Program Overview

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Program Details

The program details are as follows:

Unit Description

The unit PHCC320 - The Just Society is a 10-credit point unit that explores contemporary philosophical debates and perspectives on the nature of the good society.

Year and Campus

The unit is offered in the year 2022, but there are no current unit offerings available.

Prerequisites and Incompatible Units

There are no prerequisites for this unit. However, it is incompatible with units UNCC300 Justice and Change in a Global World and PHIL320 Ethics, Justice and the Good Society.

Teaching Organisation

The unit involves 150 hours of focused learning and is offered in both semester attendance mode and intensive mode. The semester attendance mode allows students to develop their understanding over an extended period, while the intensive mode offers a more concentrated experience.

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

The unit responds to the context of great social, ethical, and political uncertainty by leading students into an engagement with contemporary philosophical debates and perspectives on the nature of the good society. It provides students with the knowledge and analytical skills to participate constructively in dialogue regarding matters of fundamental social importance.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

• Identify and accurately explain central problems and key theories in social and political philosophy and public ethics.
• Critically analyse and evaluate selected debates in the field and develop logical and consistent positions.
• Demonstrate skills in the clear, well-structured, and well-referenced presentation of a philosophical argument.

Graduate Attributes

The unit contributes to the development of the following graduate attributes:

• Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making.
• Think critically and reflectively.
• Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession.
• Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise, and evaluate information.
• Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media.

Content

The unit covers topics such as:

• Key concepts in social and political philosophy and public ethics.
• Theories of the just and fair society.
• The nature and scope of social equality.
• The ethics of distributive justice.
• Political authority and the good society.
• Public ethics and the Law.
• Work and the good life.
• Charity and mutual obligation in a globalised world.
• Free speech, toleration, and harm in a diverse society.
• Religion, civil society, and diversity.

Learning and Teaching Strategy

The unit involves a blend of collaborative learning and project-based learning approaches, combined with direct instruction. The collaborative learning aspect emerges in the case of interactive oral presentations and debates, while the project-based aspect relates to the research project culminating in a research essay.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy reflects the nature of the students undertaking the unit. It includes:

• A structured written analysis task.
• A collaborative oral presentation with a written component (in semester attendance mode) or structured responses to philosophical texts and a statement of position (in intensive mode).
• A research essay.

Representative Texts and References

The unit draws on a range of texts, including works by Finnis, Hornsby-Smith, Marx, Mill, Rawls, Rousseau, Sen, Waldron, and Wolff.