78039 Wickedness and Vice
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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Requisite(s): ( 70311 Torts OR (70110 Introduction to Law AND (76006c Public International Law OR 70108c Public International Law OR 76110c Introduction to Public International Law)) OR ((94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04236 Juris Doctor OR 142 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04250 Juris Doctor Master of Business Administration OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04363 Juris Doctor Master of Intellectual Property OR 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04364 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Trade Mark Law and Practice) AND 70106c Principles of Public International Law AND 70107c Principles of Company Law) OR (70106 Principles of Public International Law AND 94 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04320 Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Professional Legal Practice))
The lower case 'c' after the subject code indicates that the subject is a corequisite. See definitions for details.
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
The legal system organises and expresses multiple meanings. This subject analyses the various ways in which the legal system communicates different conceptions of wickedness and vice. This subject engages with traditional jurisprudential approaches such as natural law and positivism to theorise about the criminal legal system as a system of blaming. The subject introduces students to various jurisprudential and general philosophical accounts of the legal system's approach to wickedness and vice. These theories are applied to specific issues, including questions about our duty to obey, the regulation of morality, the malice of the law and the characterisation of terrorism. The subject examines representations of evil in literature and film to supplement and analyse legal representations of wickedness. This subject is timely, given increasing international reliance on a 'discourse of evil'.
The subject provides students with skills to understand and critically apply theory. Theory is essential to the law, providing a way of thinking about issues and imagining the world differently, particularly when a legal problem appears to be insurmountable.
Students apply skills of analysis, research, communication and critical thinking – learning to not only evaluate and synthesise information, but also to critique legal and academic arguments. Students engage in a rigorous process of reading and discussion that includes thought-provoking philosophy and jurisprudence, as well as judgments and other legal documents and events. Students develop their capacity to communicate understanding of the concepts and critiques of the materials by presenting their ideas in seminars and through written assessment.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:
| 1. | Identify and evaluate the various philosophical accounts of wickedness. |
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| 2. | Apply theoretical insights about wickedness and vice and apply these to practical issues. |
| 3. | Identify and explain examples of complex practical issues, and critically evaluate the role that law has played in constructing and responding to wickedness and vice. |
| 4. | Locate and synthesise legal and interdisciplinary research relevant to legal issues in order to creatively and analytically evaluate the factual, legal and theoretical issues which arise. |
| 5. | Construct clear, original and persuasive written and oral arguments that are supported by research and textual readings. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes which reflect the course intended learning outcomes:
- Critical Analysis and Evaluation
A capacity to think critically, strategically and creatively, including the ability to:
a. Identify and articulate legal issues in context, including the skill of critical reading and writing;
b. Apply reasoning and research to generate appropriate responses;
c. Engage in critical analysis and make a reasoned choice amongst alternatives; and
d. Think creatively in approaching legal issues and generating appropriate responses. (LAW.3.1) - Research skills
Well-developed cognitive and practical skills necessary to identify, research, evaluate and synthesise relevant factual, legal and policy issues. (LAW.4.1) - Communication
Effective and appropriate communication skills including:
a. Highly effective use of the English language to convey legal ideas and views to different and diverse audiences and environments;
b. An ability to communicate to inform, analyse, report and persuade;
c. An ability to strategically select an appropriate medium and message;
d. An ability to assess how messages are received and alter communication strategies accordingly; and
e. An ability to be responsive and adaptive to the perspectives of collaborators, clients, counter parties and others. (LAW.5.1) - Collaboration
Effective and appropriate collaboration skills in working together to achieve a common goal in a group learning environment or the workplace including:
a. An ability to give and receive feedback;
b. Appropriate professional and interpersonal skills in working collaboratively;
c. A capacity to develop strategies to successfully negotiate group challenges; and
d. An ability to be responsive and adaptive to the perspectives of collaborators, clients, counter parties and others. (LAW.6.1)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
This subject will assist students to develop graduate attributes of critical analysis and evaluation (GA 3), research skills (GA4), and communication and collaboration (GA 5). Students will undertake class activities to practice their development of these attributes, and will complete a range of assessment tasks designed to assess their attainment of the identified attributes.
