POL608 Contemporary Democratic Theory: The Priority of Democracy: Political Consequences of Pragmatism

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2018
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Dufek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Stanislav Balík, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lucie Pospíšilová
Supplier department: Division of Politology – Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 20. 9. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 27. 9. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 4. 10. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 11. 10. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 18. 10. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 25. 10. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 1. 11. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 8. 11. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 15. 11. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 22. 11. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 29. 11. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 6. 12. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno, Thu 13. 12. 16:00–17:40 bude_upresneno
Prerequisites
Ability to read a book-length scholarly text and English; willingness to participate in in-class discussions. Informally, reasonable acquaintance with issues of contemporary political philosophy is expected, as is the willingness to concentrate fully on advanced philosophical argumemntation about democracy
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This is a reading course in which a seledcted work of contemporary democratic theory will be studied in detail and discussed.
Learning outcomes
Upon completing the course, students will be able to:

present knowledge of advanced scholarly debates on democracy and adjacent core princples of societal life
find their way through basic methodological questions of political philosophy
analyse fundamental issues of democratic theory
critically evaluate the predominant reasons in favour of/against specific democratic institutions
apply their arguments to the state of and direction in which contemporary constitutional democracies are heading
Syllabus
  • In Autumn of 2018, we will read "The Priority of Democracy: Political Consequences of Pragmatism", a magisterial take on normative democratic theory by Jack Knight and James Johnson. The authors synthesise contemporary knowledge in the field, and attempt to link three areas of inquiry, so that they stand in synergy: Deweyan pragmatims (as a social philosophy), epistemic conceptions of democracy, and rational choice theory.
  • Note: Session titles (apart from #s 1, 12 and 13) correspond with chapter titles.
  • 1. Introductory. Course mission and essentials. TPoD: TPCoP in the context of theorising on democracy (20. 9.)
  • 2. Ch. 1: Preliminaries (27. 9.)
  • 3. Ch. 2: Pragmatism and Institutional Design (4. 10.)
  • 4. Ch. 3: The Appeal of Decentralisation (11. 10.)
  • 5. Ch. 4: The Priority of Democracy and the Burden of Justification (18. 10.)
  • 6. Ch. 5: Reconsidering the Role of Political Argument in Democratic Politics (25. 10.)
  • 7. Ch. 6: Refining Reflexivity (1. 11.)
  • 8. Ch. 7: Formal Conditions: Institutionalizing Liberal Guarantees (8. 11.)
  • 9. Self-study week (15. 11.)
  • 10. Ch. 8: Substantive Conditions: Pragmatism and Effectiveness (22. 11.)
  • 11: Ch. 9: Conclusion (29. 11.)
  • 12. Some critiques and the response by the authors (6. 12.)
  • 13. Reserve session (13. 12.)
Literature
    required literature
  • KNIGHT, Jack and James JOHNSON. The priority of democracy : political consequences of pragmatism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011, xv, 324. ISBN 9780691151236. info
Teaching methods
Seminar discussions combined with student presentations of the main points and arguments of the respective chapters
Assessment methods
Course evaluation (composite type) has three parts:

(1) Position papers. Students are expected to submit at least six shorter essays or position papers, dealing with the respective chapters. These papers should then serve as a basis for in-class discussions. Each position paper will receive 0-4 points, based on its quality (40 % of the total)
Position papers should consist of three parts: (A) summary of the main arguments of the chapter(s); (B) identification of most interesting, most difficult etc, passages or arguments; (C) own critical assessment plus sugestions for clarification or further seminar discussion.

(2) Presentation. During the term, each student will have hold a seminar presentation on a specific chapter (or chapters) (length: 15–20 minutes). Students are expected to link the argument to previous contents of the book, highlight Estlund's main points, and also critically assess his argument and provide further clues for seminar discussion. Students will receive 0-13 points for their presentation, based on its quality and information value. (26 % of the total)

(3) In-class activity (up to 1,5 points each time). (ca. 33 % of the total)

The overall assesment (A through F) will be determined by the total poiont score from these three activities (55–50p A; 49–45p B; 44–40p C; 39–36p D; 35–33p E; 32p and less F)
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2018/POL608