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POT 3021: Honors History of Political Theory
DRAFT
Description: This course introduces important works of political theory spanning over 2,000 years that address a number of fundamental questions about government: Why do we need government and what makes it legitimate? What form of government is best?--If no one in their right mind would decide how best to cure a disease by taking a vote of the citizens, why should we decide how best to select the laws that govern us by taking a vote? Is the best government one that allows individuals to do whatever they please? If not, how much freedom should individuals be permitted? Can revolutionaries, discontent with traditions they regard as unjust, simply build a new society from scratch, or are some of our traditions necessary, or natural? If some are, which? The works also address fundamental questions about the nature of politics, for example: Should one attempt to achieve a great right by doing a little wrong? Can there be a science of politics?
This course satisfies the Honors College core requirement in Culture, Ideas, and Values and the political theory requirement for the Political Science Concentration. This writing intensive course serves as one of two "Gordon Rule" classes at the 2000-4000 level. You must achieve a grade of "C" (not C-minus) or better to receive credit towards this requirement. Furthermore, this class meets the University-wide Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) criteria, which expect you to improve your writing over the course of the term. Finally, students should leave the course with an appreciation for some of the central concerns of political theorists, and an improved ability to think critically about primary texts and to develop arguments by citing texts and considering counterarguments.
Requirements: Students should come to class prepared to discuss the readings. Each class will consist of a combination of lecture and discussion. Participation is essential.
The following books are required reading and should be at the campus bookstore or may be ordered new or used at amazon: Plato, Trial and Death of Socrates (Dover, 0486270661, $2.50); Plato, Republic, tr. Grube (2nd ed., Hackett, 0872201361, $9.95); Aristotle, The Politics and Constitution of Athens (Cambridge UP Student Edition, 0521484008, $10.97 at amazon); Machiavelli, Prince (Hackett, 0872203166, $6.95); Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Curley, ed., Hackett, 0872201774, $10.49 at amazon); John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (ed. MacPherson, Hackett, 0915144860, $6.95); Melville, Billy Budd and Other Stories (Wordsworth Editions, 1853267499, $4.99); Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Dover, 0486445076, $6.95); Thomas Paine, Rights of Man (Dover, 0486408934, $3.00); Hegel, Reason in History (Prentice Hall, 0023513206, $10.05 at amazon). Some other reading will be found at the course's Blackboard (BB) site under 'Course Readings'.
Grading will be based on class participation and brief writing assignments (10%), and 3 papers of 6 pages each, the first of which will be turned in twice so that students get feedback on the revision process (30% for each paper=90%). Papers will respond to prompts that require critical analysis of the assigned texts and construction of an interpretive position, and will be graded by the quality of the critical analysis, extent to which relevant texts are drawn on and properly cited, and the coherence, lucidity, precision, and elegance of the writing. Substantial feedback will be provided to each writing assignment. The participation grade will be reduced 1/3 for each unexcused absence beyond 2. If this class is selected to participate in the university-wide WAC assessment program, you will be required to access the online assessment server, complete the consent form and survey, and submit electronically a first and final draft of a near-end-of-term paper.
Students agree to adhere to the honor code, see http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/academics_honor_code.htm
Schedule of Topics and Readings. The readings listed under each class are to be done prior to that class meeting.
1/11. Introduction
1/13. The Greek polis
Rdg: Plato, Apology, Crito (in The Trial and Death of Socrates)
1/18: NO CLASS-MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR DAY
1/20. Socrates and Plato
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bks 1-4; Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, pp. 47-54 on 'Nominalizations' (up to exercise 3.7)(BB)
Recommended (for advanced writers): Williams, Style: pp.
96-110 on 'Stress' and 'Emphasis' (BB)
Brief assignment on Socrates
1/25. Plato's Republic; Discussion of Writing
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bks 5-6
1/27. Plato's Republic
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bks 7-8; Williams, Style, pp. 54-66 (BB)
2/1. Plato's Republic
Rdg: Plato, Republic, Bks 9-10; Williams, Style, 26-28, 209-220 (BB)
2/3. Aristotle
Rdg: Aristotle, excerpts from Nicomachean Ethics on happiness: Bk 1:1-5, 7-9; Bk 10:6; Aristotle, Politics, selections from Books 1-4: Bk 1 chs 1-7, 9; Bk II chs 1-5, 7-8; Bk III chs 1-3, 5-13, 15, 17, 18; Bk IV chs 1-3, 4, 10-11; Williams, Style, 221-242 (BB)
2/8. Aristotle
Rdg: Aristotle, Politics, selections from Politics Books 5-8: Bk V chs 1-4, 8-11; Bk VI chs 2-3; Bk VII chs 1-4, 8-10, 13-17; Bk VIII chs 1-3
2/10. Machiavelli and the Renaissance
Rdg: Machiavelli, The Prince
Paper One Draft Due
2/15. Machiavelli
Rdg: Machiavelli, Discourses (selections): Book 1: Preface, chs. 1-2, 9-12, 14, 16, 58; Book 2: chs. 2, 29; and Book 3: chs. 1-3, 9, 21, 41 (BB)
For those interested: Machiavelli, Mandragola ('The Mandrake Root')
2/17. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan:Dedicatory; Author's Introduction (p. 19); and Part One chs 1-12 (pp. 21-97)
Leviathan Study Questions
2/22. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan: Part One chs 13-16 (pp. 98-128); Part Two chs 17-21 (pp. 129-168)
2/24. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan: Part Two chs 24-31 (pp. 185-270)
3/1. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan: Review and Conclusion (pp. 503-11)
3/3. Locke and the English Revolution
Rdg: Putney Debates ; 'An Agreement of the People' (both online)
Revision of Paper One due
3/8, 3/10: NO CLASSES-SPRING BREAK
3/15. Locke's Social Contract Theory
Rdg: Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Preface, chapters 1-9
Some class time will be devoted to writing when revised papers are returned.