Teaching and learning strategies
Strategy 1: Seminar preparation, reading and self-directed learning
This subject is highly interactive and based on a shared inquiry and discussion-based approaches to learning. Student preparation, review and reflection outside the classroom is central to the learning in this subject. There is considerable reading required for this subject and students need to ensure they allocate time to ‘make sense’ of the materials for each seminar and test their understanding by reflecting on and considering their responses to the questions for discussion in each seminar (available on Canvas).
To ensure that classes provide the most effective learning experience, students complete prescribed reading before class and consider and make notes on the questions and themes provided to guide this reading. All learning resources including readings, seminar questions and other online sources are available on Canvas or through the UTS Library and associated databases. Additional readings are available on Canvas if students wish to pursue particular theories further.
A proportion of time allocated to this subject is devoted to online materials and virtual classroom activities. The online lectures will provide important foundational information, which will form the basis upon which students will develop more advanced knowledge and skills of criticism and analysis. The virtual classroom activity will provide the opportunity for students to present their research to each other and gain feedback from peers and the seminar leader..
Strategy 2 Engaging in seminars
Classes involve presentations by the seminar leader and students of theoretical approaches drawn from the readings. In these seminars the leader asks questions of the students to ensure understanding of the theory. Students discuss the implications of particular theories in response to specific legal issues and critical analysis of theoretical approaches in small groups and as a class. Students demonstrate understanding of the prescribed readings through class discussions, and also seek clarification for difficult issues. Students have the opportunity to ask questions of their peers and of the teacher to assist them in consolidating their own learning. Students also gain depth of understanding through application of theories to specific issues. Each seminar focuses initially on understanding the theories, and then critically analyses the theories in relation to specific issues. By engaging in seminar discussion students develop a conceptual and analytical understanding, of philosophy and jurisprudence. Students build on their preparation and engagement in seminars by formulating and debating interpretations of the theories, as well as relevant legal, cultural and historical contexts.
The seminar leader models critical thinking, including the development of argument and close textual analysis. Seminars cover theories and consider how they articulate and/or apply to the law. The theories are applied to legal issues – ranging from historical issues such as the Holocaust to contemporary issues. The aim is to understand theory sufficiently to apply it to a legal issue, and then to critically evaluate that legal issue and/or the theory. Students are encouraged to offer their opinions and ask questions during seminars, and are asked to answer questions about the theories in order to develop their understanding of the relationship between these theories and legal issues. The structure of the seminars models the analytic, critical and methodological skills that students develop throughout the subject by outlining the theory, identifying issues and critically applying the theory to these issues. Students may undertake research in class of a particular issue in order to add depth to class discussion and analysis by sharing available computer resources and texts. The class discussions allow students to gauge how successful they have been in their critical reading, by testing their knowledge and learning from others.
Strategy 3 Preparation and support for writing theoretical essays
As part of the assessment students undertake a short and a long essay. The short essay is due early in the semester on a specific question. The aim of the essay is to encourage students to read a legal issue from a critical theoretical perspective. Prior to the due date of the assessment, we undertake an application of theory in class. This involves identifying the separate elements of a specific theory, discussing examples of that theory, and then breaking into small groups to apply the theory to a legal issue. This gives students an opportunity to understand how to undertake a theory-based analysis of a legal issue, and to receive oral feedback from the seminar leader and other students about the efficacy of particular strategies and approaches. Students then apply these skills in the written short assessment. This provides the opportunity for feedback on how to write essays using a theoretical framework.
A seminar is devoted to the art of writing a research essay – this includes research approaches and an analysis of the construction of argument. As part of this class students evaluate each others’ abstracts for their research papers, offering a further opportunity for collaborative learning.
The final essay requires in depth analysis of a particular theorist(s) applied to a specific legal issue. This requires research of that particular theorist and issue, and also communication of understanding and critical evaluation and application of the theory.
