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Syllabus
ETHICAL REASONING 102
LEGAL PHILOSOPHY
KOC UNIVERSITY Law School
Spring 2012
Lecturer: Dr. Yiğit Sayın
Office: SOS 227
Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays: 12.00-14.00; Thursdays: 12.00-15.00
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone No: Ext 1856
Course Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays: 14.30-15.15
Classroom:
Prerequisite: None
Course Credits: 3
Course Language: English
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to be an introduction to some basic issues in moral philosophy and
philosophy of law. Throughout the course, our first task will be to examine concepts such as
law, justice and fairness and dwell on the relationship between law, religion, morals and
ethics; natural law and the law of nature. Another subject for us to tackle will be the theories
of ethical reasoning such as utilitarianism, egoism, relativism, deontology as well as the
basics of normative ethics and its relation with Greek philosophy. Contemporary ethical
issues regarding science versus law and public morals will also be dwelled upon.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The first objective of the course is to give the participants a general knowledge of moral
philosophy in historical context. In order to fulfill this objective I will try to introduce the
participants to some basic concepts of moral philosophy during the early part of the course.
On the other hand, the foremost objective of this course is to provide an academic opportunity
for the participants to freely think, comment, debate and resolve on any given issue whether
from a legal or philosophical point of view. Understanding the legal concepts of rights, duties,
personality and their ethical dimensions will also be another important objective of the course.
Although the starting point for each lecture will be the subject/paradox/dilemma I had
selected for the day amongst the designated topics, I also expect a steady stream of
participation whether as a result of lecture interruptions or criticisms of texts, cases, theories
or actual happenings.
EXAMS AND EVALUATION (OUT OF 100 POINTS)
Mid-Term: 30 points (take-home exam)
Participation: 20 points (attendance & assignment included)
Final: 50 points (open-book exam)
OTHER INFORMATION
Students are strongly encouraged to consult the course instructor for any questions in anytime by
email or by dropping in during the designated office hours.
The language of the course is strictly English.
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MAKE-UP POLICY
Course participants, who miss the exams and are willing to take a make-up exam instead, are
expected to either submit a doctor report as regards with the health condition that prevented
them from taking part in the exam or provide a serious and real excuse of personal nature.
ATTENDANCE
It is strongly recommended that all participants attend the lectures. However their attendance
will not be followed on a regular basis and their failure to amass a regular attendance will not
be recorded in the KUAIS. It is important to note here that the attendance of the participants
will be a positive factor in the evaluation by the lecturer which means that failure to attend
will be held against the participant while the display of regular attendance will definitely be
taken into consideration during the grading process. For more information on this, see the
following participation section.
PARTICIPATION
In order to provide an incentive for attendance and participation; regular attendance,
classroom activity, participation during the whole term and writing an assignment on a
designated topic will result to a 20 point share for the course participants. Participants that fail
to attend on a regular fashion will nonetheless be deprived at least the half of this share and be
graded out of 90 points instead of 100 provided that they turn in a well-prepared assignment.
Therefore, the failure to both attend and prepare the assignment will result in a 20 point share
reduction for the course participant.
ASSIGNMENT
All course participants are expected to write an essay on a topic that will be chosen by them
amongst a group of designated subjects. The grade they get from this particular essay will
directly affect -along with the attendance criteria- the assessment of the participation share.
COURSE SCHEDULE* & TOPICS & READINGS** LISTS
Week 1 (Law: Its Origin, Nature and Function)
- The Relation (or lack thereof) Between Law, Justice and Fairness
- Legality vs Justice and Fairness
o Is Legal also Just?
o Does Rule of Law Mean Reign of Justice?
Nuremberg Laws
The Great Purge
Readings for Week 1: Hans Kelsen – Pure Theory of Law; Aristotle Politics
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Week 2 (Law as a Social Order)
- The Other Social Rules Than Legal Rules
o Customs
o Morals
o Religious Rules
o Rules of Conduct
- The Relation (or lack thereof) Between Law and the other Social
Norms
- Morality vs Legality: Does Legal Also Has to be Moral?
o The Euthyphro Dilemna
o Judge Lord Devlin vs Hart: Should Popular Morality
Influence Law Making; From the ‘British Reasonable Man’
to the ‘Turkish Family Structure’
Readings for Week 2: H.L.A Hart - The Concept of Law; Martin
Luther King – Letter from Birmingham Jail; Wolfenden Report (1957)
Week 3 (The Theory of Justice)
-
Justice for All: An Utopia or Dystopia?
Aristotle and his Concept of Justice
Understandings of Justice
Affirmative Action and Progressive Taxation: Tools for Distributive
Justice or Agents of Inequality?
Readings for Week 3: Plato – Republic; Aristotle – Nicomachean
Ethics; Bakke vs University of California - Supreme Court Decision
(1978)
Week 4 (The Right Thing)
- Choosing to Do the Right Thing: How to Decide What is Right and
What is Wrong?
