Just War Theory (LAW-795-010)
Anderson
Meets: 06:00 PM - 07:50 PM (T) - Room 500
Enrolled: 13 / Limit: 16
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
Since 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, I have decided to do the just and unjust wars seminar during Spring 2009 as a special seminar on the topic of Abraham Lincoln, the Second Inaugural Address, and the nature of war and ethics in war.
This is a paper course, with a 15 pp. dbsp. paper required for the course. You may add an additional unit for more pages if you like, and you may use it for ULWR if you add on the required additional pages and meet any other Registrar requirements. The course meets once a week, attendance and reading are required, as is twice a week blackboard postings to the discussion board. You may write on any topic related to war.
Who might be interested in this class? It is a graduate school type seminar in an interdisciplinary way among law, ethics, theology, and history. It is not a practical law course. I generally suggest it to students who might be interested in a final “grad school,” intellectual experience before heading out into the real world.
The course in Spring 2009 will cover the moral psychology of the Second Inaugural and the conception of war and the ethics of war found therein. It is not a Civil War history nor is it a Lincoln history, except in passing. The point is to develop a very close reading of the Second Inaugural, including its historical setting and background, to offer a non-historical, moral philosophy reading of the text. We will do some comparison reading historically and philosophically for context, including comparisons to Lincoln’s contemporaries such as Sherman, theorists of war such as Clausewitz, and interpreters of the ethics of war such as Michael Walzer.
I intend to use the course to offer my own interpretation of the Second Inaugural as it relates to war. I will be putting up on Blackboard draft essays on successive topics over the course of the semester and asking for comments from seminar participants. I will also include readings from contemporary authors on Lincoln, including likely a book from the new 2009 literature on Lincoln.
Textbooks and Other Materials
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First Class Readings
Not available at this time.