3/17. Locke's Constitutional theory
Rdg: Locke, Second Treatise, chapters 10-15
3/22. Locke on the right of rebellion
Rdg: Locke Second Treatise, chapters 16-19
3/24. The French Revolution
Rdg: Melville, Billy Budd; Handout on "Enlightenment & French Revolution" (BB)
For those interested: History Channel documentary, "The French Revolution" (dvd, on reserve at library)
Paper Two Due
3/29. Burke
Rdg:
Begin Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France: pp. 1-50 (top); 57-60 (bottom).
3/31. Burke
Rdg: Burke, Reflections: pp. 69 (bottom, 'History will record')-101 (middle); 104 (bottom, 'I hope...')-106 (top, '... upon them?'); 157 (middle, 'When men are encouraged...')-175 (middle); 189 (top)-190 (top, 'different ideas'); 224 (middle)-229 (bottom); 249 (top)-end.
4/5. Paine
Rdg: Paine, Rights of Man: Part 1: pp. 7-23 (bottom); 28 (top)-39 (top); 65-78 (middle, 'Lord the King'); 89-94; Part 2: pp. 99-136 (top, 'are answered.'); 188 (bottom, 'When it shall be said...')-196.
4/7. Hegel's philosophy of history
Reading: Hegel, Reason in History, pp. 11-60 (bottom, 'people's spiritual development')
4/12. Hegel's political philosophy
Rdg: Hegel, Philosophy of Right: Preface (BB)
4/14. Hegel's conception of freedom and theory of the state
Rdg: Hegel, Philosophy of Right: other excerpts (BB)
4/19. Utopian socialists
Rdg: Robert Owen, A New View of Society (BB)
4/21. Marx and the Young Hegelians
Rdg: Marx and Engels, German Ideology (excerpts)(BB); Marx, Communist Manifesto (BB);
4/26. Marx's conception of freedom and critique of capitalism
Rdg: Marx, 'Estranged Labor' (from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts) (excerpts) (BB)
4/28. Marx's economic theory
Rdg:
Marx, Capital (excerpts)(BB)
Paper 3 Due
Bibliography:
Greeks, Plato, Aristotle
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational
M.I. Finley, Democracy, Ancient and Modern
E. Havelock, Preface to Plato
W. Jaeger, Paideia
H.D.F. Kitto, The Greeks
Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
Bruno Snell, The Discovery of the Mind
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Sir E. Barker, Greek Political Theory
P. Friedlander, Plato: An Introduction
G.M.A. Grube, Plato's Thought
Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies, chapters 1-8
Leo Strauss, The City and Man
A.E. Taylor, Plato: The Man and his Work
G. Vlastos, Plato's Universe
Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision, chapter 2
J.L. Ackrill, Aristotle the Philosopher
E. Barker, The Politics of Aristotle, Introduction
M.G. Grene, Portrait of Aristotle
W.C.K. Guthrie, Aristotle: An Encounter
W.L. Newman, The Politics of Aristotle, 4 vols.
