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Social philosophy includes areas of inquiry such as ethics and the philosophy of management.  It also includes political philosophy, which is the focus of this course. The central question is: “How shall we humans together provide for our security and welfare?” We will pay special attention to key questions such as:

• Why should it ever be necessary to form a government?

• How might we justify submitting to the power of a government?

• Who would we best put into power?

• How important is it that we ensure such values as democracy, equality, liberty, and justice?

• How can we expand these values beyond the reach of our own government?

We will also pay special attention to some essential insights of several important but marginalized political philosophers who are not included in this textbook (and rarely included in any textbook).

By the end of the course, students will be able to articulate the key ideas put forward by all of these thinkers, why they are important, how they might or might not make sense, and how they might or might not be of both philosophical and practical value.  They will be able to talk and write critically about how we might best organize ourselves politically, and why.