Class Hours:

W 11:45am -- 2:25pm

Venue:

Ward 102

Office

Ward 255

Office hours

T/F: 11:45 pm-- 12:45 pm
W 2:30 pm -- 3:30 pm

Virtual hours

W: 9:00 -- 11:00 PM and by appointment

Link here To Virtual Hours

Phone & Text:

I will give my cell phone number out in class. Please feel free to call or text me if you have any questions.

MATERIALS: ↑

Bolt, A Man for All Seasons

All other readings will be posted on the website.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  ↑

Content

This course will consider the ethical and conceptual foundations of the Western legal tradition considered in its historical context. Areas covered include the idea of justice, the relationship of the individual to the community, the nature of law and its relationship to morality, the foundations and justification of government authority, and the obligation, if any, to obey the law. The course will also consider the nature of specific types of law including various forms of private and public law as well as the foundations of international law. Three underlying questions will be continually addressed during the course of the semester:
 

• What is law?

• How do we know what the law is?
• Why should we care what the law is?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read and explore some of the most important historical and philosophical texts in theWestern legal tradition and how these have helped shaped the Western world.

Critically and comparatively analyze these texts and articulate your opinions orally (through class discussion and scheduled class debates) and on paper (through your written essays) in an effective manner.

Locate the fundamental texts from this tradition in their appropriate analytical and historical contexts

Enhance your debating skills, the formulation and conciseness of your ideas and opinions, and develop your group and team working skills (through class discussion and the class trial.)

Develop innovative and critical independent thinking skills, which will be assessed in the written essays and your contribution to class debates

General Education Area Objectives

This class forms part of the General Education curriculum offered by American University. It is part of Foundational Area 2: Traditions that Shape the Western World. Some courses in this Foundational Area examine powerful visions that philosophers, political theorists, historians, religious thinkers, scientists, and social critics have of the Western experience. Others explore competing ideas about human nature, liberty and equality, and the consequences of social change. Finally, some uncover those traditions growing out of the unique experiences of women, ethnic groups, and indigenous peoples as they express and preserve their own principles of social organization and cultural expression. All courses in this area emphasize chronology and share a close attention both to the substance of the past and the ways to study it. Through direct engagement with primary texts, you learn to ask questions, debate ideas, and come to understand the ways that we experience the events and ideas of the past in our own lives. Please visit the General Education website for further information: http://www.american.edu/provost/gened/index.cfm.

REQUIREMENTS: ↑

• Active class participation: all students are expected to attend class regularly and to be prepared to discuss the reading. Students may be called upon to participate in class.  No passing is permitted. Each student will be allowed 1 un-excused absence. Thereafter, each un-excused absence will reduce your final grade by one level (e.g. B+ to B) Excuses for absences will only be given for documented illness or deaths in the family. Study the class calendar carefully to make sure that you don't have any prior commitments that would preclude you from meeting these requirements. There may be several unannounced quizzes on the reading which will be counted towards the participation grade.

• There will be two analytical paper assignments. You may revise either or both of the paper assignments in response to comments made by me; your paper will then be regraded and the new grade will replace the original grade. The essays should be concise, neat (typed, double spaced), free of grammatical and spelling errors, and submitted on time. Use of a style manual such as William Strunk & E.B. White, The Elements of Style,is strongly recommended.

• There will be a final exam.

• Papers must be submitted on the dates specified on the syllabus. It is your responsibility to make sure that sudden emergencies (like your dog eating your paper) do not prevent you from submitting it on time. Late papers will be marked downwards on the basis of 1 grade per day. Because you have the option to re write your paper for a new grade it is always in your interest to submit your paper on time even if the paper is not completed to your satisfaction. You may rewrite your paper for a higher grade but deductions for late submissions will also reduce your rewritten paper. While rewritten papers nearly always result in higher grades resubmitted papers that have not actually been rewritten will receive a lower grade than the original paper. Merely correcting typographical or spelling errors does not count as a re written paper. Students who want to rewrite their papers must meet with me first to discuss my comments and your ideas about the paper.

