°µÍøTV

Seminar in Ethics: Poverty and Justice
Dr. Per-Erik Milam
Thursdays  ·  5:30pm–8:15pm  ·  LA5–151

In this seminar, we will ask what morality demands of us in a world with so much extreme poverty. While the answer to that question depends very much on who 'us' refers to, we will investigate a range of answers offered by contemporary philosophers. We will ask: who has duties regarding extreme poverty and what do those duties demand? To answer this question, we will investigate the following:

• The duties of poor individuals, affluent individuals, institutions, and states
• Duties of beneficence, justice, and reparation
• Egalitarianism, its variations, and its critics
• Human rights
• Fairness and luck
• Paternalism  
• Cost-effectiveness
• Demandingness
• Property rights and rights of necessity
• Historical injustice and systemic causes of extreme poverty

°µÍøTV in this course will be expected to come to every class meeting having carefully read all the assigned texts. All students should be prepared with questions, insights, and topics for class discussion and should plan on participating at every class meeting.