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Course Info for PHIL - 343 - 01, Fall 2026
Class number: 3413 Title: Marxist Ethics Department: Philosophy
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 15 Current enrollment: 11 Available seats: 4
Start date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 End date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: T: 1:30PM-4:10PM, MC - 205 Instructor(s): Cooper, Dominick
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
Karl Marx developed a variety of critical concepts to explain the nature of capitalism and its consequences for human flourishing. In this class, we’ll consider several of these concepts – freedom, exploitation, and alienation, to name a few – in Marx’s own work but also in the work of contemporary moral and political philosophers who engage with Marx's ideas. We will try to make sense of a Marxist ethical perspective, and how it can help us diagnose the ills of capitalism and shed light on alternatives to it. This is not a traditional course on Marx himself, nor a survey of Marxism. Instead, we will read some of Marx’s writings, as well as contemporary philosophers who engage with Marx’s ideas in critical and constructive ways.