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PHIL 324Social and Political Philosophy

Units
0.50
Faculty
Arts
Subject
Philosophy

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

What is a just society? This course draws on historical and contemporary readings to discuss issues such as: What is the value of equality? Of liberty? What could give legitimacy to state authority? What is a fair way to distribute resources? What types of injustice have been missed by mainstream accounts of justice? By the end of this course, students will have enhanced abilities to: (1) understand and discuss historical theories and their relevance for present debates; (2) understand and discuss contemporary formulations of justice; (3) analyze and evaluate philosophical arguments in support of positions discussed in the course; and (4) communicate your own analyses and evaluative arguments effectively in written work.

Prerequisites

  • Students must be in level 2A or higher

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

71% liked it21% easy55% useful

From 7 ratings and 3 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • I found this course overly difficult, even as a Philosophy minor. I think it is better suited as a 400-level course.
    It is very theoretical and the weekly modules are a lot of information condensed in rather unorganized modules. I took the course online, so it may be better in person to understand the tough concepts. Grading was annoying - only had 2 grades going into the final. If you don't need this course, I wouldn't bother taking it.

    Jul 2024 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Though I have a lot of positive feelings about this course, almost all of it is overshadowed by the delivery of online lectures. I took this during 2021, and the 'lectures' were just more online pages of text. No amount of fun colours or images could've made them engaging, because I would read a text online to 'unpack' it with more text. I imagine that this course would be more fun irl, so that might be something to keep in mind.

    Sep 2022 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I believe the prof has a big influence on how this course is structured.
    For last semester, it started with a classical prospective of political philosophy (Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau), moved onto mainstream liberalism (Mill, Tawney, and Rawls), then had some criticism of mainstream liberalism (Nozick, Cohen, and Kittay). The beginning is based on why states should exist at all, with the rest of the course being more or less about what powers and limits to powers a government should have (eg. if equality and liberty are in conflict, and how they should be balanced if they are).
    Last semester, the course marking was entirely based on 3 essays.

    May 2018On UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

7 posts and comments in 7 threads mention PHIL 324, May 2018 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2022

A GUIDE ON HOW TO PLAN AN OPTION 29 points, 15 comments

u/1000Ditto: “… List A online without prereqs: soc 101, phil 145, phil 201, phil 202, phil 215, phil 221, phil 324, pacs 201, pacs 202, pacs 203, gsj 222, geog 207 \[ GEOG 207 is the online one only one offered online on list A eng\] List C online without prereqs: The list is huge but includes …”

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Winter 2020

How does the course load sound for cs3B 2 points, 8 comments

“3 out of the four cs courses below: Cs348 (data management)CS 486(AI), CS 454(distributed systems), cs370. I'm mostly having problem choosing between cs348/370. …”

u/Shinyair: “The BU courses and ICE have a lot of work and lectures, so overloading with CS courses might be tough!”

u/katsukichan: “How does it compare with my 3A course load? In 3A I did CS341/350 and Phil324 with 3 Bu and Job search. Phil 324 was non bird for me. Grade was better than 2B.”

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Spring 2019

How to make use of the writing centre 4 points, 2 comments

u/katsukichan: “So I'm taking social & political philosophy (Phil324) online next term and my English skill is shit so I expect myself to use that WC resources. But I never visited before so I wonder how do you find it(writing centre) , like what's useful/awful/things to be aware of”

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Winter 2019

Any one taken a philosophy minor before 3 points, 6 comments

u/katsukichan: “… 265: The Existentialist Experience &x200B; PHIL 302: Topics in Feminist Philosophy &x200B; PHIL 324: Social and Political Philosophy &x200B; PHIL 328: Human Rights &x200B; PHIL 384: History of Modern Philosophy &x200B; PHIL 286J: Great German Thinkers &x200B; PHIL 284: Great …”

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Spring 2018

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar