Why do we need rules?
Overview
Why do we have rules, and when should we follow them, bend them, or break them altogether? From public policies to markets, laws, and social norms, rules shape nearly every part of our lives. But are they fair? Do they work? And when is it right to challenge them? In this interdisciplinary Constellation, you will use tools from philosophy, politics, and economics to explore how societies design rules under conditions of risk and uncertainty. We’ll ask what values our rules do express–such as equality, liberty, fairness, and efficiency–and what values our rules should express. By examining real-world problems alongside classic ideas, you will learn how societies coordinate, where systems break down, and how better rules might help us flourish together.
You will take three courses total from the options listed below: one non-writing course in the fall, one non-Writing 120 course in the spring, and one WRITING 120CN course in your assigned semester.
Courses
POLISCI 106CN: What Rules Do We Need? (SB)
Alex Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole Distinguished Professor, Philosophy (Biology and Political Science)
Humans have long crafted rules to regulate their own and other people’s behavior. But even more basic rules indispensable for human survival emerged “spontaneously” among self -interested individuals competing for limited resources, and they also did so long before governments were established. This course addresses the question of how rules emerged without human intention and design, as well as the question of how well institutions we have designed serve human interests. The class introduces tools of game theory, economics, and political philosophy to address the emergence, efficiency and fairness of the social institutions that rules create. It serves as the gateway to the certificate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Cross-lists: PHIL 106CN/ ECON 106CN/ RIGHTS 106CN
ECON 140CN: Risk, Uncertainty, and Society (SB)
Connel Fullenkamp, Professor of the Practice, Economics
This course shows how economists incorporate uncertainty and risk into their understanding of how both the economy and our society function. The course begins by examining how economists define and measure risk and uncertainty, and moves to a discussion of how economists envision human beings' relationship with uncertainty and risk. Then the course turns to an examination of how uncertainty and risk increase the difficulty of making choices, both in market and non-market settings, and how uncertainty and risk cause problems for the economy and society in general, including several well known problems such as adverse selection and moral hazard. Then the course turns to the ways that human beings deal with uncertainty and risk, focusing on how the task of coping with uncertainty and risk has had deep and lasting effects on human practices and institutions.
PHIL 1XXCN: Why Obey the Law? Freedom, Fairness, and Political Obligation (TBD)
Shanna Slank, Lecturing Fellow, Philosophy
Why should we follow rules at all—and when, if ever, is disobedience justified? This course introduces students to philosophical debates about political authority, liberty, and equality. Beginning with social contract theory and moving through classic and contemporary discussions of freedom, fairness, and justice, students will examine competing accounts of what makes laws and political institutions legitimate. Readings from Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Rawls, Nozick, and contemporary critics of liberalism help students develop the tools needed to evaluate normative arguments about political power in both ideal and non-ideal societies.
PUBPOL 1XXCN: Governing Corporate Power: Rules, Democracy, and Human Rights (TBD)
Suzanne Katzenstein, Lecturer, Sanford School for Public Policy
Corporations shape almost every aspect of modern life, yet fundamental questions about how they should be governed remain unsettled: What rules, domestic and international, should regulate corporate power? Who does and who should design and decide on these rules? And how do we know when such rules are effective?
Drawing on political science, public policy, and law, this course examines how legal frameworks and regulatory institutions shape corporate conduct, particularly in relation to democracy and human rights. We explore how various actors — governments, companies, citizens, NGOs, and consumers — influence and are influenced by the creation of laws and regulations. And we investigate not only how rules emerge, but also the conditions under which they succeed or fail.
Using topics encountered in our daily lives, such as social media, artificial intelligence, water contamination and higher education, we analyze these questions from multiple disciplinary and normative perspectives, and think critically about what effective rules requires. Through team-based projects and individual assignments, we will engage in both scholarly debates and personal reflection, considering what these challenges mean for our own responsibilities and choices in a world increasingly shaped by corporate power.
