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.