Philosophy of Sport
This course pursues fundamental issues and concepts in the philosophy of sport. Specifically, we shall explore in some detail the ethical, aesthetic, ontological and sociopolitical dimensions of sport. Among other things, we shall ask questions about the nature and function of rules in sports; the role of sport in the cultivation of individual and societal values and virtues (or vices, such as violence and consumerism); sport as a medium of self-expression and self-mastery; sport as the overcoming of existential limits; philosophical aspects of sport teamwork as reflexive social cooperation; the aptness of sport as a metaphor for life; and sport as a sociopolitical field of struggle and conflict.
Trust, Democracy, and Development in Market-based Societies
What, precisely, is 'trust'? Where does trust come from? And what, if anything, does the existence of trust contribute to the health and flourishing of a democracy, the efficiency and growth of a market economy, or the quality of a neighborhood? Conversely, how does distrust foster the emergence of various forms of corruption and inequality? Such questions, along with related but more general ones about the ways in which social capital--understood broadly as networks of trust and social norms and ties--facilitate democracy and development, form the basis of this seminar.
Contemporary Political Theory
This course is both a survey of some contemporary perspectives in political theory and an extended examination of one of the more prominent developments in political theory today--that of deliberative democracy and its practical application in deliberative polling. Using many of the same procedures developed by the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, we will seek to transform our classroom into a laboratory for the study of the strengths and weaknesses of deliberative polling.
