In order to help you plan your course schedules for the upcoming terms, a list of pre-law courses being offered in winter 2016, spring 2017 and summer 2017 is attached.
Please note a couple of updates:
- PHIL 221 Symbolic Logic is now approved as a PHIL pre-law class, and at least one section will be offered, going forward, annually. This course hones reasoning skills useful for the LSAT exam.
- PHIL 481 Political Speech and Hate Speech has been approved as a one-time spring 2017 substitute for the pre-law class, PHIL 450 Philosophy of Law. (See description below.)
- PLSC 481 Constitutional Issues in Homeland Security has been approved as a one-time spring 2017 substitute for the pre-law class, PLSC 361 Modern Political Thought. (See description below.)
PHIL 481: Political Speech and Hate Speech — Spring 2017
Course description: Many liberal democracies are deeply committed to the principle of free speech. However, exactly what a right to free speech entails is unclear and controversial. Moreover, evidence demonstrates that some kinds of speech, especially when unregulated, are detrimental to other important liberal values such as social equality and political participation. Might a commitment to equality require that we regulate speech that is harmful? What is the extant of these harms? Which kinds of speech are harmful in ways that merit such regulation?
Explores the practical, political, and theoretical commitments implicit in the First Amendment and the various arguments for protecting and regulating political expression, and examines real-world cases of access to political speech, especially through campaign activities, and hate speech directed at one’s racial, gender, or sexual identity. Students will read First Amendment jurisprudence, its history in the Supreme Court, and political theories concerning the relationship between speech and democratic representation and explore how these theories bear on questions about our access to political speech and whether campaign fundraising practices undermine the value of free speech and our political expression, and explore whether hate speech ought to be protected by the First Amendment. A range of arguments for and against will be considered.
PLSC 481: Constitutional Issues in Homeland Security — Spring 2017
Course description: This course explores some of the constitutional issues raised by the U.S. government’s post-9/11 efforts to battle terrorism abroad and domestically. The laws and practices used to protect national security will be analyzed in the context of constitutional principles as articulated in the opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court and other published case laws.