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POT 3021: Honors History of Political Theory
Spring 2012
http://wise.fau.edu/~tunick/courses/pot3021/index.htm
Description: This 3-credit course introduces students to important works of political and ethical theory spanning 2,000 years. These works address fundamental questions about government: Why do we need government and what makes it legitimate? What form of government is best? No one in their right mind would decide how best to cure a disease by taking a vote of all citizens, so why decide how best to run society 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? Is a society just if a small fraction of people possess most of the wealth and if not, should any measures be taken to redistribute resources more equitably? Many of our readings also address fundamental ethical questions such as how do we determine which actions are right or wrong? If doing what is right goes against one's self-interest, why do what is right?
This course satisfies the Honors College core requirement in Culture, Ideas, and Values; the political theory requirement for the Political Science Concentration; and is a Gordon Rule course. 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. 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 paper. There are no prerequisites for this course. Consult the FAU catalog for FAU's policy on incompletes.
Goals: 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.
Office Hours: by arrangement. Stop by HC 133, phone 799-8670, or email tunick@fau.edu.
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. Class meets MW 2-3:20pm in AD 206.
The following texts are required and available for purchase at the bookstore or online: The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, Volume 1: From Plato to Nietzsche ed. Bailey et. al. ($56.95); Charles Dickens, Hard Times (Signet Classics, 978-0-451-53099-8, $4.95).
All political theory readings below refer to the selections in the Broadview text, with the exception of some additional excerpts, indicated by (BB), to be found at the course's Blackboard site under 'Course Readings'.
Grading will be based on class participation (10%), brief assignments or unannounced quizzes (15%), 2 papers of at least 6 pages each, the first of which will be turned in twice: as a draft, and as a revision that responds to feedback to the draft (25% for each paper=50%), and a take-home essay-based final exam (25%).
Papers and exam essays 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.
Work handed in late will be penalized.
Attendance:
The participation grade will be reduced 1/3 for each unexcused absence beyond 2.
Students agree to adhere to the honor code, 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. Be sure to read the introductions to each theorist provided in the Broadview text, and all footnotes.
1/9. Introduction
1/11. The Greek polis
Rdg: Thucydides, from History of Peloponnesian War; Plato, Apology, and Crito (Broadview: 3-35)
1/16: NO CLASS-MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR DAY
1/18. Socrates and Plato
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bk 1 (Broadview: 37-53); Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, pp. 47-54 on 'Nominalizations' (up to exercise 3.7)(BB)
For those interested: Online version of Republic (Shorey)
Recommended (for advanced writers): Williams, Style: pp.
96-110 on 'Stress' and 'Emphasis' (BB)
Brief writing assignment on Socrates due.
1/23. Discussion of Writing; introduction to Plato's Republic
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bks 2-5 (Broadview: 53-98); Williams, Style, pp. 54-66 (BB)
1/25. Plato's Republic
Rdg: Plato, Republic Bks 7-8 (Broadview: 98-116)
1/30. Plato's Republic
Rdg: Plato, Republic, Bk 9 (116-120) and Bk 10 (BB); Williams, Style, 221-242 (BB)
2/1. Aristotle
Rdg: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics: Books 1, 2, 8, 10 (Broadview: 124-147, 161-177);
For those interested: Berkeley in the 60's (dvd in library); Mario Savio's speech at Sproul Hall (at youtube)
2/6. Aristotle
Rdg: Aristotle, Politics: Bk 1:1-9; Bk 2:1-8; Bk 3; Bk 4:1-4 and 7-12; Bk 5; Bk 7 (Broadview:177-84, 187-97, 204-223, 224-28, 233-242)
Paper One Draft Due
2/8. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan (1660), Introduction and Part One chs 10-14 (Broadview: 407-431)
Leviathan Study Questions
2/13. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan: Part Two chs 15-21 (Broadview: 431-464)
2/15. Thomas Hobbes
Rdg: Hobbes, Leviathan: Part Two chs 26-30 (Broadview: 464-490)
2/20. The Putney Debates and the English Revolution
Rdg: Putney Debates (1647) ; 'An Agreement of the People' (both online); "Dual Citizenship," Economist, Jan 7-13, 2012 (BB)
Revision of Paper One due
2/22. John Locke
Rdg: Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1690), Preface, chapters 1-5 (Broadview: 491-510)
Some class time will be devoted to writing when revised papers are returned.