Towards the end of the semester a class is devoted to a contemporary legal issue. Students are expected to have read the prescribed readings prior to coming to class. They break into small groups to discuss which theories they think would yield the best critical insights into that contemporary legal issue and develop a theoretical analysis of the issue. They then present their analysis to the class. This provides an opportunity to evaluate their engagement with the theory and their critical application of the theory to the legal issue. Students provide feedback to each other on which arguments they think work best and whether different examples could be used. Part of using theory effectively is to ensure that it helps ask interesting questions and/or give interesting answers. This seminar provides students with an awareness of how much they have learned in the subject and the ability of theory to provide critical understanding of legal issues. These skills can then be applied in the research essay.
Strategy 4 Applying research skills
Students undertake independent research relevant to class discussion and assessment tasks. Class discussion is based on a list of readings, some of which students are required to locate using the UTS Library and databases. The research essay requires students to identify and research a relevant legal issue, appropriate theory and secondary material on their own. Being able to use the library and legal databases to find relevant material is a key skill for a legal professional. Critical reading and analysis of judicial and scholarly material are also crucial skills in law. In this way, students develop and refine skills in identifying and synthesising relevant material and deploy it to make reasoned, logical, justifiable and persuasive written and oral arguments. They apply these skills in the written assessment tasks and receive further feedback (see below).
Strategy 5 Field Trip
If available, this field trip to the Sydney Jewish Museum demonstrates the relevance of theory to practical issues. Philosophies of wickedness changed and developed as a consequence of the Holocaust. Prior to visiting the museum we examine theories that developed in response to the Holocaust. Students are shown around the museum, listen to a Holocaust survivor speak about their experiences and hear a lecture about the Holocaust. Students have an opportunity to ask questions about the Holocaust and various theories. The museum provides historical context and detail about the Holocaust and an opportunity for students to think critically about the theories we considered prior to coming to the Museum. The more readings students undertake prior to going to the Museum the more they benefit from the visit.
Strategy 6 Feedback
Detailed guidance as to the assessment criteria and the provision of timely feedback are an important part of the learning process.
Students receive ongoing feedback in seminars from the seminar leader as well as their peers. Students should be using class participation as a means to test their understanding of theories and their critical application of these theories to various legal examples. Such a means of feedback will be available to students and provides an opportunity to develop their capacity to present oral arguments. A class is devoted to analysing the component parts of a theory and applying the theory to different legal issues. This provides students with oral feedback about their ability to construct an effective argument using theory.
After class in week 2, students will both give and receive peer feedback on their critical reading abilities. Critical reading is key to the understanding and analysis of scholarly materials, and is a skill that translates into any professional context where strategic, creative or critical thinking is required. The benefit of receiving peer feedback so early on in the subject is that students immediately gain a sense of their current levels of technique and understanding and the areas they need to develop. The benefit of giving peer feedback is that it compels students to consider how the assessment criteria are applied and discern how their work may be perceived by others. Students then apply this early feedback to improve their contribution to class discussions, as well as to hone the critical analysis skills required for their presentations and research essays.
Students receive written feedback on the short essay due early in the semester via Canvas. Feedback provides students with the opportunity to reflect upon and develop their ability to construct an effective argument, write clearly and persuasively and communicate complex concepts. Students further develop these skills in the writing of the final essay. Students also receive written feedback on their final essays via Canvas to improve their research essay writing for the future.
Subject Delivery
3 hour seminars each week.
