Care, Justice and Biopolitics
Code: 45068 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Care Philosophies | OB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Irene Gomez Franco
- Email:
- irene.gomez.franco@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisites. However, it is recommended that students are able to read texts in English and French.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The aim of this course is to provide students with the analytical tools necessary to situate themselves in the contemporary debate on intergenerational justice and biopolitics.
Intergenerational justice asks what duties we owe to the people of the future (and of the past) as an extension of global justice in a temporal way. At the same time, in order to build an expanded ethical perspective, abandoning presentism and committing to a context-sensitive and long-term view, such a conception needs to be accompanied by an ethics of care that emphasises care for all forms of life and the planet. In this way, a forward-looking ethic is constructed in which justice goes hand in hand with a sense of intergenerational care.
In this direction, in the first block, we will give an overview of the most significant aspects and issues of the problem, i.e.: what is intergenerational justice, what does it mean to have obligations towards past and future generations, the role of memory and retrospective justice, and the current ethico-political turn towards care in relation to intergenerational duties. We will address some specific problems in the field of intergenerational justice: the lack of overlap between generations, the problem of non-identity, epistemic uncertainty, ‘the motivational aporia’ (or why we should care for the well-being of future generations), as well as the question of how to articulate a concept of responsibility to care with the aspiration to make life on the planet more sustainable, good and just. We will then examine the contributions of the most important philosophical theories in this special area of reflection, incorporating perspectives from the so-called Global South, intersectional thinking, and applying a gender perspective. As a practical exercise, we will ground the knowledge in the particular territory of climate justice and our duties in the context of ecological crisis.
In the second block of the course, the focus will be on the political control over bodies, the management of life and death, and how the politics of care (health, social or environmental) are shaped by power structures. Students will reflect on issues such as pandemics, reproductive rights and environmental justice, understanding how biopolitics shapes the ways in which care is exercised and distributed in contemporary societies in terms of its intergenerational effects.
Learning Outcomes
- CA07 (Competence) [pendent traducció a en] Utilizar el trabajo en equipo para interpretar y producir textos relacionados con aspectos políticos del cuidado
- CA08 (Competence) [pendent traducció a en] Incorporar la perspectiva de la ética del cuidado a la diversidad social en un ámbito profesional
- KA10 (Knowledge) [pendent traducció a en] Analizar conceptos de la ética del cuidado en el contexto de la biopolítica contemporánea
- KA11 (Knowledge) [pendent traducció a en] Explicar las desigualdades entre distintas generaciones, en cuestiones sociales, económicas y ambientales, desde el punto de vista de la filosofía del cuidado
- KA12 (Knowledge) [pendent traducció a en] Identificar las principales cuestiones de la ética del cuidado presentes en políticas públicas reales relacionadas con los sistemas de salud y el ámbito asistencial
- SA11 (Skill) [pendent traducció a en] Aplicar los conceptos claves de la ética como el bienestar, la justicia o el cuidado en la investigación sobre ética intergeneracional y biopolítica
- SA12 (Skill) [pendent traducció a en] Utilizar los conceptos clave de la ética intergeneracional y la biopolítica para explicar conflictos sociales, económicos y ambientales en el contexto de la ética del cuidado
- SA13 (Skill) [pendent traducció a en] Diseñar investigaciones originales sobre el control político de la vida y la salud de individuos y poblaciones ejercido por parte de los sistemas democráticos liberales
Content
Block I
1.- What is intergenerational justice?
2.- Specific problems with the concept of intergenerational justice.
3.- Theories of intergenerational justice and the ethics of care.
4.- Practical exercise: the case of climate change.
BLOCK II
1.- Biopolitics, intergenerational justice and care.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Reading and analytical tutorials, debate and commentaries, tutorials | 37 | 1.48 | KA10, KA11, KA12, SA12, KA10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Guide notes, essay, commentary and conference | 25 | 1 | CA07, CA08, KA10, KA12, SA11, SA12, CA07 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Critical reading, interpretation, composition and presentation | 82 | 3.28 | CA07, CA08, KA12, SA11, SA12, SA13, CA07 |
As the teaching modality is virtual, both the methodology and the evaluation have been adapted accordingly.
Methodologically, the module aims to guide students in developing informed critical thinking through scientific reading, oral presentations, philosophical essay writing, and the exchange of ideas through dialogue.
The methodological objective is for students to be able to critically position themselves on current problems involving life and bodies, our relationships and duties as human beings, and our relationship with other forms of life. This will expand their perspective both spatially and temporally.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commentary | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | CA07, CA08, KA10, KA12, SA11, SA12, SA13 |
| Conference | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | CA08, KA11, SA11, SA12, SA13 |
| Essay | 40% | 2 | 0.08 | CA08, KA10, KA11, KA12, SA11, SA12, SA13 |
Three assessment activities will be carried out to include the different competences and knowledge that students have acquired throughout the course, as well as their various skills.
