Political Philosophy: Global Justice

Photograph of a gavel.

Gavel. (Photograph by Daniel Bersak.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

17.000J / 24.611J

As Taught In

Spring 2003

Level

Graduate

Translated Versions

简体字

Cite This Course

Course Highlights

This course includes a lengthy reading list and lecture notes.

Course Description

This course explores the foundations and content of norms of justice that apply beyond the borders of a single state. We examine issues of political justice, economic justice, and human rights. Topics include the case for skepticism about global justice; the idea of global democracy; intellectual property rights; the nature of distributive justice at the global level; pluralism and human rights; and rights to control borders. It meets jointly with Harvard's Philosophy 271, and is taught by Professors Joshua Cohen, Thomas Scanlon, and Amartya Sen. Readings are from Kant, Habermas, Rawls, Sen, Beitz, Nussbaum, Stiglitz, Ignatieff, Walzer, among others.