Content (topics)
- Introduction: Wickedness and Vice
- Law and morality
- Philosophies of wickedness
- Function of Evil
- Theories of wickedness and the Holocaust
- Law and horror
- Conclusions
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Critical Reading Reflections
| Intent: | Learning is an individual and social act and interactions with teachers and fellow students are an important source of learning. Through individual preparation and group discussion, students will develop their critical reading and advanced analytical skills. Reading of on-line materials forms the foundation for this assessment task, which enables provision of formative and early feedback on students’ development of the key skills of critical reading and analysis of scholarly materials. This task requires students to exercise judgment, practice critical reading and receive feedback on those skills, which are integral to Assessment item 2: Class participation, Assessment item 3: Short Essay, and Assessment item 4: Research Essay. |
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2 and 5 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.5.1 and LAW.6.1 |
| Weight: | Mandatory task that does not contribute to subject mark |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment task 2: Class Participation and Preparation
| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3 and 5 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.5.1 and LAW.6.1 |
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| Weight: | 20% |
| Length: | 800 words (equivalent) |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment task 3: Short Essay
| Intent: | The aim of this assessment task is to encourage students to read legal materials in terms of how wickedness is expressed, and to draw upon theories to enrich their critical understanding of the materials. |
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3 and 5 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.4.1, LAW.5.1 and LAW.6.1 |
| Weight: | 20% |
| Length: | Maximum of 800 words |
| Criteria: |
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Assessment task 4: Essay
| Intent: | The essay is linked to objectives and learning strategies three and four. The essay requires students to consider specific theorists in depth through a process of class discussion and research, and to critically evaluate those theories through application to a practical issue, and communicate these ideas in an essay. |
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes: LAW.3.1, LAW.4.1, LAW.5.1 and LAW.6.1 |
| Weight: | 60% |
| Length: | 2400 words |
| Criteria: | Essay Your mark will follow these criteria:
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Required texts
Prescribed readings for this subject are available on Canvas. You will be expected to have read prescribed materials prior to attending class.
In addition, students will be required to read specific cases and journal articles that are available on the web.
Students are advised to exercise patience when reading the prescribed texts. It is to be hoped that some of these readings will contain ideas you have never come across before and may additionally be presented in a style to which you are unaccustomed. Take your time and allow yourself the opportunity to understand what an author is arguing.
Recommended texts
- Penny Crofts, Wickedness and Crime: Laws of Homicide and Malice (Routledge, 2014)
- Penny Crofts and Honni van Rijswijk: Technology: New trajectories in law (Routledge 2021)
- Penny Crofts, 'The Horror of Corporate Harms' (2022) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 38(1):23-45
- Thomas Aquinas, On Evil, (Oxford University Press, 2003)
- Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin,1994).
- Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (1989) Liquid Evil and Liquid Modernity (2000).
- Saba Bazargan-Forward and Deborah Tollefsen, The Routledge Handbook of Collective Responsibility (Routledge 2020)
- Richard Bernstein, Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation (Wiley, 2002).
- Richard Bernstein, The Abuse of Evil: The Corruption of Politics and Religion since 9/11 (Wiley 2006)
- Bourke, J. (1999). An intimate history of killing: Face-to-face killing in twentieth-century warfare. Basic Books.
- Claudia Card, The Atrocity Paradigm: a theory of evil (Oxford University Press, 2002).
- Claudia Card, Confronting Evils (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
- Adriana Cavarero, Horrorism: Naming contemporary violence, 2011
- Jeffrey Cohen, Monster Theory (University of Minnesota Press, 1996)
- Jeffrey Cohen, Of Giants: Sex, Monsters and the Middle Ages (University of Minnesota Press, 1999)
- Phillip Cole, The Myth of Evil, (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006).
- Stephanie Collins, Organizations as wrongdoers (2023)
- Melissa Dearey, Making sense of evil (2014)
- Andrew Delbanco, The Death of Satan: How Americans have lost the sense of evil (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995).
- Gregory Desilet, Our Faith in Evil: Melodrama and the Effects of Entertainment Violence, (McFarland, 2006).
- Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Psychology Press, 2003)
- R.A. Duff, ‘Virtue, Vice and Criminal Liability: Do we want an Aristotlean Criminal Law?’ (2002-2003) 6 Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 147-184
- Terry Eagleton, On Evil, (Yale University Press, 2010)
- George Fletcher, Rethinking Criminal Law (Little, Brown, 1978)
- Michel Foucault, Abnormal (Verso, 2003)
- Michel Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (Psychology Press, 2002)
- Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge, (Psychology Press, 2002)
- Simona Forti, New demons: Rethinking power and evil today, 2014
- Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, (Penguin, 2003)
- Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (Penguin, 2002)
- David Garland, Punishment and Modern Society (Clarendon Press, 1990)
- Zachary Goldberg, Evil Matters: A philosophical inquiry 2021.
