Harper College
Philosophy

PHI 120 Course Outline

Caption: The heading row descibes the categories of information about the course, while the row in the table body holds the course information itself.

Course Prefix

Course Number

Course Title

Lecture/Lab Hours

Credit Hours

PHI

120

Social and Political Philosophy

3 Lecture/Demonstration Hours

3 Credit Hours

Course description

Focuses on the ideas of justice, liberty, equality, law and order, rights and privileges. This includes discussion of such issues as democracy, communism, nuclear war, capital punishment, sexual equality, hunger and drugs. IAI H4907

Topical outline

The topics of justice, liberty, equality should be the heart of any Social/Political Philosophy course. Whatever selection of topics and whatever order in which they are treated, the development of each topic should include the following elements: (using the concept of justice as an example).
I. Conceptual development (of the concept of justice)
A. Definition(s) of Justice
1. Traditional definitions
2. Definition in relation to similar concepts, rights, equality
3. Definition in relation to opposing concepts, interest of the stronger, arbitrariness
B. Implications of the Definition of Justice
1. For personal morality
2. For social order
3. For interrelationships between social orders
II. Historical Development (of the concept of justice)
A. The Concept of Justice in Western Philosophy (emphasis on the ways in which later thought is based on and extends earlier thought)
1. Classical Greek and Roman philosophy and law
2. Modern theories
B. The Concept of Justice in Oriental Philosophy (optional)
1. In the classical literature of the various Eastern traditions
2. Modern formulation
3. Social/Political issues: abortion, euthanasia, revolution, environmental and population control, censorship, economic injustice, captial punishment, etc.

Method of presentation

  1. Lecture
  2. Class Discussion
  3. Other: Small group work, student presentations, student debates

Student outcomes

The student should...
  1. demonstrate an awareness of the major issues and arguments in social and political philosophy.
  2. identify and explain the main arguments of at least three thinkers on these issues, e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Charles W. Mills, etc.
  3. identify and explain the central arguments on at least the following: (a) views of society and politics, e.g. Marxism; (b) social contract theory and its criticisms; (c) a theory of democracy and its criticisms.
  4. apply distinct philosophical perspectives to current, real-world issues.
  5. demonstrate an awareness of the possible weakness of one's own views and the possible strength of competing views on the above issues.
  6. demonstrate the use of at least three primary texts in the service of the above outcomes.
  7. write a total of ten pages (of approximately 300 words each) of college-level writing in the service of the above outcomes in addition to more conversational written or oral discussion.

Method of evaluation

Typical classroom techniques

  1. Class participation
  2. Objective tests
  3. Final exam
  4. Essays/Term papers
  5. Oral examination

Course content learning outcomes

Additional assessment information (optional)

None

Textbooks

Optional
  • Tannenbaum, Donald G. and David Schultz. Inventors of Ideas: An Introduction to Western Political Philosophy 3rd Edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2012
  • Cahn. Political Philosophy 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2013
  • McKennon and Feingold. Taking Sides 18th Edition. McGraw Hill, 2013

Supplementary materials

None

Software

None

Updated: Spring 2021

Last Updated: 9/3/25