United Kingdom - England

This course raises questions about state powers to coerce, to intrude into people’s private lives, and to inflict the pains of punishment. In recent years, there has been a radical shift from “just deserts” to “public protection” and prevention of re-offending. Criminal justice policies determined to be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime” have led to an astonishing increase in the use of imprisonment. The female prison population, for example, has more than tripled in two decades. The course covers all the major issues including patterns of crime and criminological theories of the causes of, and responses to, criminal behavior. Students examine policing, prosecution, sentencing, and the purpose and effects of imprisonment. Students consider special categories of offender – including children and young people, women, and those considered dangerous. Students examine how political ideology informs and shapes criminal justice policy. At all stages, they consider race, class, and gender and whether the system provides equal rights and protection to defendants, victims, and wider society.

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the history and culture of Pharaonic Egypt from the Neolithic and the formation of the Egyptian state at the end of the Predynastic through to the arrival of Alexander the Great and the incorporation of Egypt into the Hellenistic World. Alongside the historical overview, students study aspects of Pharaonic culture such as royal iconography, mortuary, and sacred landscapes as well as modern reception of the Egyptian civilization in a series of seminars built around specific textual sources or scholarly articles providing a starting point for discussion and debate. 

This course provides students with an introduction to some of the central debates and issues in practical philosophy, in particular in moral philosophy and political philosophy. It gives students a basic understanding of the issues in question, as well as to help them acquire and sharpen the necessary critical skills in reading, writing, and argument to engage with the debates, and develop their own views in dialogue with them. The course takes the form of an introduction to the three main divisions in moral philosophy – metaethics, moral theory, and applied ethics – as well as some of the central concepts of political philosophy. These are approached through the reading of a number of important articles and extracts, including extracts from some of the central texts in the history of moral and political philosophy.