FSEM 198   Politics & Moral Vision

Faculty Profile for Professor Walker

What are human beings for? What is our purpose and what does our best kind of life look like? In its essence, politics is about coming together to seek that good life as a community. We deliberate based on our assumption of what is ultimately good and also about what is most practical in a given situation, and though we may disagree, the search for this good life seems to be an integral part of our nature and happiness. This course brings into conversation a series of influential thinkers, both ancient and modern, who inspire us to think through our own purpose and the best (and worst) uses of the power of politics. Students who successfully complete this seminar receive credit for POSC 151 and satisfy one half of the social relations, institutions, and agents area of inquiry requirement.

Rachelle Walker, PhD, loves to study and teach primary sources on philosophy and politics, and hopes to ask big questions in order to live the best life. Her research work is in the field of comparative politics and political theory, and her doctoral work was on sub-Saharan Africa, especially looking at the consequences of modern sovereignty law on new and fragile states, such as South Sudan.