Political conflict.
Answer ONLY ONE of the following questions: The Questions (1) Political conflict might be settled by rational discussion, voting, bargaining among equals, or coercion (violence or credible threat thereof). Discuss some instances of how the political thinkers and actors we have encountered evaluate these alternatives. In particular. some we have studied say that coercion is the better choice in specified circumstances. How do these thinkers differ about when coercion is morally justified? Defend your views on the legitimacy and illegitimacy of coercion in politics. (2) Why are there disagreements on values between individuals and between cultures, and what should we do to manage those disagreements? Illustrate your discussion with concrete examples, mostly not from class materials, How do findings of empirical moral psychology we learned in the course apply to these issues? It probably helps to pursue this question with respect to a specific area that you know from prior study or personal familiarity. (3) Some among the thinkers we’ve studied hold that political justice just is whatever the ruler (monarch, democracy, whatever) says that it is. How do their accounts of this claim differ? Other thinkers say that justice is defined by some moral standard independent of what a ruler says it is, such that one kind of ruler might more closely approximate that independent standard and another kind of ruler might fail to satisfy the standard. How do their accounts of that claim differ? What do you consider the best account of political justice? How to Answer the Question Your answer should involve ideas from (at least) three thinkers and from two different weeks of the course (count week zero and week one as a single week). Answer the question entirely or mostly with reference to the content of the course – readings, lectures, discussions, and your own thinking. This is a take-home exam, not a research paper. You can look up outside information to help you complete your own argument, but don’t research and review outside texts – it doesn’t increase your grade and too much of it would hurt your grade. Don’t pad with long quotes. If you need to relate what someone else said, mostly paraphrase and only quote briefly (perhaps the most relevant or striking part of what the author wrote). Your creative and original thought is expected and rewarded, at the same time it should be focused on course content rather than other interesting stuff. A good essay shows not just an understanding of the readings and how they relate to each other. A good essay also takes a stand on the issues presented, but it does so in such a way that the reader has a sense that the writer grappled with the core themes in question and is neither simply regurgitating what they’ve read nor presenting their own opinions uninformed by the texts. Again, show us that you are learning the content of the course AND show us that you are thinking about it. Format Only *.doc or *docx formats will be accepted by Canvas Use one cover page, with only your title, the prompt you are answering, your name, and student number. Only accepted format: Times New Roman, 12 point, 1 inch margins, double-spaced, with page numbers. No more than five further pages for midterm. Exceeding length, not complying with format: reduction of grade by half point, e.g., B turns in to B-. This provision is intended to reduce everyone’s workload by punishing rather than rewarding overly long submissions. One additional page for references cited (if any). In your writing make it clear when you are relating or borrowing someone else’s ideas, and make clear when you are amending someone else’s idea or offering one of your own. In the text or in references cited use any kind of consistent citation format. Can be simple, e.g., (Hobbes, ch. XIV) or (Lecture, Oct. 6.)