Deconstructing Democracy (FYS)
CHUM 202F
Spring 2021 not offered
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What role does democracy play in the narratives that political philosophers tell themselves about the moment human beings pass from the state of nature into civil society? Why is it that almost all political philosophies have almost nothing good to say about democracy? And how did it happen that democracy has come to be one of the most debated concepts straddling the borderline of the literary and the political, the real and the ideal? Seeking to answer these and other questions, this course will follow the concept of democracy through some canonical and non-canonical texts in or relating to political philosophy. We shall attempt to understand why democracy gives rise to the complications and paradoxes that are definitive of the conceptual space of political society. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Readings- Aristotle. The Politics and the Constitution of Athens. Trans. Stephen Everson. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Derrida, Jacques. "Force of Law: The 'Mystical Foundation of Authority.'" Trans. Mary Quaintance. Cardozo Law Review, No. 5-6, Vol. 11 (July 1990). 919-1046.
___. Rogues: Two Essays on Reason. Trans. Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2005.
Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James, and Jay John. The Federalist Papers. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hegel. Philosophy of Right. Trans. H. B. Nisbet. Ed. Allen W. Wood. Cambridge UP, 1991.
Hobbes, Thomas. De Corpore Politico. Human Nature and De Corpore Politico. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Kant, Immanuel. Metaphysics of Morals. Ed. Mary J. Gregor. Cambridge UP, 1996
___. "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch." Kant's Political Writings. Trans. H.B. Nisbet. Cambridge UP, 1991.
Plato. Republic. Trans. Tom Griffith. Cambridge University Press. 2003.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract and other later political writings. Edited by Victor Gourevitch. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Trans. James T. Schleifer. Liberty Fund, Inc., 210.
Whitman, Walt. Democratic Vistas. Editor Ed Folsom. University of Iowa Press, 2009.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Response Papers 50%
Presentations 15%
Final Paper 25%
Participation 10%
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