SPI 370/POL 308/CHV 301: Ethics and Public Policy (Fall 2022)

Assistant Instructor to Steven Kelts

Course description: The course examines major moral controversies in public life and differing concepts of justice, the common good and civic virtues. It seeks to help students think and write about the ethical considerations that ought to shape public institutions and guide public authorities. These issues may include equal treatment of cultures and nations, justice in war, market regulation (incl. crypto), the virtues of citizens in a capitalist society, property rights, women's rights in developing countries, fairness in a world of digital technology, and cross-border migration.

POL 309/REL 309: Politics and Religion (Spring 2023)

Assistant Instructor to Jan-Werner Müller

Course description: We revisit some of the basic normative questions to do with religion and democratic politics: how can democratic polities be protected from religion, and how can religion be protected from politics? Might certain forms of democratic politics depend on religious sources? In particular, might liberal democracy actually "live off" religious sentiments in ways that many liberal theorists fail to acknowledge? Does even the religiously neutral state need a "civil religion" of some sort or other to preserve its moral foundations?