• Tests must be taken on the scheduled dates. The date of the final exam is listed at the end of this syllabus. Please make sure you do not purchase any non-refundable tickets home or make any other plans that will take you out of town before that date. Exceptions will be made only in cases of documented illness or deaths in the family. When such documentation is provided, the student will be excused from that exam and the final grade will be calculated from the other existing bases for evaluation.

• This is a paperless class.  Assignments will only be accepted through the digital drop box provided on the class blackboard site.  It is your responsibility to register yourself for the blackboard site. 

• What do I expect from you?
  
  Punctual attendance
  This is mandatory and forms part of your overall grading. Please contact me preferably prior to absence, or as soon as possible after the missed class. Come to class and reading groups prepared Engage with your reading. With everything you read ask yourself: What the author is trying to say? From what perspective are they writing? In what social/historical/philosophical context have they written what they have written? Do you disagree/agree with their view? Why? Don’t forget: Class Participation forms a huge part of your overall grade!
  
  
  No laptops or cell phones in class
  I feel from experience that hand-written notes, which are then typed up after class, are a much better way of retaining class material. If I see or hear your cell phone at any point in class, you will be asked to leave and this will be counted as an unexcused absence.
  
  Be honest with me
  I am here to help you learn and form your opinions and I really care about doing that well. If you feel there is a certain area I could improve the class in, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I will keep an open and friendly classroom atmosphere and am also available to talk one-on-one in my office hours/by email. I expect to see you there at least once during the semester.Treat your peers with respect Keep an open mind, engage with the material, participate in discussion and treat your classmates with respect. This means respecting divergent views as well as allowing them to learn – class disruptions (walking in and out, chatting etc) will be reflected in your participation grade.

STANDARDS: ↑

Grading standards are in part subjective and excellence in one area may compensate for deficiencies in another. No curve will be used to calculate the grades in this class. Hence, it is theoretically possible for every student to receive an A if he or she meets the standards for that grade. My primary goals are for each student to develop the critical thinking skills and to understand the ideas covered in this course by the time it is completed. If later exams and papers illustrate this proficiency, earlier grades which do not will be discounted. The following will give you a general guide as to the typical performance associated with each letter grade:

A: all course requirements met, work shows full understanding of course material and an original perspective on the subject

B: all course requirements met, work shows full understanding of course material (or satisfactory understanding of course material and an original perspective on the subject)

C: all course requirements met, work shows satisfactory understanding of course material

D: work fails to meet minimum course requirements, either in full and timely completion of requirements or in satisfactory understanding of course material

F: work falls far below minimum course requirements either in full and timely completion of requirements or in satisfactory understanding of course material.University and Classroom Standards:

The American University Academic Integrity Code

This is the governing standards for academic conduct apply. Students may discuss the subject matter of their essays with anyone. All students, however, must compose their own essays and may not show or read their essays to any other persons, except for proofreading or typing assistance by a person not enrolled or previously enrolled in the course. The use of another person's words or ideas without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism or false authorship. Both are serious academic offenses. By turning in an essay, a student is certifying that the essay is entirely his/her own work. If there are any questions about this matter, consult the Academic Integrity code or see the instructor.

***************

Freedom of expression is at the root of academic discourse and the advancement of knowledge. This course will deal with a wide range of topics some of which may challenge a student's deeply held beliefs and perhaps even cause offense. While no topic will be censored simply because it has this effect, students are expected to treat the differing views of others with respect. While a tolerance towards the opinions of others does not preclude expressions of disagreement, which are, indeed, encouraged, it does require that these expressions be based on the content of the ideas expressed and not on the personal traits or values of the speaker. All class participants will be expected to tolerate the expression of opposing views and to engage in reasoned discourse about them.

I will endeavor to insure that the classroom is free of any conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating or hostile environment. Furthermore, I will attempt to give each student an opportunity to express his or her own opinions and to treat student opinions with respect. Any student who believes that he or she has not been given fair or adequate opportunity to contribute to class discussion is encouraged to bring this to my attention.

