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POLS 2900.6A
Perspectives on Politics
2014-15
This course will introduce students to the development of political theory from Athens in the fourth century BCE through to the end of the nineteenth century in Europe by way of reading and interpreting some of the most important works in the Western political tradition. Politics assumes the power of agents and institutions to maintain or change the manner and directions in which human beings act. It therefore necessarily involves questions about what is, but also about what is right, about what ought to be and about what is possible. This course will therefore deal with the ways in which some of the greatest thinkers in the West approached questions of knowledge, justice, freedom, human nature, history, community, individuality, leadership, citizenship, participation, oppression, liberation and revolution, among other topics. The aim is to give students not only a familiarity with several of the key traditions of political thought that remain dominant in political discourse today, but to introduce them to a variety of ways in which such theories can be critically analyzed, questioned and built upon. We assume that holding and developing basic views about the nature and possibilities of politics is, no matter how tacit, something that is unavoidable for individuals in contemporary society. Becoming clearer about one’s own fundamental beliefs and assumptions, and becoming aware of and confronting other, competing views and assumptions is a part of any practice of a politics able to call itself democratic. Required Texts :
Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates (Hackett)
Plato, The Republic , trans. G.M.A. Grube (Hackett)
Aristotle, Politics ( Oxford World Classics)
Machiavelli, The Prince (Penguin)
Machiavelli, The Discourses (Penguin)
Hobbes, Leviathan (Hackett)
Locke, Second Treatise of Government (Hackett)
Rousseau, The Basic Political Writings (Hackett)
Marx, Selected Writings (Hackett)
Mill, On Liberty (Hackett)
All of the original required readings are available in the Bookstore for purchase in paperbound editions, and are on two-hour reserve in the Scott Library. Three short readings are available on the web.
Students are expected to complete the required readings before the classes dealing with them. We will be using the “lecture” hours to clarify the written lectures posted in advance to the web site, in addition to raising other questions about the relevant texts. Students are encouraged to prepare any questions they might have in advance of the class. The large classes can also be used to continue discussions begun in the tutorials. It is therefore essential that students remain up-to-date in their preparation for both classes and tutorials.
Grade Breakdown:
Tutorial Participation |
15% |
First term paper |
20% |
Mid-term test |
10% |
Second term paper |
30% |
Take-home final |
25% |
Please read carefully the materials on Academic Dishonesty appended to this course outline.
Violations are subject to very real penalties which can be avoided by observance of simple rules.
Please do not rely on web sites for any research outside the primary sources; at the very least check with the course director or your T.A. about the appropriateness of using a particular site.
General Histories / Interpretations of Political Thought
- Asher Horowitz and Gad Horowitz, “'Everywhere They Are in Chains': Political Theory from Rousseau to Marx
- George Klosko, History of Political Theory (2 Volumes)
- L.C. Macdonald, History of Political Philosophy
- George Sabine, A History of Political Theory
- Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought
- Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision
- B.-A. Bar On, Modern Engendering: Critical Feminist Readings in Modern Western Philosophy
- Diana Coole, Women in Political Theory
- Lynda Lange, The Sexism of Social and Political Theory
- Susan Moller Okin, Women in Western Political Thought
Fall Term Schedule
September 8, 10 |
Introduction to the course: why study political theory in its history? |
Topic I – Historical/Cultural Background to Plato
Suggested Supplementary Reading
- Cornelius Castoriadis, “The Greek Polis and the Creation of Democracy,” in his Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy
- M.I. Finley, Democracy: Ancient and Modern
- W.G. Forrest, The Emergence of Greek Democracy
- A.H. M. Jones, Athenian Democracy
- J. Ober and C. Hedrick, eds., Demokratia: A Conversation on Democracies Ancient and Modern
- Eli Sagan, The Honey and the Hemlock: Democracy and Paranoia in Ancient Athens and Modern America
- I.F. Stone, The Trial of Socrates
- F.M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates
- W.K.C. Guthrie, The Greek Philosophers
- W.T. Jones, History of Philosophy, Vol I
- G.B. Kerferd, The Sophistic Movement
Topic II – Plato’s
Republic
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Suggested Supplementary Reading
- Julia Annas, An Introduction to Plato's Republic
- Ernest Barker, Greek Political Theory
The Political
Thought of Plato and Aristotle
- Allan Bloom, “Interpretive Essay” in his translation of The Republic
- David Grene. Greek Political Theory
- G.M.A. Grube, Plato's Thought
- T.A. Sinclair, History of Greek Political Thought
- A.D. Winspear , The Genesis of Plato's Thought
TOPIC III - Aristotle’s Reforms of Platonism and
The Politics
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Suggested Supplementary Reading
- D.J. Allan, The Philosophy of Aristotle
- Ernest Barker, The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle
- J.B. Morrall, Aristotle
- R.G. Mulgan, Aristotle's Political Theory
- Mary P. Nichols, Citizens and Statesmen
- E.M. Wood and N. Wood, Class Ideology and Ancient Political Theory , Ch. V
- Bernard Yack, the Problems of A Political Animal
TOPIC IV – All You Need Is Nature: Diogenes the Cynic
TOPIC V – Machiavelli: Prophet of the Modern and
Theorist of Republics
.Suggested Supplementary Reading
- J.W. Allen, A History of Political Thought in the Sixteenth Century , Part IV, Ch.2
- Isaiah Berlin , “The Originality of Machiavelli,” in his Against the Current
- E. Cassirer, The Myth of the State , Ch.s 10-12
- M. Fleischer, Ed., Machiavelli and the Nature of Political Thought
- H.J. Laski, The Dangers of Obedience and Other Essays, Ch. 9
- A. Parel, Ed., The Political Calculus: Essays on Machiavelli's Philosophy
- Hannah Pitkin, Fortune is a Woman: Gender and Politics in the Thought of N.M.
