PLSC 118: The Moral Foundations of Politics
Lecture 01 - Information and Housekeeping. Professor Shapiro explains the format and structure of the class during this opening session. He reviews the syllabus, and asks the central question of the course: What makes a government legitimate? He briefly explains the five ways to answer this question that he will focus on throughout the semester. The first three traditions are those of the Enlightenment: utilitarianism, Marxism, and social contract theory. The fourth and fifth overarching ways to answer the central question in this course are the anti-Enlightenment and the democratic traditions. Professor Shapiro then introduces the topic for the next lecture, the Eichmann problem. (from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 01 - Information and Housekeeping |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Introduction and Course Agenda |
| [00:05:03] | 2. Enlightenment, Enlightenment Traditions and Anti-enlightenment Thinking |
| [00:13:00] | 3. What to Expect from the Course |
| [00:20:53] | 4. Four Distinctive Aspects of the Course |
| [00:29:28] | 5. The Eichmann Problem |
| References |
| Lecture 1 - Information and Housekeeping Instructor: Professor Ian Shapiro. Resources: Paper #1 Topics [PDF]; Paper #2 Topics [PDF]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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