- Consequentalists
- Categorists
- Relativists
Week 5 (The End Justifies the Means?)
- Epicurus and Eudaimonia
- John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism
- The Case of Torture: Choosing the Greater Good?
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Readings for Week 5: John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism; EpicurusMaxims, The Queen vs Dudley and Stephens (1884); USA Patriot Act
(2001); Jeremy Bentham - Principles of Morals and Legislation
Week 6 (The Moral Worth of Actions)
- Immanuel Kant and his Supreme Principle of Morality
- John Rawls and his Theory of Justice: Rawls, a Kantian or not?
Readings for Week 6: Immanuel Kant – Groundwork for the
Metaphysics of Morals; John Rawls – Lectures on the History of Moral
Philosophy; John Rawls – A Theory of Justice
MIDTERM
(Take-home Exam)
Week 7 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
- Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, Ourselves?
- The Boundaries of One’s Sovereignty over his/herself
o Euthanasia
o Abortion
o Dwarf Tossing and Human Dignity
o The Case of Roman Sampedro: A Slave to a Morality He did
not Share?
Readings for Week 7: Decision of UN Committee of Human Rights
CCPR/C/75/D/854/1999; Roe vs Wade - Supreme Court Decision 1973;
Decision of UN Committee of Human Rights CCPR/C/80/D/1024/2001
Week 8 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
-
Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, The Better?
Aristotle’s Aristocracy: The Rule of the Best, Not the Best Born
Vilfredo Pareto and his Elitist Theory
Joseph Schumpeter and his Democratic Theory
Roberto Michels and his Iron Law of Oligarchy
From Elitism to Pluralism
Readings for Week 8: Joseph Schumpert – Capitalism, Socialism and
Democracy; Vilfredo Pareto- The Rise and Fall of Elites; Robert
Michels – Political Parties
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Week 9 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
- Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, The Chosen One?
- Divine Right of The Kings
- The Ruler as Demi-God:
o Imperial Cult: From Ceasar to Arahitogami
- Max Weber and his Concept of Charismatic Authority
o Führer and Duce
- Plato and his Philosopher King vs Karl Popper
Readings for Week 9: The Epistole of Paul to the Romans; Max Weber
– The Theory of Social and Economic Organization , Karl Popper – The
Poverty of Historicism
Week 10 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
- Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, A Greater Power or Order?
- Natural Law vs Law of Nature
o Understandings of Natural Law
o Social Darwinism
- Divine Law
- Free Will vs Determinism: A Look at the Greek Atomist School
Readings for Week 10: Cicero – On the Commonwealth and the Laws;
John Locke - Two Treaties of Government; Ragnar Redbeard - Might is
Right; Friedrich Nietzche – Beyond Good and Evil, The Atomists:
Leucippus and Democritus – Fragments: A Text and Translation
Week 11 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
- Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, The Majority?
- The Notion of Social Contract
o Early Social Contract Theories
o Modern Social Contract Theories
o More Recent Social Contract Theories
Readings for Week 11: J.J. Rosseau - Social Contract; Thomas Hobbes
– Leviathan; Hugo Grotius – On the Law of War and Peace;
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)
Week 12 (The Standard for Right and Wrong: Who Decides?)
- Who Decides What is Right and Wrong, The Majority?
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- Criticisms of the Social Contract Theory
o Race Conscious Arguments
o Feminist Arguments
- Popular Morality vs Personal Choices
o Homosexuality and Personal Rights: The Right to Choose
Sexual Orientation
o Same-Sex Marriages: A Threat to Traditional Family
Structure?
- The Tyranny of the Majority
- Individualism
o Liberalism and Anarchism
Readings for Week 12: John Stuart Mill – On Liberty; Alexis de
Tocqueville - Democracy in America; Carole Pateman – The Sexual
Contract; Charles Mills – The Racial Contract; Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon – The General Idea of Revolution in the 19th Century
Week 13 (Rights and Duties)
-
The Meaning of Right
Who Gives the Rights?
The Concept of Natural Rights
Rights of Animals: A Fallacy or Reality?
o Speciesism: A New Form of Discrimination?
- Social Contract and Civic Duties
o Patriotism: A Virtue or Duty?
o Compulsory Military Draft and Mandatory Taxation:
Undesirable Consequences of Social Contract?
Readings for Week 13: Rene Descartes – Discourse on the Method;
Arthur Schopenhauer – On the Basis of Morality; Peter Singer - Animal
Liberation; Thomas Paine – Rights of Man; The Magna Carta (1215);
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); A. Sarat & T.R.
Kearns - Legal Rights: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
Week 14 (Personality)
- What Makes One a Person?
o The Idea of Soul
o Soul and the Human Embryo
o The Person as a Legal Subject
- Revisiting the Institution of Slavery
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o The Roman Approach to Slavery: Humans without Legal
Personalities
o Institution of Slavery in Today’s World: Dead or Less
Recognizable?
