to prominent schools of thought and representative thinkers in contemporary political philosophy.

To provide students with a thorough knowledge of a range of arguments drawn from this literature on important political issues around equality, diversity, and inclusion.

To advance the ability of students to analyse and assess complex normative arguments.

To help students improve their skills in developing sustained, logically coherent, and persuasive written arguments.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module explores questions about how the social and political world ought to operate, with a particular focus on equality, diversity, and inclusion. It considers questions such as: Ought we to restrict hate speech? Should we use affirmative action policies? Should we have a basic income? What kind of leave should be offered to parents? Should minority groups be granted exemptions from the law when it conflicts with their cultural or religious beliefs? The module examines such questions by considering prominent literature in normative political philosophy and exploring how to employ the tools of political philosophy to evaluate the merits of conflicting viewpoints with the aim of developing arguments about what a defensible account of justice requires.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

•       Knowledge of theories and perspectives on aspects of equality, diversity, and inclusion advanced by a range of prominent contemporary thinkers
•       Knowledge of the core disagreements between these theorists, particularly in terms of the foundational normative values and the political views they defend.
•       Knowledge of methods and arguments employed to reason about the plausibility of moral values.
•       Knowledge of how moral values can be used to support substantive conclusions on important political topics, such as liberty, dignity, discrimination, equal opportunities, multiculturalism, and distributive justice.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•       The ability to identify and explain the main tenets of the work of prominent theorists of justice.
•       The ability to break down their views into component parts, separating normative and empirical premises and identifying how they are connected to derive conclusions.
•       The ability to reason logically about the validity of the premises and arguments of these views.
•       The ability to construct sustained arguments about major political values and defend them against alternative views.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The function of lectures is to provide students with an overview of topics, introduce them to the main thinkers studied on the module, and elaborate on these matters in response to questions.

Small group teaching provides students with the opportunity to discuss and debate the issues with their peers, to deepen their knowledge through exchange of ideas about set readings, and to further understanding by raising questions.

A scheduled week on assessment planning (including a lecture and small group teaching) and an end-of-module assessment surgery will support students deploying what they have learned in their assignments and to ask any questions about how to do so.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The essay assessments provides students the space to research into relevant literature in political philosophy, demonstrate their knowledge of theories and perspectives in this field, and employ its methods to reason about the plausibility of moral arguments, and construct a sustained position on an important topic in equality, diversity, and inclusion. The module involves two essays to allow students the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge across a breadth of topics.

There is an assessment planning week scheduled into the syllabus where students can receive formative feedback on plans for their first essay, and the feedback from the first essay alongside the final week revision and assessment surgery provide opportunities to develop the second essay.

General Notes

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