I am genuinely interested in student development and the generation of critical understanding of the issues addressed in this course. If you have any questions or problems and would like to discuss them with me, please call me, visit me during my office hours, or make an appointment to meet with me at a mutually convenient time and location. If problems arise that may affect your performance in this course (e.g. academic, health, family, or other personal matters), it is important that you bring these issues to my attention when they arise and not wait until they interfere with some class exercise such as a paper or an exam. I am eager to assist you in making this an interesting and beneficial educational experience.
 

Customary Foundations OF LaW AND MoRALITY (and their discontent)
Week 4	Institutes of Justinian, Book 1 Chapters 1-12  Plus Commentary
Fenruary 5	Constitutions of Clarendon
	Assize of Clarendon
	Murder of Thomas a Becket
	Saladin Tithe
	Bolt, A Man For All Seasons
	SUMMARY OF HENRY'S ACTS TO ACHIEVECONTROL
	Act of Succession of Henry VIII
	Treasons Acts of Henry VIII
	Supremacy Act of 1534
		Life In Elizabethan Times
The Accomodation of Difference And Its Limits
Week 5	.
February 12	Vincent Blasi Milton's Areopagitica and the Modern First Amendment
	Locke Letter On Toleration
	Bushell's Case, Background and Decision
	Filmer Observations On Aristotle AND Directions For Obedience
	Augustine On Torturing Defendants
The lIMITS OF lEGAL oBLIGATION
Week 6	Plato, The Apology
February 19	Plato, Crito
	Sophocles, Antigone
	Ronald Dworkin Civil Disobedience And Nuclear Protest
	M. L. King, Letter From A Birmingham Jail
	Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
The Rise of Reason And Th e Individual
Week 7	Hobbes, Leviathan
Febraury 26	Locke, Second Treatise of Government
	King John & The Barons, Magna Carta
INDIVIDUAL, COMMUNITY,:HUMANNATUREANDTHESOCIALCONTRACT
Week 8	Rousseau, Discourse On The Origins of Inequality	Part I Chapters 1-6, 10, 13-15 Part II Chapters 17- 21,26
March 5	Rousseau, The Social Contract	Chapters 1-3, 7-9, 15-19
	Walzer Complex Equality		Philosophers Website
THE ORIGINS AND IMPLICATIONS OF PROPERTY RIGHTS:
Week 9	Bergin & Haskell, The Feudal Beginnings(Estates In Land & Future Etc.)
March 19	Honorï, Ownership
	Locke, Second Treatise of Government Chaps 9-10 section on property
	Marx The Communist Manifesto
	Nozick, Anarchy State & Utopia
	G.A. Cohen,The Structure of Proletarian Unfreedom
THE NATURE AND SOURCES OF RIGHTS IN WESTERN LAW
Week 10	Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty
March 26	Declaration of Rights of Man and of Citizens
	Virginia Declaration of Rights
	Hamilton, "Federalist 84"
	Bentham, Anarchical Fallacies
THE CHALLENGE OF POWER
Week 11	Nietzsche, On The Genealogy of Morals	Especially Preface and Essays I & II
April 2	"Translations of Reich Citizenship Laws"
	Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor
	Final Record of DiplomaticConference of Geneva of 1929
	Wertmuller, Seven Beauties (Movie showtime TBA)
	Bettelheim, Surviving
WESTERN LAW EVERYWHERE: INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Week 12	The Existence of International Law
April 9	International Criminal Court (Overview)
	Universal Declaration of Human Rights
	U. S. Constitution, And US Bill of Rights
	Internatioanl Convention Against Torture
	Geneva Convention(III)Treatment of War Prisoners; Aug1949
	US Law On Torture (CRS Analysis)
	UN HRC Report On Targeted Killing
Week 13	Retrial of Antigone in Hades (In class)
April 16
Week 14
April 23	Catch Up And Course Review