In this course, we will consider what justice is. We will examine this question through a reading of several texts from Classical antiquity. For the first part of our investigation, we consider some foundational questions concerning the establishment of justice. Next, we will consider the complicated interplay and tension between an adherence to a moral or noble attachment to the principle of justice on the one hand and, on the other hand, the prudential application of this principle. Finally, we will consider what the most just form of government is.

 

Sample Readings:

• Aeschylus, The Eumenides
• Sophocles, Philoctetes
• Plato, Alcibiades 1. In The Roots of Political Philosophy: Ten Forgotten Socratic Dialogues