Professor Michael Munger
Econonomics
99F-02 Fall
2003
Tu Th
Office:
Perkins Library, Room
330
direct office phone: 966-4301
Office Hours:
TBA
home phone: (919) 844-0154
(not after
Calendar Readings
Class Home Page: Go to http://www.duke.edu/~munger/ and
click on “courses”
What
does it mean to be free? What is the good society?
Many
scholars have argued that hierarchy, and some form of imposed coercive
organization, is essential to liberty and human self-realization. Others,
however, have argued that the most important kinds of order, and action, in
human societies are spontaneous, voluntary, and decentralized. If
cooperation is spontaneous, where does it come from, and how can we foster a
setting where people voluntarily act to advance the collective good?
In this course we will read selectively some of the great works on both sides
of this question. No definitive answers will be reached, but we will
concentrate on three sets of questions in considering each reading.
Ethical foundation: What does this writer believe is the essence of the ideal place
of the citizen in the society?
Dialogue with other work: In this scheme, are the most important
restraints on liberty external and hierarchical, or internal results of
spontaneous, voluntary actions? How does
the writer answer potential counterarguments from other points of view?
Evaluation:
Is the blueprint that this writer creates for society workable? What
techniques of quantitative analysis, including study of data available from
published sources, would allow us to evaluate this conception of society?
PAPERS:
Bi-weekly two page
evaluations of arguments we have read, and talked about, in class. At
first, this “two page” business may seem easy, but it is bad news,
trust me. It is very difficult to make a useful, complete argument in
just two pages (600 words). Specific topic “questions” will
be suggested, but the particular point you choose to write on will be up to
you.
GRADES:
Grades for this class will
be derived from the students performance on a midterm
exam, a final exam, and four two-page papers, as well as class
participation. These will have the following weights:
ITEM:
WEIGHT:
1. Final Exam:
40%
Essay
format, in scheduled exam period (Monday, December 8,
2.
7 2-page
papers
42%
These
papers will be graded very aggressively, on both content and
style. Must be typed.
3. Class participation:
18%
Ask or answer questions! Students are expected
to have done the reading before class.
TOTAL:
100%
Textbooks (available at
Bookstore in Bryan Center
Isaac
Asimov, Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and
Empire, Second Foundation)
Todd
Buchholz, New Ideas from Dead Economists
Michael Munger, Analyzing Policy: Choices,
Conflicts, and Practice
Neal
Stephenson, Snow Crash
In addition, there are occasional
handouts and other assignments that will be distributed as the semester
progresses.
Whenever a reading is available on
the WWWeb, the URL is given.
(August 26,
28):
Nature of Humans:
1.
Paul’s “Letter to the Romans” http://ebible.org/bible/web/Romans.htm
2. Society of Natural Science: http://www.determinism.com/definition.shtml
3. John Calvin, “Free Will and
Predestination,” from Institutes of the Christian Religion. (1537)
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/calvin.html
4. Ivar Ekelund, Mathematics and the Unexpected, Chapter 1 (e-reserves)
(September 2,
4, and 9):
The Purpose and Limits of Government
1) Isaac
Asimov, Foundation (Book 1: Foundation)
2) Selections from The
Federalist:
“About
the Federalist” http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/abt_fedpapers.html
Federalist
#10
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_10.html
Federalist
#51
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_51.html
3)
Declaration of
4)
5) Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.)--Background
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
Excerpts from Summa Theologica
http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/aquinas77.htm
http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/aquinas78.htm
(September
11, 16, and 18):
The Good Society: Who Rules? Who Serves?
1) Isaac Asimov, Foundation (Book 2: Foundation & Empire)
2) Plato’s Apology,
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
3) Plato’s Crito,
http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/crito.htm
4) Plato’s Dialogues,
“The Republic:” Sections 22-29
(stanza 471c to stanza 521b)
http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/republic.htm
PAPER #1: Due Tuesday, September 23
Topic: Assume you are Crito. Take up at the end
of the Dialogue, and convince Socrates to
leave with you.
(September 23, 25, and 30):
Slaves and Monarchs, Constitutions and Contracts:
“Covenants, Without the Sword, Are But
Words”
1. Aristotle’s Politics
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html
Book
I
Books
III-IV
2. Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan,
Parts I and II (Chapter 1 to Chapter 31, inclusive)
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-contents.html
PAPER #2: Due Thursday, October 9
Topic: What is the “good society”? Compare and contrast the Hobbesian
and Aristotelian good societies.
(October 2, 7 and 9):
Unit of Analysis:
What is the “good”, and whose is it?
1) Isaac Asimov, Foundation (Book 3: Second Foundation)
2) Nicoḷ Machiavelli,
The Prince, http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm
3) Sun Tzu, Art of War,
http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html
Chapter I, “Laying
Plans”
Chapter II, “Waging War”
Chapter XII, “The Attack by Fire”
PAPER #3: Due Thursday,
October 16
Topic: What is the position of the nation at
war? What are the duties of the prince,
or leader, of a society involved in war?