A.O. Rorty, Essays on Aristotle's Ethics
W.D. Ross, Aristotle
Machiavelli:
A. MacIntyre, After Virtue
H. Butterfield, The Statecraft of Machiavelli
A. H. Gilbert, Machiavelli's Prince and its Forerunners
M.P. Gilmore, The World of Humanism
Hanna Pitkin, Fortune is a Woman
J.A. G. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment
R. Ridolfi, Life of Niccolo Machiavelli
Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision, chapter 7
Hobbes:
D.P. Gauthier, The Logic of Leviathan
M.M. Goldsmith, Hobbes' Science of Politics
Jean Hampton, Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition
Terry Heinrichs, "Hobbes and the Coleman Thesis," Polity 16(4):647-66 (1984), at jstor
C.B. Macpherson, The Theory of Possessive Individualism, Hobbes to Locke
F.S. McNeilly, The Anatomy of Leviathan
Michael Oakeshott, Hobbes on Civil Association
Leo Strauss, The Political Philosophy of Hobbes
Richard Tuck, Hobbes
Howard Warrender, The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: His Theory of Obligation
Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision, chapter 8
Locke:
Barbara Arneil, 'Trade, Plantations, and Property: John Locke and the Economic Defense of Colonialism', Journal of the History of Ideas, 55(4):591-609 (1994)
Richard Ashcraft, 'Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two Treatises', Political Theory (Nov. 1980), available online at jstor
Deborah Baumgold, 'Pacifying Politics: Resistance, Violence, and Accountability in 17th Century Contract Theory, Political Theory 21(1):6-27 (1993), available online at jstor
M.W. Cranston, John Locke, A Biography
John Dunn, Political Thought of John Locke (1969)
Julian Franklin, John Locke and the Theory of Sovereignty (1978)
Peter Josephson, The Great Art of Government: Locke's Use of Consent (2002)
John Kilcullen, 'Locke on Political Obligation', Review of Politics 45(3):323-44 (1983), available online at jstor
Peter Laslett, ed. Locke's Two Treatises, Introduction
C. B. Macpherson, The Theory of Possessive Individualism
James Farr, “‘So vile and miserable an estate’: The problem of slavery in Locke’s Political Thought,” Political Theory 14:263-89 (May, 1986), available online at jstor
Alex Tuckness, 'Punishment, Property, and the Limits of Altruism: Locke's International Asymmetry', APSR 102(4):467-79 (2008), available online at jstor
J. Tully, An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Contexts
Lee Ward, 'Locke on Executive Power and Liberal Constitutionalism', Canadian Jrnl of Political Science 38(3):719-44 (2005).
Burke, Paine, and the French Revolution
Burke, "Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful," "Speech on Fox's East-India Bill," A Vindication of Natural Society, Letter to a Member of the National Assembly
Carl B. Cone, Burke and the Nature of Politics
Don Herzog, 'Puzzling through Burke', Political Theory (August 1991)
Isaac Kramnick, The Rage of Edmund Burke, Portrait of an Ambivalent Conservative (psychobiography) (1979)
C.B. Macpherson, Burke (1980)
Harvey Mansfield, Statesmanship and Party Government (1965)
Michael McConnell, "Establishment and Toleration in Edmund Burke's 'Constitution of Freedom'", Supreme Court Review 1995:393-462 (1995)
Frank O'Gorman, Edmund Burke, his Political Philosophy
J.G.A. Pockock, 'Burke and the Ancient Constitution', Historical Journal III (1960)
Peter Stanlis, Edmund Burke: The Enlightenment and Revolution (1991)
Paine, Common Sense, Age of Reason, The American Crisis, Dissertation on First Principles of Government
Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America
Hegel
Hegel, Early Theological Writings, Natural Law, Propaedeutik, Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Mind (Vol. 3 of the Encylopaedie), Phenomenology of Spirit, Political Writings (especially the essays "The German Constitution" and "The English Reform Bill")
Shlomo Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modern State
Michael Hardimon, "The Project of Reconciliation: Hegel's Social Philosophy," Philosophy and Public Affairs (Spring 1992)
Z. Pelczynsky, ed. Hegel's Political Philosophy (collection of essays, see esp. Ilting's and Schklar's)
Hugh Reyburn, The Ethical Theory of Hegel (1921)
Steven B. Smith, Hegel's Critique of Liberalism (1989)
Robert Solomon, In the Spirit of Hegel (commentary on the Phenomenology)
Mark Tunick, Hegel's Political Philosophy (1992); "Are there Natural Rights?--Hegel's Break with Kant," in Collins, ed. Hegel and the Modern World (1994); "Hegel's Justification of Hereditary Monarchy," History of Political Thought, vol. 12, no. 3 (1991), available online; "Hegel on Justified Disobedience," Political Theory 26:514-535 (August 1998), available online at jstor; "Hegel's Claim about Democracy and his Philosophy of History," in Dudley, ed. Hegel and History (forthcoming, 2009).
Allen Wood, Hegel's Ethical Thought (1990)
Marx, Marxism, and Left Hegelianism
Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, Capital
Shlomo Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx
Terrell Carver, Engels (1981); Marx and Engels (1983)
R.P. Wolff, Understanding Marx (1984)
Smith and Evans, Marx's Kapital for Beginners (1982)
Blumenberg, Karl Marx (1962)
G.A. Cohen, Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence
Engels, Origin of Family, Private Property, and the State
Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity
Leszek Kolakowski, Main Currents of Marxism, 3 vols.
John Toews, Hegelianism (1980)
Lawrence Stepelevich, ed. The Young Hegelians: An Anthology (1983)
updated 11/20/09