93206 - MULTICULTURALISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is the analysis of the contemporary theories on multiculturalism and cultural relativism in the frame of the constitutional democracy. In the course one will discuss the questions of multiculturalism and cultural relativism with particular reference to the relationship between collective rights and individual rights, to the problem of value pluralism, to the relation between majority and minorities, to the conditions of integration, to the question of multiplicity of religious identities. At the end of the course the student will be able of critically considering the interpretative criteria of the complex reality of contemporary multiethnic and multinational States.

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

CONTENTS:

The course deals with the themes of multiculturalism and cultural relativism in a predominantly philosophical perspective. The topics covered in the course are included in three main areas. These are: a) multiculturalism and interculturalism, rights, feminism; b) philosophy of knowledge and relativism (truth, knowledge, skepticism, relativism); c) objectivity and relativism (in normative ethics and metaethics). Professor. Artosi will mainly deal with the topics of philosophy of knowledge and relativism, while prof. Bongiovanni will mainly refer to moral philosophy and the problem of objectivity.

Syllabus of the lessons

a) basic conceptual and theoretical tools

1) Multiculturalism; 2) multiculturalism and interculturalism; 3) multiculturalism and rights; 4) feminism and multiculturalism; 5) knowledge and relativism; 6) objectivity and morality; 7) types of relativism; 8) metaethics and objectivity.

b) seminar insights

1) cultural defense; 2) feminism and relativism; 3) cultural relativism; 4) cognitivist theories; 5) power and multiculturalism; 6) non-cognitivism

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students must prepare for the oral exam, 1 text chosen from those indicated (or 1 text proposed by them);

Non-attending students must prepare 2 texts among those indicated (one in section A and one in section B):

A. (Multiculturalism, rights, relativism, feminism)

M. Baghramian, A. Coliva, Relativism, Routledge, London & New York, 2020.

S. Benhabib, The Rights of Others, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

P. Boghossian, Fear of Knowledge, Oxford: Clarendon, 2006

A. Buchanan, The Heart of Human Rights, Oxford University Press, 2014.

T. Cantle, Interculturalism. The New Era of Cohesione and Diversity, Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.

W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Clarendon Press, 1995.

A. Musgrave, Common Sense, Science and Scepticism. A Historical Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993.

J. Margolis, The Truth about relativism, Oxford (UK) - Cambridge (Usa), Blackwell, 1981.

J. Nickel, Human Rights, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/rights-human/

M. Nussbaum, Cultivating Humanity, 1997.

S.M. Okin, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? ed. by J. Cohen, M. Howard, M.C. Nussbaum. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

J. Raz, Multiculturalism: a Liberal Perspective, in “Dissent”, 1994.

M. Sahlins, The Western Illusion of Human Nature, University of Chicago Press, 2008.

A. Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006.

B. de Sousa Santos, Toward a multicultural Conception oh Human Rights, in “Sociologia del diritto”, 1/1997.

Ch. Taylor, Multiculturalism, Princeton University Press 1994.

J. Tronto, Caring Democracy, New York: New York University Press

B. (normative ethics, meta-ethics and objectivity)

C. Bagnoli, Constructivism in Metaethics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constructivism-metaethics/

S. Blackburn, Ruling Passions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

M. Chrisman, What is this Thing Called Metaethics?, Routledge, London & New York, 2017.

J. Dancy, Ethics without Principles, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

R. Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknapp Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.

A. Fischer, Metaethics. An Introduction, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2011

J. Rawls, Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory: “The Journal of Philosophy”, n. 9, vol. 77, 1980.

W.D. Ross, The Right and the Good, Oxford: Clarendon, 2002 (Ed. by Philip Stratton-Lake).

M. Sandel, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.

R. Shafer-Landau, Moral Realism. A Defence, Oxford: Clarendon, 2003.

S. Street, Constructivism about Reasons, in "Oxford Studies in Metaethics" 3, 2008.

M. van Roojen, Metaethics. A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, New York, 2015.

 

Teaching methods

The teaching is delivered on the basis of lectures that will be aimed not only at analyzing the topics of the course, but also at stimulating discussion and critical intervention by the students. The teaching materials and bibliographical indications on the various issues provided by the professors will contribute to fostering learning by the students.

Assessment methods

Attending students: the exam will consist of the assessment of student activities carried out during the seminar part of the course (oral presentations or written reports) and a final oral discussion on a text or topic chosen by the student.

Non attending students: oral exam on two texts chosen from those indicated or proposed by the student

The oral exam will be aimed at examining not only the student's knowledge of the key points of the texts chosen for the exam, but also to evaluate their argumentative capacity and the understanding of the various theoretical issues addressed.

Teaching tools

The teaching materials (slides, syllabus of the arguments, specific bibliographies, arguments of discussion) will be available on the site https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/giorgiobongiovanni

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Bongiovanni

See the website of Alberto Artosi