Contemporary Theories of Justice

This specialised course provides an introduction to the main currents of contemporary political theory, as well as to the debates that run through it.
What is a just society? Should the State be morally neutral? Should we put moral limits on markets? These general questions will lead us to ask and propose several answers to more concrete questions: Should we tax the rich to give to the poor? Should we allow private companies to overcharge customers after a hurricane or should we have anti price gouging laws? Is it fair that a basketball player earns 200 times more than an engineer ? Should you be allowed to sell your liver? Should you be allowed to pay someone to queue for you to get a concert ticket ?

These types of questions will be addressed through the reading and presentation of authors from several currents of political theory. The aim of this course is twofold. To enable students to develop rigorous and analytically argued ideas for what they believe the world should be like and to be able to recognise the arguments and difficulties that arise in relation to the positions they defend. To do this, this specialised course will rely on the reading and discussion of authors (Friedrich Hayek, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Philipp Pettit etc?) with divergent conceptions of the good and the just. More concretely, this course also aims to provide analytical and methodological tools to enable students to develop an argument based on rigorous principles to justify or criticize certain public policies.

Sciences Po Grenoble - UGA awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course. CEA CAPA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by Sciences Po Grenoble - UGA (2 ECTS credits equals 1 U.S. credit therefore, 5 ECTS credits is equivalent to 2.5 U.S. credits).