Module SGIA3291: THEORIES OF LIBERTY

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3291: THEORIES OF LIBERTY

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• Liberty is recognised as one of the key values of western liberal democracies, yet different interpretations of the concept have come to represent opposite actions, like having no duties on the one hand, and an active and constant participation in social power on the other. Why is this the case and is it possible to find a single satisfactory concept of freedom?
• The aim of this module is to explore the historical traditions behind the three key concepts of liberty: positive, negative and republican; to provide explanations about why the meaning of freedom varies, and how, in view of this plurality of meaning, we can make arguments in defence of its value.

Content

• This module will require the students to study a range of modern and contemporary political theory texts, and thus reconstruct the traditions behind the three most popular understandings of freedom: positive, negative and republican. It will look at each tradition in turn and discuss the themes that dominated the tradition:
• Positive freedom: as self-government; as a correspondence between personal desires and objective reality; as moral self-fulfilment; and as voluntary undertaking of ones public duty.
• Negative freedom: as the emancipation of the individuals will; as the importance of private space; as the only strategy for preserving pluralism; and as expressive of the understanding that explicit agreement as the only form of legal binding.
• Republican freedom: as the middle ground between the positive and negative freedom: freedom as non-domination; as a collectivist version of negative freedom; and as a kind of positive freedom without its totalitarian implications.
• In the course of exploring the different traditions and meanings of freedom the module will address the issue whether we can find a single satisfactory conception of freedom, or whether we should accept the dual nature of freedom as a matter of necessity.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will develop knowledge and understanding of:
• The main theories and debates in the traditions of positive, negative and republican liberty.
• The link between moral philosophy and political theory: through the study of the concept of liberty, students will come to grips with some of the key moral dilemmas in political theory.
• Students will gain more detailed and thorough knowledge about modern and contemporary political theory, and more specifically, about the nature of liberalism, libertarianism, perfectionism, and republicanism

• Students will develop a range of subject specific skills including:
• The ability to perform textual and conceptual analysis.
• To reconstruct the historical tradition of a particular concept.
• To understand the link between political ideas and political conduct.
• To apply their knowledge on liberty towards a more advanced understanding of other political concepts.
• To construct an independent argument

• Students will develop a range of key skills, including:
• The ability to identify useful resources on a particular topic.
• The ability to argue a case as opposed to express an opinion.
• The ability to take alternative perspectives seriously.
• Planning and completing written work on time.
• Take responsibility for their own work

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The teaching and learning of the module will be by 8 one-hour lectures, 8 two-hour seminars and 1 one-hour tutorial. The lectures will give a detailed outline, appropriate to a level three module, of the texts, themes and ideas to be studied, and advice as to critical approach and reading. There will be a two-hour seminar following each lecture which will provide opportunity for individual presentations and guided discussion. Each student will have to offer one presentation during the course of the module, but all students will be expected to participate in the discussion of every seminar. Seminar presentations will enhance students' ability to research topics, present their findings to their peers and stimulate debate. The seminars will provide a basis on which to select an area of specialist research for the summative essay. There will be one-hour tutorial half way through the module where essay feed back will be given on the basis of the results of the formative essays.
• Formative assessment is by 2 000 words essay. The purpose of this essay is to prepare the students for the two longer essays of 3000 words each, of the summative assessment. The task is to develop the skills for making a case: the students will have to develop their own argument and to support it with points, observations and claims made in the primary and secondary texts discussed at the lectures and seminars.
• Summative assessment is by two essays of 3000 words each. The task of these assessments is to develop the students research skills. The essays will fulfil the double function of testing acquired knowledge on the subject as well as testing the skill of constructing independent arguments. More specifically, the essays will have to demonstrate the historical and conceptual knowledge and skills needed to analyse the concepts of liberty in view of the moral dilemmas they aim to resolve. The students will be expected to analyse and evaluate competing theories and explanations. All essays will test the development of the identified key skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

1 essay 2000 words

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University