- Lee Godden, ‘The Bounding of Vice: Prostitution and Planning Law’, (2001) Griffith Law Review, 77-98
- Peter Goodrich, Reading the Law (B. Blackwell, 1986)
- Peter Goodrich, Legal Discourse (Springer, 1990)
- Jack Halberstam, Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (Duke University Press, 1995)
- Michael Hardiman, The path to mass evil: Hannah Arendt and totalitarianism today (2022)
- Lynda Hart, Fatal Women: Lesbian Sexuality and the Mark of Aggression (Routledge, 2005)
- Ari Hirvonen (ed), Law and Evil: philosophy, politics, psychoanalysis (Routledge 2009)
- Richard Kearney, Strangers, Gods and Monsters (Psychology Press, 2003)
- Melanie Klein, Envy and Gratitude and Other Works 1946-1963 (Random House, 2011), 176-235
- Julie Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (Columbia University Press, 1982)
- Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (A&C Black, 2013)
- Desmond Manderson, ‘Apocryphal Jurisprudence’, (2001) 27 Journal of Legal Philosophy, 27-59
- Desmond Manderson, ‘From Hunger to Love: Myths of the Source, Interpretation, and Constitution of Law in Children’s Literature’, (2003), 15 Law and Literature, 87-141
- Basil Markesinis, Good and Evil in Art and Law (Springer Vienna, 2009)
- Larry May, Masculinity and Morality (Cornell University Press, 1998)
- Terrence McSweeney, The 'war on terror' and American Film: 9/11 frames per second, (Edinburgh University Press, 2014)
- Mary Midgely, Wickedness, (Routledge, 2003)
- William Miller, The Anatomy of Disgust, (Harvard University Press, 2009)
- Adam Morton, On Evil, (Psychology Press, 2004)
- Frederich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, (Courier Corporation, 2012)
- Martha Nussbaum, ‘Secret Sewers of Vice: Disgust, Bodies and the Law’ in Susan Bandes (ed.) The Passions of Law, (NYU Press, 2001)
- Marthan Nussbaum, Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame and the Law, (Princeton University Press, 2009)
- W. Scott Poole, Monsters in America (Baylor University Press, 2014)
- Nicole Rogers, Law, Fiction and Activism in a Time of Climate Change (2020)
- Amelie Rorty (ed.), The Many Faces of Evil: Historical Perspectives, (Psychology Press, 2001), xi-xviii
- Paul Rozin, Jonathan Haidt and Clark McCauley, ‘Disgust’, in Michael Lewis and Jeannette Haviland-Jones (eds.) Handbook of Emotions (Guilford Publications, 2016)
- Jeffrey Russel, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, (Cornell University Press, 1987)
- Luke Russell, Evil: A phillsophical investigation, 2014
- Edward Said, Orientalism, (Penguin, 1991)
- Austin Sarat and Austin Kearns (eds.), Law’s Violence, (University of Michigan Press, 2009)
- Steven Scalet and John Arthur, Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social and Political Phillosophy (Routledge 2019)
- Alex Sharpe, Foucault’s Monsters and the Challenge of Law (Routledge, 2010)
- Alfred William Brian Simpson, Cannibalism and the Common Law, (Penguin, 1985)
- Carl Stychin, Law’s Desire: Sexuality and the Limits of Justice (Routledge, 1995)
- Lars Svendsen, A Philosophy of Evil, (Dalkey Archive Press, 2010)
- Steve Tombs and David Whyte, The Corporate Criminal (Routledge 2015)
- J, Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb, The Existential Joss Whedon: Evil and human freedom in Buffy the vampire slayer, Angel, Firefly and Serenity, (McFarland, 2006)
- Bernard Williams, Moral Luck, (Cambridge University Press, 1981)
- Robert Wuthnow, Be Very Afraid, (Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Alison Young, Judging the Image: Art, Value and Law, (Psychology Press, 2005)
- Alison Young, The Scene of Violence, (Routledge-Cavendish, 2010)
- Phillip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: How good people turn evil, (Random House, 2011)