Oxford Undergraduate Papers
Introduction to the Theory of Politics
This course serves as an introduction to studying political theory for first-year students. It includes both the study of key texts in the history of political thought (from Locke, Wollstonecraft, Rousseau, and Mill) and a selection of topics in contemporary political philosophy (such as democracy, liberty, rights, paternalism, and freedom of expression).
Theory of Politics
Theory of Politics is the main political theory paper for upper-level students. It can be taken either as a core paper in Politics or as an option paper in Philosophy. The course content includes a wide range of topics in contemporary theory, including authority, political obligation, power, democracy, rights, liberty, justice and injustice, property, feminism, equality, idealism and realism, perfectionism and neutrality, and theories of global justice.
Practical Ethics
The Practical Ethics paper is a specialised option for students wishing to do advanced work in ethics and applied ethics. It covers a diverse range of topics from effective altruism and the ethics of racial profiling, through the ethics of euthanasia, abortion, and medical consent, to studies of the moral status of non-human animals, responsibility in cases of collective action, the ethics of punishment, and of killing in war.
Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau
One of three upper-level papers in the history of political thought, Plato to Rousseau covers classical, medieval, and early modern thinkers. The paper is structured around close engagement with texts by Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Hume, alongside the appropriate secondary literature. It also includes a selection of thematic topics linking the authors, such as utopianism or natural law.
Advanced Paper in Theories of Justice
This paper offers students an opportunity to study a selection of topics at the cutting edge of contemporary political philosophy, including international trade, the ethics of migration, proposals for an unconditional basic income, population ethics, theories of intergenerational justice, accounts of historic injustice, the ethics of climate change, theories of disability, justice in healthcare, and the place of children in theories of justice.
Visiting Students
Biomedical Ethics
Biomedical Ethics is designed to introduce students to a number of interesting questions arising in the context of medicine, medical research, and the application of novel biomedical technologies. Topics include euthanasia and assisted dying, competence and medical consent, abortion and moral status, the ethics of genetic engineering, commercial surrogacy, markets for organs, vaccine ethics, and questions about how scarce medical resources ought to be allocated. No background in philosophy is assumed.
Computing, Ethics, and Society
In this paper, students will develop an understanding of a collection of ethical issues relating to the role of computers and information technologies in contemporary societies. Topics include the ethics of privacy and surveillance, tradeoffs between privacy and security, the nature of intellectual property and virtual objects, the application of ethics to simulated environments (including games), justice and the use of algorithms or artificial intelligence, theories of moral responsibility for harms caused by machines, and the (possible) moral status of artificial entities. No background in philosophy is assumed.
Contemporary Political Thought
This paper aims to introduce students to a series of debates in contemporary political thought. It includes studies of anarchism and political authority, freedom and rights, libertarian and egalitarian theories of distributive justice, feminism, conservatism, and cosmopolitanism.