POLn4104 Contemporary Democratic Theory: Democratic Authority. A Philosophical Framework

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2019
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
doc. Mgr. Pavel Dufek, 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 16:00–17:40 U44
Prerequisites
! POL608 Contemporary Democratic Theory && ! NOW ( POL608 Contemporary Democratic Theory )
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 different work of contemporary democratic theory will be studied in detail and discussed.

In the Autumn term of 2019, we will read Robert Goodin and Kai SPiekermann's magisterial "An Epistemic Theory of Democracy"
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 democraticm institutions
apply their arguments to the state of and direction in which contemporary constitutional democracies are heading
Syllabus
  • 1. Úvod: Poslání a organizace kurzu. EToD v kontextu soudobé politické filosofie
  • 2. EToD Ch. 2-4.1
  • 3.EToD, Ch. 4.2–5.5
  • 4. EToD, Ch. 6–7.3
  • 5. EToD, Ch. 8–9.3
  • 6. EToD, Ch. 10–11
  • 7. EToD, Ch. 12–14
  • 8. EToD, Ch. 15–16
  • 9. Týden určený k samostudiu
  • 10. EToD, Ch. 17–18
  • 11. EToD, Ch. 19–20
  • 12. EToD, Ch. 21
  • 13. Reserve class
Literature
    required literature
  • GOODIN, Robert E. and Kai SPIEKERMANN. An epistemic theory of democracy. First edition published. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. xxiv, 442. ISBN 9780198823452. info
    recommended literature
  • LANDEMORE, Hélène. Democratic reason : politics, collective intelligence, and the rule of the many. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. xxi, 279. ISBN 9780691176390. 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 assigned 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 the authors' main points, and also critically assess their 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 (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2019, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2019/POLn4104