- The Value of Human
o The Sanctity of Humanity: An Outmoded Concept?
o Artificial Intelligence: Can a Machine Have a Mind and
Consciousness? Can Machines Be Persons?
The Turing Test
John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument
- Cloning and Clones
o Ethical Implications
o Religious Objections
o The Legal Approach
- Surrogacy
Readings for Week 14: Sandra R. Joshel - Slavery in the Roman World;
The Case of Baby M (1987); United Nations Declaration on Human
Cloning (2005); David J. Calverly – Imagining a Non-Biological
Machine as a Legal Person; Kerry Lynn Macintosh – Illegal Beings:
Human Clones and the Law; Richard Swinburne - The Evolution of the
Soul
FINAL
(Open Book Exam)
* One week consists of two 75 minutes long seminars
** The course participants are not required to acquire the reading materials
nor are they expected to read the aforementioned materials exhaustively. The
segments of the materials, that are deemed relevant by the course instructor,
will be uploaded in the courseware section under KUAIS before the beginning
of the term.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
The required readings for every weeks’ seminars are presented above. The participants
are not expected to read all the material entirely but rather the relevant parts that will
be outlined by myself for the corresponding week.
Here is a list of supplemental readings for the course participants. There will also be a
number of hand-outs on various topics which will be given out by the lecturer. These
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hand-outs will be provided to the participants with the beginning of the term via
KUAIS, therefore it is expected from the participants to do their designated readings
before the correspondent lectures. There will also be some updated hand-outs that will
be provided to the course participants one week before covering the relevant topics.
Augustine of Hippo: The City of God
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
Robert Dahl: A Preface to Democratic Theory
Karl Marx & Frederick Engels: The Communist Manifest
Friedrich Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit
David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David Hume: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Rudolph Von Jhering: The Struggle for Law
Immanuel Kant: The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics
G.W. Keeton: The Elementary Principles of Jurisprudence
John Locke: Political Writings
Karl Marx: Das Kapital
Montesquie: The Spirit of Laws
Thomas More: Utopia
Robert Nozick: Anarchy, State and Utopia
Vilfredo Pareto: The Transformation of Democracy
J.J. Rousseau: Discourse on the Origin and Basis of the Inequality amongst
Man
Jean-Paul Sarte: Existentialism and Human Emotions
Jean-Paul Sarte: Being and Nothingness
Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Letters from the Stoic
** For those of you who would also like to resort to the Turkish translations
of the material mentioned above here is a list of some Turkish translations of
the required and recommended reading materials:
Aristoteles: Politika, Dergah Yayınları, 2007; ISBN: 9789759950651
Aristoteles: Nikomakhos'a Etik, Bilgesu Yayıncılık, 2009; ISBN: 9944795005
Platon (Eflatun): Devlet, Dergah Yayınları, 2005; ISBN: 9759950162
Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, Yapı Kredi Yayınları, ISBN: 9789753631383
Immanuel Kant: Ahlak Metafiziğinin Temellendirilmesi, Felsefe Kurumu,
1996, ISBN: 9789757748131
John Locke: Hükümet Üzerine İkinci İnceleme, Ebabil Yayınları, 2004, ISBN:
975636016x
John Stuart Mill: Özgürlük Üzerine, Oda Yayınları, 2008
Marcus
Aurelius:
Düşünceler,
Yapı
Kredi
Yayınları,
2004,
ISBN: 9789750808258
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JJ Rousseau: Toplum Sözleşmesi, İş Bankası Yayınları, 200 6;
ISBN: 9789754589481
JJ Rousseau: İnsanlar Arasındaki Eşitsizliğin Kaynağı, Say Yayınları,
ISBN: 9789754680263
Thomas Paine: İnsan Hakları, Belge Yayınları, 1985
Thomas More: Ütopya, Cem Yayınevi, 1997, ISBN: 9754067880
Montesquie: Kanunların Ruhu Üzerine, Seç Yayınları, 2004, ISBN:
9757670413
Vilfredo Pareto: Seçkinlerin Yükselişi ve Düşüşü, Doğubatı Yayınları, 2005,
ISBN: 9758717-14-6
Hugo Grotius: Savaş ve Barış Hukuku, Ankara Siyasal Fak. Yayınları, 1967
David Hume: Din Üstüne, İmge Kitabevi, 1995, ISBN: 9789755331133
Karl Max & Friedrich Engels: Komünist Manifesto, İthaki Yayınları, 2006,
ISBN: 9789758725397
Jean Paul Sarte: Varlık ve Hiçlik, İthaki Yayınları, 2009, ISBN:
9789752732957
Alaeddin Şenel: Eski Yunan’da Siyasal Düşünüş, A.Ü.S.B.F. Yayınları, 1968
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