There should be a difference between people who spend four years in a bar and people who spend four years in a college. One of the major differences is an ability and willingness to analyze public policy in a way that is more objective and sophisticated than what one would expect from someone who is not educated. The goal of this course is to learn specific techniques for engaging in policy analysis and to use these methods to analyze particular issues of the day. Students who take this course will feel more at ease with an objective approach to questions of public policy. They will learn attitudes and methods that are useful in social analysis as well as being useful in their careers.
Good philosophy represents a careful, skeptical way of thinking.
It is skeptical even when dealing with something that seems very familiar. We could ask which scientists should be chosen to explore human cloning, for example, and who is qualified to set the social value of cloning. By focusing on questions like these, this course will provide an overview of the field, and an in-depth look at some of its major controversies. While the course may not provide answers, it will help to show the importance of skepticism when listening to the answers that others offer. The course will develop the skills of philosophical reasoning and skepticism through the use of written assignments, and by maintaining a regular schedule of critical reading of the assigned texts.