Fall/Winter Timetable
POL2032H1F L0101
Judgement in Law and Politics
Themes
This course will explore the nature of the human capacity for judgement and its implications for institutions. We will look at different theories of how we make judgements, ranging from Kant's Critique of Judgement to Hannah Arendt's treatment of judgement, to the contributions of contemporary feminists such as Carol Gilligan, Francis Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, Drucilla Cornell, and Martha Minow. We will explore how these different theories help us understand the differences and similarities between the kinds of judgements involved in what has traditionally been thought of as political decision-making, and the everyday forms of adjudication we engage in when we decide between conflicting accounts of problems and solutions. These explorations will look toward the problem of the legitimacy of the different institutional forms (e.g., the structures of legislature and courts) we have set up for the rendering of different sorts of judgements.
Texts
TBA
Format and Requirements
Class participation, bi-weekly one-page comments on the readings, and 25 page paper.
November 14, 2023
Congratulations to Madalyn Hay, a recipient of a 2023-2024 Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship. Madalyn, one of our doctoral students, holds a BAH in Contemporary Studies and Classics from the...
August 24, 2023
Congratulations to alumna Meaghan Williams, a recipient of the 2022-23 Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the highest academic honour available to graduate students in Canada. Awarded annually by the Office of the...
June 14, 2021
Great news from the Canadian Political Science Association, which held its annual awards ceremony (online) over the weekend of June 12 & 13: Professor Stefan Rencken’s book "Private Governance and Public...
April 22, 2021
Congratulations to two political science alumni now teaching at U of T who have both won Superior Teaching Awards! Igor Shoikhedbrod and Khalid Ahmed will be celebrated on May 5th at...
August 6, 2020
Q&A with 2020 Vanier Scholar Yojana Miraya Oscco Congratulations to PhD student Yojana Miraya Oscco who has won a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC). Launched in 2008, the program enables...
April 30, 2020
Congratulations to our graduate student Kevin Edmonds who has won New College's June Larkin Award for Pedagogical Development. A PhD candidate specializing in Caribbean political economy, histories of alternative/illicit development, foreign intervention and...