Dartmouth College — Autumn 2025 Section 2A: Tuesday/Thursday
2:25–4:15 (2AX Wednesday 5:30–6:20), Silsby Hall 213 Instructor: Kirun
Sankaran (Silsby 106) Office hours: M 2–3pm; Th 1–2, or by
appointment
Course Description
How should we live? How should we live together? We're going to
examine a bunch of questions about how to live well, and figure out how
to start answering them.
Learning Goals
Students should leave class with an understanding of various issues
surrounding questions of how we ought to live. They should also have
skills in reconstructing and formulating philosophical arguments.
Assignments
Nine (9) short essays, written collaboratively and partially
in-class, on assigned topics (20%)
One (1) in-class midterm exam (25%)
One (1) final paper (25%)
Class attendance and participation (30%)
Attendance and Participation
You learn philosophy by doing it. This class does not work unless you
come to class having done the assigned reading, and actually discuss it,
which means your participation is incredibly important. So in general I
will expect you to attend every class. However, you're adults and stuff
happens. So you get two no-excuse skips for the quarter, beyond which,
absent a Dean's note, your participation grade will be knocked down by a
third of a letter grade.
Screen Policy
Screens distract you and they distract your classmates. Laptops and
cell phones are not permitted in class, except when (1) I have given
explicit permission for a specific assignment or in-class activity, or
(2) the SAS office has instructed me to allow an electronic device as an
accommodation (in which case I'll ask that you sit at the back of the
classroom). To fully engage in class discussion and activities, I
encourage you to print out the readings and bring them to class, and
take handwritten notes.
ChatGPT and Other LLMs
I encourage the use of Large Language Models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or
Anthropic's Claude as an aid to your learning. As a rule, if you use it
to aid you in your writing, I expect you to be up-front and honest about
the division of labor between it and you. More specific guidance will be
provided on assignment sheets and in class.
Class Schedule
Week 1: Honesty
T 16 Sept — Readings: None
Th 18 Sept — Readings: Kumar, "Don't Outsource Your
Thinking to ChatGPT" (Substack). Assignment: Write a policy for AI
use in class.
Week 2: Authenticity
T 23 Sept — Readings: Davis, "How to Be Yourself,"
Hedgehog Review
Th 25 Sept — Readings: Taylor, The Ethics of
Authenticity, Ch. 3–4
Week 3: Living Together
T 30 Sept (Cooperation is hard) — Readings:
Hampton, "Hobbes's State of War"
Th 2 Oct (Why not violence?) — Readings: Trotsky,
"Their Morals and Ours"; Dewey, "Response to 'Their Morals and Ours'."
Assignment: Why do cities work?
Week 4: Violence
T 7 Oct (Freedom of Speech) — Readings: Shah, "Why
Academic Freedom Matters," The Raven
Th 9 Oct — Readings: Shklar, "The Liberalism of
Fear." Assignment: When should you be allowed to kill people with
bad ideas?
Week 5: Violence, Part II
T 14 Oct — Readings: Shklar, "Putting Cruelty
First"
Th 16 Oct (Public Order) — Readings: Kelling and
Wilson, "Broken Windows," The Atlantic. Assignment: Why
does public order matter?
Week 6: Cities
T 21 Oct — Readings: Jacobs, The Death and Life
of Great American Cities, Ch. 2–3
Th 23 Oct — Readings: Nagel, "Concealment and
Exposure." Assignment: How much do you want to know about one
another?
Week 7: Cities, Part II
T 28 Oct — Readings: Harvey, "The Right to the
City," New Left Review
W 29 Oct (X) — Readings: Demsas, "Community Input
is Bad, Actually," The Atlantic
Th 30 Oct — Readings: Monaghan, "Models of Cities,"
Philosophy Compass. Assignment: What are cities
for?
Week 8: Sorting and Mixing
T 4 Nov — Reading: Schelling, Micromotives and
Macrobehavior, Ch. 3
Th 6 Nov — Reading: Glaeser, from Triumph of
the City. Assignment: What's wrong with spatial
segregation?
Week 9: Poverty
T 11 Nov — Reading: Singer, "Famine, Affluence, and
Morality." Assignment: What do we owe the global poor?
Th 13 Nov — No class
Week 10
T 18 Nov — Last day of class. Final paper due
November 21 at midnight.
Institutional boilerplate (religious observances, Student
Accessibility Services, Title IX) included in the distributed syllabus
per Dartmouth requirements; omitted here for brevity.