Freedom and Equality

In this class, we will explore perhaps the two most fundamental political ideas in modern liberal societies: that humans are (or should be) free, and that they are (or should be) equals. We will explore different conceptualizations of these two important but essentially contested concepts, reading a range of views of how freedom and equality are to be defined and what (if anything) makes them morally important, before applying these views to concrete questions like the role of race and gender in our society, how our political institutions should be organized, and whether economic inequities are morally permissible.