Workshop in Law, Philosophy & Political Theory

Level
Semester
Fall 2023
Units
4
Section
1
Number
211
CCN
22714
Times
Friday 12-3pm
Location
BLAW141
Course Description

This course is a workshop for discussing work-in-progress in moral, political, and legal theory. The central aim is to enable students to engage directly with legal scholars, philosophers, and political theorists working on important normative questions. Another aim is to bring together scholars from different disciplines and perspectives, such as economics, history, sociology, and political science, who have normative interests.

The theme for the Fall 2023 workshop is "Current Work on the History of Political, Legal, and Moral Philosophy."

The format of the course is as follows: for the sessions with guest presenters, a designated student commentator will lead off with a 15-minute comment on the paper. The presenter will have 5-10 minutes to respond and then we will open up the discussion to the group. The first part of the course will be open to non-enrolled students, faculty, and visitors who wish to participate in the workshop discussion. We’ll stop for a break at 2:00 and those not enrolled in the course will leave. Enrolled students will continue the discussion with the guest until 3:00.

This is a cross-listed/room-shared course with the Philosophy and Political Science Departments. Students may enroll through Law (Law 210.2A), Philosophy (Philosophy 290), or Political Science (PS 211).

This semester the workshop is co-taught by Joshua Cohen and Kinch Hoekstra.

 

The Scientific Study of Politics

Semester
Fall 2023
Instructor(s)
Units
2
Section
1
Number
88
CCN
25444
Times
Th 2-4pm
Location
WHLR202
Course Description

In the first part of the course, we will focus on the theoretical side of political science. The main goals here are to understand what makes a good political science theory, and to give a brief overview of how game theory and related tools make up a powerful way to construct theories. This side of the class will be less data-focused, we will also see how the programming tools you learn in Data 8 can be used in this part of the scientific process. We will pivot to the empirical side in the second part of the class, we will cover how political scientists and other social scientists think about the challenges of causal inference, and the tools we use to overcome them.

Prerequisites

Students must have already taken DATA8 or take it concurrently with PS 88.

Students must temporarily waitlist in order for the department to confirm completion or concurrent enrollment of Data 8.

The combination of Data 8 and PS88 can be taken in lieu of PS3 for the major.