OSHER 583 - With Liberty And Justice For All: Reflections On The Good Society

A good and just society respects the liberty of all and treats every member as an equal. The concepts of liberty, justice, and equality, however, are all contested concepts. We have different ideas of what they mean and how they should apply in real life. What one sees, for example, as an important government program meant for the common benefit, another sees as an illegitimate restriction of people's liberty. We will carefully examine the meanings of such concepts as liberty, equality, and justice. There is a long philosophical tradition of discussion of these ideas which will inform our discussions.