2/27. Locke's Constitutional theory
Rdg: Locke, Second Treatise, chapters 6-15 (Broadview: 510-542)
2/29. Locke on the right of rebellion
Rdg: Locke Second Treatise, chapters 16-19 (Broadview: 542-561)
3/5-3/7 NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK.
3/12. The French Revolution; Rousseau
Rdg: Rousseau: Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755)(Broadview: 611-653); Handout on "Enlightenment & French Revolution" (BB)
Kubrick, "2001: A Space Odyssey," Pt 1 Dawn of Man, on youtube.
For those interested: History Channel documentary, "The French Revolution" (dvd, on reserve at library)
3/14. Rousseau
Rdg: Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)(Broadview: 664-718)
Paper Two Due
3/19. Edmund Burke's conservate response to the French Revolution and the "Rights of Man and Citizen"
Rdg: "Declaration of Rights of Man," and Olympe de Gouges' "Declaration of the Rights of Woman" (1791) (Broadview: 781-85); Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790); "On Geographic Morality" (Broadview: 828-834); 2 sets of additional excerpts (BB).
For those interested: Complete text of Reflections available at google books; Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792): Intro, chs. 1-2, 5, 9, 12-13 (Broadview: 786-805, 812-15, 816-27)
3/21. Jeremy Bentham: against Burke and rights theorists
Rdg: Bentham, Anarchical Fallacies (BB); and The Book of Fallacies (BB)
3/26. Bentham's Utilitarianism
Rdg: Bentham, from Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789); Offenses against Oneself; Panopticon (Broadview: 876-94)
3/28. Dickens' critique of utilitarianism
Rdg: Charles Dickens' Hard Times (1854).
Note: students should plan to read this novel so that they will be ready to discuss it during this class. Students might want to read this earlier in the semester, e.g., over spring break.
Clip 1 and Clip 2 from Preston Strurges' Sullivan's Travels (1941)
4/2. Immanuel Kant: against Bentham's utilitarianism
Rdg: Kant,
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)(Broadview: 727-41); Machiavelli, The Prince ch. 18 (Broadview: 364-5)
4/4. G.W.F. Hegel: against Burkean conservatism, utilitarianism, and Kant
Reading: Hegel, Philosophy of Right (1821), Preface (Broadview: 848-9, 855-60)
4/9. Hegel's conception of freedom
Rdg: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Introduction (Broadview: 861-67); additional excerpts (BB)--read paragraphs consecutively.
4/11. Hegel's theory of rights, civil society, and the state
Rdg: Hegel, Philosophy of Right (Broadview: 867-75); and additional excerpts (BB)--read paragraphs consecutively.
4/16. Marx and the Young Hegelians
Rdg: Marx, "On the Jewish Question" (1843); German Ideology (1845); "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845)(Broadview: 981-1002, 1019-30)
4/18. Marx's critique of capitalism
Rdg: Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844); Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848); Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (1875)(Broadview: 1006-19, 1031-56)
For those interested: John McMurtry, "Monogamy: A Critique" (Marxist criticism of monogamous marriage), Monist 56(4):587-99 (1972)(BB)
4/23. Nietzsche
Rdg: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886)(Broadview: 1057-1074)
4/25. Nietzsche
Rdg: On the Genealogy of Morals (1887)(Broadview: 1075-95)
Rdg. for take home final: Marquis de Sade, "Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans" from Philosophy in the Bedroom (BB)
Take Home Final Exam Due during finals week
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
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).
Rousseau and the Enlightenment
Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment
Maurice Cranston, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2 volumes)
Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation
Norman Jacobson, Pride and Solace, ch. 4
Immanuel Kant, "What is Enlightenment"
James Miller, Rousseau: Dreamer of Democracy
Rousseau, Emile; Reveries of a Solitary Walker; The Confessions
Judith Shklar, Men and Citizens: A Study of Rousseau's Social Theory
Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision, ch. 9
Robert Wokler, Rousseau
Burke 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)
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 (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)
Additional notes:
Policy on Accommodations: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), students who require reasonable accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) -- SR 110 (561-799-8010) – and follow all OSD procedures.
Academic Integrity Policy:Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information, see University Regulation 4.001 and http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/students/honorcode.html
Classroom Etiquette Policy: In order to enhance and maintain a productive atmosphere for education, personal communication devices, such as cellular telephones and pagers, are to be disabled in class sessions.
updated 3-13-12