We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all MEN are created equal…” Can we still stand by these truths? As self-evident? In recent years, universalism as a philosophical and political position has been challenged. Some claim it tolerates injustice and exclusion; others, that it is the direct cause of racist and colonialist crimes. The seminar offers a preliminary look into some of the debates that concern this concept, “universalism”: its philosophical underpinning; the possible objections; and perhaps some unorthodox defenses of the concept offered by Immanuel Kant. Among thinkers on the agenda will be Kant, Du Bois, Arendt, Rawls, Rorty, Arendt, and Mills, among others. Side-by-side with philosophy we will deal with inherent questions of so-called identity politics, political liberalism, and the status of refugees. Class will consist of an ongoing conversation, not frontal lecturing. The syllabus is accordingly open to change, according to the developments of the discussion in class.