POLS 032. Social Philosophy (TH)

What is a society and how does it differ from a community? Under what circumstances, if any, can we legitimately speak of a “we” as opposed to a collection of individuals? Can a society or a corporation have beliefs and desires? What are social structures and how do they relate to individual action? Are all social phenomena “constructed” and if so in what sense? What is social science and how might it differ from natural science? This course will raise these foundational questions in social philosophy before turning to the question of how different pictures of society and social phenomena shape our normative stances. Do liberalism, socialism and conservatism all follow from particular pictures of society, for instance? What about movements focusing on race and gender? Should we adopt a conception of social phenomena in light of our political commitments or the other way around? By raising and addressing such questions, this course aims to help students in the social sciences achieve greater self-consciousness about the objects and aims of their various disciplines, while also becoming more sophisticated in their normative reflections.
This course falls within the theory subfield but only POLS 11, 12, 100, and 101 satisfy the theory requirement.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Spring 2026. Thakkar.
Catalog chapter: Political Science
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science

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