This course will introduce students to some key ideas and themes in Marx's, and anarchist political thought. The focus is on Marxist and anarchist ideas of freedom and of justice, and of the relationship between these ideas. The course also covers how Marxist and anarchist writers have criticised and responded to criticisms from each other, as well as from liberal and libertarian theorists.

16 x 1hr lectures; 4 x 1hr seminars as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in Philosophy and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

None

None

Two Essays (2x2500 words) - 100%

This course aims to:

■ Introduce students to core notions of Marxist and anarchist thought

■ Give an overview of the intellectual links and distinctions between these notions

■ Allow students to locate such thought within (and against) the liberal-analytic tradition in political philosophy, and give the opportunity to develop their own views on it

■ Provide a grounding in Marxist ideas of freedom and justice (particularly freedom as flourishing and whether Marx has an idea of distributive justice), and the most significant objections to these ideas

■ Provide a grounding in anarchist ideas of freedom and justice (particularly in different anarchist accounts of freedom, and of the role of equality in justice), and the most significant objections to these ideas

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Analyse and explain Marx's ideas of species-being, freedom and economic justice

■ Explain and critically evaluate anarchist arguments against the state

■ Expound and assess anarchist alternatives to the state

■ Compare and critically assess Marxist and anarchist accounts of freedom

■ Apply their knowledge of Marxist and anarchist accounts of freedom and justice to contemporary political debates (about, for example, economic organisation, democratic engagement, and the carceral state)