{"id":23,"date":"2021-09-17T10:46:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/lefkowtiz\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T20:21:22","slug":"teaching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/create.richmond.edu\/lefkowitz\/about\/teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The philosophy courses I teach on a semi-regular basis include Philosophy and the Criminal Law, Ethics and International Affairs, and an advanced under-graduate course in Philosophy of Law.\u00a0 For the PPEL Program, I have taught two different Senior Capstone Seminars, one on the ethics, economics, and politics of the Second Machine Age, and one on normative theory and international law.\u00a0 Many years ago I also taught the gateway course to the major, which focused on climate change.<\/p>\n

I am constantly updating my syllabi, so please let me know if there\u2019s a topic, text, podcast, etc., that would make one of these classes even better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

Normative Theory and International Law (most recently, Fall 2025)<\/h3>\t\t\t

This course will begin with a relatively brief discussion of (international) law\u2019s normativity \u2013 the kind of reason(s)for action law provides, or put another way, how law contributes to the production of social order. We will then spend most of the remainder of the semester exploring normative questions that arise in the following three areas of international law: (1) international trade law (e.g. what norms ought to regulate international trade, and the resolution of trade disputes?); (2) international refugee law (e.g. who counts as a refugee? How should duties to refugees be fulfilled, and by whom?); and (3) the law of war (e.g. should the law of war mirror or deviate in certain respects from the morality of war?).<\/p>\n

To download a copy of the syllabus, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

The Ethics, Economics, and Politics of the Second Machine Age (most recently, Spring 2025)<\/h3>\t\t\t

In this course we will spend most of the semester exploring normative questions posed by the accelerating development of the Second Machine Age \u2013 an era in which cognitive tasks formerly performed by human beings are performed by digital computers.<\/p>\n

Our first unit will focus on bias, fairness, and discrimination in algorithmic scoring and decision-making.\u00a0 How should we understand each of these concepts in the context of designing algorithms?\u00a0 What sort of tradeoffs between fairness and accuracy (i.e. efficiency) should we permit or forbid?\u00a0 What steps should we take to protect people from algorithmic discrimination?\u00a0 In particular, does existing U.S. anti-discrimination law suffice to protect against the creation and use of unjust classifications, or do we need to reform it \u2013 and if so, how?<\/p>\n

Privacy and manipulation will be the subject of our second unit.\u00a0 What sort of actions count as violations of privacy?\u00a0 Why and when should we value privacy?\u00a0 How should we settle conflicts between privacy and other values, such as efficiency and security?\u00a0 What are the pros and cons of different approaches to protecting privacy?\u00a0 And finally, when do attempts at influencing our conduct that rely on new forms of information gathering and processing count as manipulative?<\/p>\n

Our third and final unit will consider the economic consequences of the Second Machine Age \u2013 and some of the potential political consequences that may follow.\u00a0 We will largely focus on the impact that new information and communication technologies (ICT) are having or will soon have on employment.\u00a0 What sort of policy responses should we adopt?\u00a0 Should we implement a universal basic income?\u00a0 Or various \u201cpro work\u201d policies?\u00a0 Should these policies include guaranteed employment by the state for those who cannot find employment in the private sector?\u00a0 How might the employment effects of new ICT shape electoral politics in democracies?\u00a0 What about in developing countries, where labor intensive manufacturing has provided a path out of poverty for hundreds of millions?<\/p>\n

To download a copy of the syllabus, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

The Morality of Obedience and Disobedience to Law (Fall 2024)<\/h3>\t\t\t

This\u00a0course\u00a0will begin with a critical examination of competing accounts of law\u2019s moral authority, and legal subjects\u2019 corresponding duty to obey the law. \u00a0These include consent, considerations of fair play, the nature and value of political association, and the necessity of deference to a common law in conditions of reasonable disagreement over the demands of justice.\u00a0 We will then examine competing accounts of the grounds of justifiable civil disobedience; conditions on its permissibility (e.g., must it be non-violent?); and justifiable responses to it (e.g., holding civil disobedients criminally or civilly liable).\u00a0 We will also compare civil disobedience to several forms of\u00a0uncivil\u00a0<\/em>disobedience, such as political vandalism, riots, and boycotts.\u00a0 The class will conclude with a consideration of competing analyses of conscientious objection (is it the assertion of a right, the offering of an excuse, or a plea for mercy?); the bases for accommodating conscientious objectors (respect for autonomy, preserving integrity, epistemic humility); and conditions or limitations on accommodating conscientious objectors.<\/p>\n

To download a copy of the syllabus, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

Pragmatist Contributions to Legal and Political Philosophy (Fall 2023)<\/h3>\t\t\t

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that originated in the United States in the early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century, and that remains vibrant today.\u00a0 Though originally focused on general questions of knowledge, truth, and meaning, every \u201cgeneration\u201d of Pragmatist philosophers has also made important contributions to political and legal philosophy.\u00a0 These will be the focus of the\u00a0course.\u00a0 With respect to politics, we will examine Pragmatist contributions to the contest between universal and communitarian conceptions of justice, and the related dispute over the respective roles that reason and sympathy (should) play in political argument.\u00a0 We will also examine intra-Pragmatist debates regarding the justification of democracy, focusing in particular on the implications that competing accounts of democracy\u2019s value have for the design of political institutions and the scope of their authority.\u00a0 With respect to law, we will consider Pragmatist contributions to debates over its nature and normativity, as well as competing Pragmatist accounts of legal reasoning and adjudication.\u00a0 Among the questions we will consider are: What makes a practice a legal one?\u00a0 How does law contribute to the production of social order?\u00a0 What sort of reasoning should a judge (or an ordinary citizen) use to identify legal rights or obligations?\u00a0 What are the success conditions for an assertion of law \u2013 what makes the claim \u2018I have a legal right to X\u2019 true or justified?<\/p>\n

To download a copy of the syllabus, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

Philosophy and the Criminal Law (Fall 2021)<\/h3>\t\t\t

This course will address three philosophical questions raised by the criminal law.<\/p>\n