Care Lab Course

The Care Lab course teaches advanced students how to think critically about care and caregiving practices, to imagine and construct new caregiving arrangements, and to prepare them to solve this leading social problem of our time using the tools of care theory. 

In Spring 2027, the Care Lab course is: 

PHI 377 Contemp Political Philosophy | CER, HFA+ | Prof. A. Bhandary
How should social cooperation be structured? What is the proper domain of the state? Our political philosophies articulate the core concerns and criteria around which we organize society. When groups of people are absent from the development of those theories, they may be materially and epistemically disadvantaged. Thus, this course in political philosophy analyzes traditional theories of justice to identify what – and who - is included and excluded and assess work by anti-oppression theorists that seeks to rectify those exclusions.

The first half of the course will evaluate distributive and recognitional theories of justice, including works by John Rawls, Susan Okin, Iris Marion Young, Charles Mills, and Nancy Fraser.

The second half of the course will focus on leading political theories of care –  identifying how care’s exclusion has shaped social understandings of fairness, justice, and freedom.  During our regularly scheduled class times, students will participate in two guest seminars with prominent and emerging scholars of care, who will be visiting Stony Brook through the Care Lab.