Political Freedom: Rights, Justice, and Democracy in the Western Tradition

Freedom is one of our core values. Most people can agree that freedom is a good thing. Yet there is far less agreement about how to understand the concept itself and what kinds of political arrangements are best suited to protect and enhance freedom. Is freedom about being left alone? Undertaking action with others? Participating in governance? Does freedom require a limited state? An active and interventionist government? A robustly participatory political system? How is freedom connected to other political values, like justice and equality? This seminar will consider and evaluate some of the most controversial and challenging answers that have been given to these questions by canonical thinkers like John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Marx, as well as by more contemporary political and legal thinkers like Jeremy Waldron and Cass Sunstein. We will also examine how questions about the nature of freedom play out on college campuses and in the courts.