This course surveys the great ideas in Western political philosophy from 1500 to the present. We discuss issues related to ultimate authority, justice, human nature, humans' capacity to reason, and the role of women, among others. We pay particular attention to the 17th-18th century contract theorists, whose ideas influenced the founding of the United States. We also apply all of these ideas to contemporary controversies, proving that while humans don't live forever, ideas can!
During the course, students learn to analyze
philosophical arguments by identifying the thesis, as well as the
premises and evidence used to support it. These skills are
applied in a research paper closely analyzing one philosopher's
original works.
Modern Political Theory is offered every other
spring
semester. It fulfills the Political Theory requirement for
Political
Science majors and minors. It also counts towards the "Western
Historical
Perspectives" category in the general education requirements. It
is a Writing Emphasis course.
Required Texts:
David Wootton (ed), Modern Political
Thought (Hackett, 2nd ed, 2008)
Mary Wollstonecraft, The Vindications
(Broadview, 1997)
I. HUMAN NATURE AND POLITICS
Governing and preserving principalities: Niccolò Macchiavelli
(1469-1527), The Prince (1513-6), chs. 1-9
Military forces, good and evil qualities: Machiavelli, The Prince, chs. 10-18
How to be popular: Machiavelli, The
Prince, chs. 19-26
Another side of Machiavelli: Machiavelli, Discourses Upon Livy (c. 1517),
Book I chs. 1-2, 4-5, 9-12, 17-18
Humans in a state of nature: Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679), Leviathan
(1651), chs. 11, 13-14
The commonwealth: Hobbes, Leviathan,
chs 16-19
Sovereignty: Hobbes, Leviathan,
chs 20-22
The state of nature II: John
Locke (1632-1704), Second Treatise
of Government, chs. 2-5
Civil society: Locke, Second Treatise, chs. 8-13
II. THE 18TH CENTURY
The social contract and the general will: Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778), On the Social
Contract (1762), Books I-II ch 7
The people and the government: Rousseau, Social Contract, Bk II ch 8-Bk III
ch 8
Conservatism: Edmund Burke
(1730-1797), Reflections on the
Revolution in France (1790), selections
Wollstonecraft responds to Burke: Mary
Wollstonecraft (1756-1797), A
Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790)... in two parts
Critique of gender roles: Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792), ch 2
A new education system: Wollstonecraft, Rights of Woman, ch 12
Theories of liberty: Benjamin
Constant (1767-1830), "On Ancient and Modern Liberty" (1819)
Universal Spirit and history: Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Introduction to the Philosophy of History
(1837), chs 2-3
Marx responds to Hegel: Hegel, Philosophy
of Right (1833), sects 341-360; Karl
Marx
(1818-1883), introduction to Toward
a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844)
Marx's call to action: Marx, "The Communist Manifesto" (1848)
Marx and contemporary commentary: Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
(1852), chs 1,7
Is male supremacy natural?: John
Stuart Mill (1806-1873), The
Subjection of Women (1869), ch 1
Is male supremacy useful?: Mill, The Subjection of Women, ch 4
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Last update: 1/5/12