Is it possible for war to be “just“?
(October 16, 21 and 23):
The General Will: The Paradox of
1) Jean-Jacques
Rousseau’s On Social Contract, Books I-IV
http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm
2) Michael Munger, Analyzing
Policy, Chapter 2 and Chapter 6
3) Todd Buchholz, New Ideas From Dead Economists, Chapters 6 and 11
PAPER #4: Due Tuesday,
October 28
Topic: What is the moral status of property? Is property always theft? Is it never theft? When can I legitimately and morally say that
something is “mine,” and harm you if you try to take it or use it?
(October
28 and 30):
Markets
and “Spontaneous Order”
1) Michael Munger, Analyzing
Policy, Chapters 3 and 4.
3)
Todd Buchholz, New Ideas From Dead
Economists, Chapters 1-4
4) 3. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations,
http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html
Book I, Chapter 10
Book III, Chapter 1
Book
IV, Chapter 2
(November 4
and 6):
Spontaneous
Cooperation?
1).
G. Mackie, “Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account.” American
Sociological Review, 1996 (available on JSTOR).
2)
R. A. Radford, “The Economic Organization of a POW Camp,” Economica, November 1945, 189-201. (Excerpted
in Munger, Analyzing Policy, Case #1, pp. 89-100. (Also
available on JSTOR)
PAPER #5: Due Tuesday,
November 11
Topic: When are individual goals and public good in
conflict? When are they coincident? Can we predict which is which with any
confidence?
(November 11 and 13):
John Stuart Mill and Freedom of Speech
1)
Buchholz, New Ideas from Dead Economists, Chapter 5
2) John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Chapters I and II
Speech Codes on the College
Campus: Some Resources
http://halogen.note.amherst.edu/~astudent/2003-2004/issue06/news/01.html
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/freedom/aaup.html
http://studentsforacademicfreedom.org/archive/2003/WashTimes101703.htm
http://studentsforacademicfreedom.org/essays/abor.html
http://www.shadowuniv.com/waterbuffalo/wball.html
http://www.ultranet.com/~kyp/schools/bennet2.html
http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/www/campus.speech.html
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~tlockha/pcdebate.htm
http://www.aclu.org/library/aahate.html
http://www.CompleatHeretic.com/pubs/essays/pccodes.html
(November 18
and 20):
Justice, Asset Ownership, and Income Distribution
Karl Marx, Manifesto of
the Communist Party (1844, with Engels)
http://noesis.evansville.edu/Author_Index/M/Marx,_Karl/
Karl
Marx, Capital, V. 1, Chapter 1 and Chapter
26
Munger, Analyzing Policy, Chapter 8
Jonathan Swift, “A
Modest Proposal” (1729)
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316ktexts/swift.html
V.I. Lenin, “What Is
To Be Done?” (1902)
http://gate.cruzio.com/~marx2mao/Lenin/WD02i.html
- Chapter 2, part A
- Chapter 3, parts C, D, and E
PAPER #6: Due Tuesday, November 25
Topic: Write a speech code for
(November
25 and December 2):
The Market, The Mind, and
Hierarchy
Neal
Stephenson, Snow Crash
PAPER #7: Due Thursday, December 4
Topic: In “Snow
Crash,” we hear of a specific form of organization of society, dictated
by the market. Do you find this kind of
system plausible? Are we tending toward
this kind of purely privatized system?
Is it good, or bad? If it is
inevitable, does it matter? Could
society be otherwise?
(December
4):
Class Overview and Review for Final
Monday, December 8
Exam time:
If you cannot make this exam,
you must tell Prof. Munger
IMMEDIATELY
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FALL 2003 |
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August 19 |
Tuesday. New graduate student
orientation |
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August 20 |
Wednesday.
New undergraduate student orientation begins; assemblies for students entering
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and The School of Engineering |
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August 21 |
Thursday |
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August 25 |
Monday. |
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September 1 |
Monday.
Labor Day. Classes in session |
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September 5 |
Friday.
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October 5 |
Sunday.
Founders' Day |
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October 10 |
Friday.
Last day for reporting midsemester grades |
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October 10 |
Friday.
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October 15 |
Wednesday.
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October 18-19 |
Saturday-Sunday.
Homecoming |
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October 24-26 |
Friday-Sunday.
Parents' and Family Weekend |
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October 29 |
Wednesday. Registration begins
for Spring Semester, 2004 |
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November 21 |
Friday.
Registration ends for Spring Semester, 2004 |
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November 22 |
Saturday.
Drop/Add begins |
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November 26 |
Wednesday.
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November 26 |
Wednesday.
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December 1 |
Monday.
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December 1-7 |
Monday-Sunday.
Graduate reading period; length of the 200-level course reading period is
determined by the professor |
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December 4 |
Thursday. Undergraduate
classes end |
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December 5-7 |
Friday-Sunday.
Undergraduate reading period |
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December 8 |
Monday.
Final examinations begin |
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December 13 |
Saturday.
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