The theme of European integration will be used to show how, more generally, insights from the history of philosophy and from practical philosophy may be relevant for debates about current issues.

European integration is an issue that every political party has to deal with. Should European countries cooperate more and strive for greater institutional integration, or shouldn’t they? There are many considerations that bear on the question of whether to support the ‘European project’. What is Europe about? Is it about the economy or about culture, about security or about freedom? And does greater European integration harm or facilitate the development of important identities?

   Such questions require a look at history: where does the European idea come from? What roles do Greco-Roman antiquity, Christianity and the Reformation play in the formation of some sort of European identity? When did one begin intentionally to promote the development of such an identity, and why? Such questions point to the first central goal of this course: chart ing some of the important historical backgrounds of the idea of European integration.

   Furthermore, a very prominent question in contemporary philosophical debates is whether justice requires greater European integration. There are, however, a variety of accounts of justice, and they give varying weight  to considerations of cultural identity, political feasibility etc. A second aim of the course is to investigate –in the light of contemporary philosophical debates and relevant historical backgrounds– whether there are in the end weighty normative reasons for greater European integration.