PUBPOL 1XXCN: Risk, Rules, and the American Safety Net (TBD)
Lisa Gennetian, Professor, Sanford School for Public Policy
This course examines poverty in the United States through the lens of child and family well-being, asking a central question: How do poverty, risk, and public policy shape life chances?
We begin by exploring the realities of poverty in the U.S., with attention to racial and ethnic inequality and structural barriers. Students learn how poverty is measured, how it is experienced, and why it persists. Drawing from economics as well as psychology, sociology, and developmental science, the course examines how income, stress, institutions, and opportunity structures interact to shape children’s development and long-term outcomes.
A central theme is risk and uncertainty. Poverty is not simply low income—it is instability, exposure to shocks, and limited protection against them. Families face uncertain employment, health risks, caregiving demands, and policy changes. We analyze how social policies attempt to insure against these risks and where they fall short.
The course also investigates how rules and regulation shape access to resources. Eligibility criteria, documentation requirements, and administrative processes determine who receives support and who is excluded. Students examine how policy design reflects trade-offs, power, and competing goals—regulating not only budgets but sometimes family life itself.
Using economic reasoning and quantitative evidence, students evaluate major safety net policies, including cash transfers and tax credits. COVID-19 serves as a case study in crisis response, revealing both the strengths and limits of public policy under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
Designated as a Structural Inequality course, this class challenges students to connect data, theory, and real-world policy choices.
WRITING 120CN: Road Not Taken
Laurel Burkbauer, Instructor, Thompson Writing Program
Do you ever wish you could have a do-over? That you could know the outcome of your choices before you make them? That you could read the last chapter of your own life first? This course will introduce you to the norms and practices of academic writing while exploring what the essayist Cheryl Strayed calls “the ghost ship that didn’t carry us”—the many counterfactual lives we could have lived had we made different decisions at crucial moments along the way. This course topic relates to the Constellation theme of rules on the level of the individual, posing the question: “What rules should we have for ourselves?”
Our course texts—Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, and the film Past Lives—all ask, “What if…?” What if I could go back and make different choices? What if I had accepted that other job? What if I had married someone else? They feature figures who are able to experience multiple potential lives or who are prompted to stop and reflect on their own life trajectories because of encounters with other people who represent alternative life paths.
These main texts will be supplemented by literary criticism, personal essays, and poetry that is concerned with decision-making, regret, potential, and possibility.
The signature assignment of the course requires you to select a novel, film, or piece of narrative nonfiction related to our course themes and interpret it through the lens of relevant secondary sources you find in your own research process. From Groundhog Day to Everything Everywhere All At Once to La La Land—time loops, multiverse stories, and what-might-have-beens are all fair game here! Shorter assignments ask you to close-read a film scene, create an annotated bibliography, respond to a book review, and craft your own argument related to a critical essay. You will also interview an older adult about a life-changing decision and present key takeaways to the class in order to cultivate wisdom in our community.
WRITING 120CN: The Good Class
Julia Davis, Graduate Student, Philosophy
Welcome! Everything is fine.
What does it mean to be a good person? Should we try to be good people? Would you pull the lever? Should you? What is time – and how do we know? Who do we blame? Who should we punish? Do you want to live forever?
Over the four seasons of NBC’s The Good Place, we, alongside Eleanor, Chidi, and the gang, are presented with these and many other questions, each of which is situated within a rich philosophical literature. Throughout this course, we will make our way through the award-winning sitcom and get to know the philosophy behind the show through selected readings in different areas of ethics, moral theory, metaphysics, and epistemology. By familiarizing ourselves with the philosophical ideas and texts that the characters grapple with, we can focus a critical lens on the way that these ideas are presented and used as plot tools within the story.
In addition to three major writing assignments – one analytical, one creative, and one that’s a bit of both – students in this course will learn the essential skills needed to read and write rigorous scholarship. Though the readings will largely be philosophical, the skills developed by reading and writing philosophy apply in any field where creativity, precision, and synthesis of information are required (i.e., everywhere).
No prior viewing of The Good Place is required, but viewing of selected episodes will be essential for full participation in class discussions and assignments.