Politics 331 - Ethical Life

What is ethical life and what is its relationship to democratic politics? Ethical life, or sittlichkeit, refers not to ethics but to the patterns of norms, habit, and thinking that elaborate, compliment, or resist laws and political institutions. In this course, we will explore how the sphere of ethical life that is outside of political rule and legislation influences the shape of our politics. Our first readings, which will include Hegel, Nietzsche, William Connolly, and Judith Butler, will help us learn how theorists have understood the relationship between ethical and political life.