Political Philosophy
PHIL 278
Fall 2018 not offered
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Political philosophy addresses fundamental questions about the basis and purpose of human association and community. What is the role of justice in human affairs, and what makes a set of social arrangements just? What is political freedom, and is it compatible with equality? What is the source of our ideas about law and punishment? What are the conditions of the legitimate exercise of power? We will cover three basic units: (I) Ancient, (II) Early Modern, and (III) Revolution and Radicalism. In the first, we will discuss early Greek conceptions of justice and political organization. Next, we will look at the period from roughly 1500-1780, when new ideas about political power, human nature, equality, and natural law emerge. Here we will focus on the work of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Finally, in the third unit, we will consider the way in which the three major revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century--in the U.S., France, and Haiti--constitute a horizon for contemporary political thought. These revolutions hold out the promise of an unfinished "social revolution" in class organization (Marx), but also of liberation from racism, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS PHIL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (HRAD-MN)(PHIL)(PHIL-Philosophy)(PHIL-Social Jus) |
Major Readings:
Niccolo Machiavelli: THE PRINCE, 2nd ed. trans. Harvey Mansfield (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c1985)
Hobbes: LEVIATHAN, ed. Richard Tuck (Cambridge: Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, c1991)
Rousseau, Jean Jacques. DISCOURSES AND OTHER EARLY POLITICAL WRITINGS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): from the SECOND DISCOURSE: "Origins of Inequalities in Nature" [Coursepack, CP]
Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Selections from the SOCIAL CONTRACT and other Later political writings, ed. Victor Gourevitch (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, c 1997). [CP]
Kant, Immanuel. Selections from METAPHYSICS OF MORALS. Ed. Mary Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, c1996). [CP]
Hegel. ELEMENTS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT. Ed. Allen Wood (Cambridge UP, 1991).
Marx. THE MARX-ENGELS READER, second edition, ed. Robert C. Tucker (Norton, 1978)
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Examinations and Assignments:
2 papers |
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