- Conference - 30% (Block I): Delivery of a script with a title and a 15-minute lecture.
- Text commentary- 30% (Block II): Delivery of a commentary with a maximum length of five pages.
- Final essay (40%): An essay demonstrating the knowledge acquired throughout the course. Presentation of a conceptual structure and title, and final essay.
Continuous assessment consists of completing all the proposed activities.
If you are unable to complete the first task, you must notify the teacher. In this case, you may be given a 'Not Presented' mark. From completion of the first two tasks, the final mark for the course will be the average of all exercises, including those not handed in, according to their weighting. The delivery timetable is as set out in the teaching plan. If you are unable to submit a task by the deadline due to exceptional circumstances, you must inform the teacher.
Use of AI
This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic searches, text correction or translations. Other specific situations may be contemplated, as deemed appropriate by the teacher. The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awardeda zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Note:
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Bibliography
An extended, subject-specific bibliography will be provided at the beginning of the course.
BARRY, Brian. Obligations to Future Generations, Richard I. Sikora (eds.), Philadelphia, Temple University Press 1978.
_Theories of Justice, London, Harvester-Wheatsheaf, 1989.
BIRNBACHER, Dieter. «What Motivates Us to Care for the (Distant) Future? », Axel Gosseries & Lukas Meyer (eds.), Intergenerational Justice, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 273-301.
DE-SHALIT, Avner. «Community and the Rights of Future Generations: A Reply to Robert Elliot», Journal of Applied Philosophy, 9/1 (1992), pp. 105-115.
_Why Posterity Matters: Environmental Policies and Future Generations, London, Routledge, 1995.
GARDINER, Stephen M. «A Contract on Future Generations? », Axel Gosseries & Lukas Meyer (eds.), Intergenerational Justice, New York, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 77-118.
_ A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change, New York, Oxford University Press, 2011.
GAUTHIER, David. Morals by Agreement, New York, Oxford University Press, 1986.
GOMEZ FRANCO, Irene. Deudas pendientes. La justicia entre generaciones, Madrid, CSIC-Plaza y Valdés, 2020.
GOSSERIES, Axel. Institutions for Future Generations, con Iñigo Gónzalez-Ricoy (eds.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016.
_«What Do We Owe the Next Generation(s)? », Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 35 (2001), pp. 293-354.
_Intergenerational Justice, Lukas Meyer (eds.), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009.
JONAS, Hans. The Imperative of Responsibility, University of Chicago Press, 1984.
KUMAR, Rahul. «Who Can Be Wronged? », Philosophy and Public Affairs, 31/2 (2003), pp. 99-118.
_«Wronging Future People: A Contractualist Proposal», Axel Gosseries & Lukas Meyer (eds.), Intergenerational Justice, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009.
MULGAN, Tim. Future People: A Moderate Consequentialist Account of our Obligations to Future Generations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
PAGE, Edward. Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations, Cheltenham (UK), Edward Elgar, 2006.
PARFIT, Derek. Reasons and Persons, Oxford University Press, 1987.
PEÑA, Lorenzo; AUSÍN, Txetxu. «Libertad de vivir», Isegoría, 27 (2002), pp. 131-149.
POGGE, Thomas (ed.). Global Justice, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2001.
_«Historical Wrongs: The Two Other Domains», Lukas Meyer (ed.), Justice in Time, Baden-Baden, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2004, pp. 117-134.
RAWLS, John. A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press, 1971 (rev. ed. 1999).
_Political Liberalism, New York, Columbia University Press, 1993.
_The Law of Peoples, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press, 1999.
_Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press, 2001.
RICOEUR, Paul. Fallible Man, New York, Fordham University Press, 1986.
_«Éthique et philosophie de la biologie chez Hans Jonas», en Lectures 2. La contrée des philosophes, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1992.
_«Entretien avec Paul Ricoeur. L’éthique, le politique, l’écologie [Propos recueillis par Edith et Jean Paul Deléage]», Ecologie politique. Sciences, Culture, Société, 7 (1993).
_«Poder, fragilidad y responsabilidad», Cuaderno Gris, Época III, 2 (1997), pp. 75-77.
ROSER, Dominic. Climate Justice, Routledge, 2017.
THOMPSON, Janna. Taking Responsibility for the Past. Reparation and Historical Injustice, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2002.
_Intergenerational Justice: Rights and Responsibilities in an Intergenerational Polity, New York, Routledge, 2009a.
_«Identity and Obligation in a Transgenerational Polity», Axel Gosseries & Lukas H. Meyer (eds.), Intergenerational Justice, New York, Oxford University Press, 2009b, pp. 25-49.
TRONTO, Joan. Caring Democracy. Markets, Equality, and Justice, New York University Press, 2012.
Software
None
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.