- Q. Skinner, Machiavelli
- Leo Strauss, Thoughts on Machiavelli
WINTER BREAK
Topic VI – Hobbes: Science, Sovereignty and the Market Society
Suggested Supplementary Reading
- D. Baumgold, Hobbes’s Political Theory
- M.M. Goldsmith, Hobbes’s Science of Politics
- Christopher Hill, Puritanism and Revolution, esp. ch. 9
- C.B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism
Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval, Ch.s 13, 14
“Introduction” to his edition of Leviathan (Penguin Books)
- R. Peters, Hobbes
- A. Rapaczynski, Nature and Politics
- T.A. Spragens, Jr., The Politics of Motion: The World of Thomas Hobbes
- Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History, Ch. 5A
The Political Philosophy of Hobbes
- H. Warrender, The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: His Theory of Obligation
Topic VII – Locke: The
Patron Saint of Liberalism
Suggested Supplementary Reading
- Richard Ashcraft, Locke’s Two Treatises of Government
- John Dunn, Locke
- J.W. Gough, John Locke’s Political Philosophy
- C.B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism
- G. Parry, John Locke
- A. Rapaczynski, Nature and Politics
- Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History, Ch. 5
- Neal Wood, John Locke and Agrarian Capitalism
Topic VIII – Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critic of Liberal Modernity
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February 14-20 READING WEEK |
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Suggested Supplementary Reading
- M. Berman, The Politics of Authenticity
- Ernst Cassirer, The Question of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Lucio Colletti, “Rousseau as Crtic of ‘Civil Society’,” in his From Rousseau to Lenin
- Alfred Cobban, Rousseau and the Modern State
- L.G. Crocker, Rousseau’s social Contract: An Interpretive Essay
- N.J.H. Dent, Rousseau
- A. Horowitz, Rousseau, Nature and History
And Gad Horowitz, Everywhere They Are in Chains, chs. 2 & 3
- Jean Starobinski, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Transparency and Obstacle
- E. H. Wright, The Meaning of Rousseau
Topic IX – Marx and Modern Socialism
Suggested Supplementary Reading
- S. Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
- H. Fleischer, Marxism and History
- Carol Gould, Marx’s Social Ontology
- G. Lichtheim, Marxism: An Historical and Critical Study
- H. Marcuse, “The Foundations of Historical Materialism,” in his Studies in Critical Philosophy
- D. McLellan, The Thought of Karl Marx
- J. McMurtry, The Structure of Marx’s World-View
- R. Miliband, Marxism and Politics
- B. Ollman, Alienation, 2 nd. Ed.
- M. Rader, Marx’s Interpretation of History
- A. Schmidt, The Concept of Nature in Marx
- R.C. Tucker, Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx
- A.W. Wood, Karl Marx
Topic X– John Stuart Mill and Reform Liberalism
Suggested Supplementary Reading
- Isaiah Berlin , “J.S. Mill and the Ends of Life,” in his Four Essays On Liberty
- M. Cowling, Mill and Liberalism
- G. Duncan, Marx and Mill: Two Views of Social Harmony and Social Conflict
- G. Himmelfarb, On Liberty and liberalism: The Case of John Stuart Mill
- C.B. Macpherson, The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy
- H.J. McCloskey, John Stuart Mill: A Critical Study
- Carol Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory, Ch. 2
- P. Radcliff, Ed., Limits of Liberty: Studies of Mill’s ‘On Liberty’
- J.M. Robson, The Improvement of Mankind: The Social and Political Thought of J.S. Mill
- A. Ryan, John Stuart Mill
- D.F. Thompson, John Stuart Mill and Representative Government
- R.P. Wolff, The Poverty of Liberalism, Ch. 1
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