HFIK03751U FILO, Modul 2: Etik og Samfund: Pluralism: How to Navigate a Multitude of Values and Beliefs in Liberal Democracies

How should liberal democracies respond to the fact of pluralism as regards, for example, political values, moral values, lifestyles (including, e.g., sexuality), scientific and metaphysical beliefs (including, e.g., religious beliefs), and cultural traditions? In the course of the seminar, we will address various aspects of pluralism. First, how are we as a society to tackle value disagreements, which involves discussions of liberalism, communitarianism, state neutrality and public reason. Second, how are we to tackle factual disagreements (e.g., regarding climate change), which involves discussions of the role of experts and democratic legitimacy. Third, what sort of questions about pluralism do immigration and cultural and religious diversity give rise to and what does justice require regarding immigration and integration policy, which involves discussions of citizenship, multiculturalism, nationalism and the scope of equality. Fourth, value pluralism may obtain not only across individuals and groups in a society, but also within a single theory or policy.  The theoretical and practical challenges to which such pluralism gives rise involves discussions of what value pluralism is, the nature of value conflicts and value incommensurability, and how to accommodate a plurality of values in public policy. Finally, the seminar will include a discussion of what sort of problems and trade-offs value pluralism gives rise to in a particular theory in normative ethics, namely virtue ethics. Among the philosophers whose texts we will engage with are John Rawls, Elizabeth Anderson, Ronald Dworkin, Elizabeth Anscombe, David Estlund, Ruth Chang, Jürgen Habermas, Michael Stocker, Will Kymlicka, Rosalind Hursthouse and David Miller. Students are expected to participate actively in the seminar, which involves preparing discussions.