Political Theory Courses
Please find below a list of graduate courses in Political Theory offered by the department since the Autumn 2000 quarter.
31200. Political Philosophy: Nietzsche (=Fndmtl 292, LL/Soc 292, PolSci 312). A close reading of The Genealogy of Morals or Beyond Good and Evil. J. Cropsey. Winter 2001.
31200. Political Philosophy: Plato (=FNDL 29200, LLSO 29200). This course is a close reading of Plato's Parmenides. J. Cropsey. Winter 2002.
31200. Political Philosophy: Spinoza. (=FNDL 29200, LLSO 21500) An inquiry into Spinoza's Ethics as a contribution to the foundations of the Enlightenment. J. Cropsey. Winter 2004.
31300. Freedom, State and Society. There are a number of possible ways to understand the relationship between freedom and the institutions, associations, and communities that stand between the individual and a central state family, religious community, ethnocultural community, local and provincial levels of government, and so on. They may be the sites where free lives are led, or they may be sites of local tyranny. They may provide protection against a central state, or through competition promote internal liberalization; or they may provide local havens of unreflective tradition that slow the growth of freedom. This course will be structured around the question of how secondary institutions relate to freedom, and around debates between those who provide different answers. We will draw on history, economics, law, political science, and, especially, political theory. In examining the freedom-promoting effects of federalism and of competing jurisdictions, as well as in studying the status of voluntary associations in the United States today, we will be considering some quantitative empirical findings, but no prior knowledge of statistics or economics is required. J. Levy, S. Rudolph. Spring 2002.
31500. Political Philosophy: Rousseau (=FNDL 29200, LLSO 21500). A detailed reading of Rousseau's Social Contract. J. Cropsey. Winter 2003.
31600. Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (=CLAS 20300/30300). This course will provide an upper level survey of political thought from Homer to Aquinas, with central emphasis falling on the sophists, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Livy, Tacitus, and Augustine. We will investigate, among other topics, these thinkers' accounts of the origins, nature, and problems of human sociality, their diverse theories of justice, their varying efforts to draw connections between ethical and political reasoning or between morality and law (whether mortal or divine), as well as their different stresses on utopian and realist approaches to political thought. D. Allen. Winter 2002.
31801. Shakespeare on Tyranny (=FNDL 24500, SCTH 34800). PQ: Enrollment limited. Open to undergraduates with consent of instructor. An exploration of Shakespeare's portrayals of tyrants and tyrannies in such plays as Macbeth and Richard III. R. Lerner, N. Tarcov. Autumn 2001.
31900. Cyrus and Socrates. (=FNDL 29302) This course investigates the two poles of Xenophon's thought, politics, and philosophy, represented by Cyrus the Great and Socrates. We read Xenophon's Education of Cyrus, Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, and Symposium. N. Tarcov. Spring 2004.
32100. Machiavelli's Discourses (=PolSci 321, Fndmtl 293). Class limited to 20. A reading of Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy. We will consider such themes as princes, nobles, and peoples; republics and principalities; religion and morality; war and imperialism; founding and reform; virtue, corruption, and fortune. N. Tarcov. Winter 2001.
32100. Machiavelli's Florentine Histories (=SCTH 31700). PQ: Enrollment limited. Open to undergraduates with consent of instructor. An introductory reading of Machiavelli's Florentine Histories with attention to such themes as the following: rhetoric; faction; war and foreign policy; tyranny and liberty; morality and religion, leaders and peoples; and the character and purpose of historical writing. Some familiarity with The Prince and the Discourses on Livy would be helpful. N. Tarcov. Spring 2002.
32100. Machiavelli's The Prince. (=FNDL 29301) A reading of The Prince supplemented by relevant portions of Machiavelli's Discourses and Florentine Histories. Themes include princes, peoples, and elites; morality and religion; force and persuasion; war and politics; law and liberty; virtue and fortune; ancient history and modern experience; and theory and practice. N. Tarcov. Autumn 2003.
32115. Machiavelli and the Arthashastra. (=FNDL 29313) PQ: Consent of instructor. A comparative reading of Machiavelli's Prince and Discourses on Livy and Kautilya's Arthashastra. N. Tarcov, W. Doniger. Autumn 2005.
32700. Machiavelli on War. (=FNDL 29300) An exploration of Machiavelli's thought on war through a reading of The Art of War and excerpts from The Prince and Discourses on Livy. N. Tarcov. Spring 2005.
32900. Max Weber. This course considers Max Weber in text and context, reading selected works and examining the personal, cultural and political environment to which he responded. It emphasises the contradictory nature of his thought, treating the contradictions as characteristic rather than accidental and recuperable. We focus on his use of modes of thought common in his time, such as dichotomization of modern and traditional orientations, which made him a lead spokesman for modernity and modernization theory; and the cultural fatalism which made him, on the other hand, a critic of modernity. We try to locate him in the political history of his time, examining his liberal individualism and his tone-deafness to possibilities of democratic political participation. And we explore his constructivist methodological perspective, as well as his unconvincing attempt to save aspects of an "objective" social science. Course material includes biographical, cultural, and historical writing bearing on his intellectual context, and selected texts. S. Rudolph. Autumn 2000.
32900. Max Weber. This course considers Max Weber in text and context, reading selected works and examining the personal, cultural and political environment to which he responded. It emphasizes the contradictory nature of his thought, treating the contradictions as characteristic rather than accidental and recuperable. We focus on his use of modes of thought common in his time, such as dichotomization of modern and traditional orientations, which made him a lead spokesman for modernity and modernization theory; and the cultural fatalism which made him, on the other hand, a critic of modernity. We try to locate him in the political history of his time, examining his liberal individualism and his tone-deafness to possibilities of democratic political participation. And we explore his constructivist methodological perspective, as well as his unconvincing attempt to save aspects of an "objective" social science. Course material includes biographical, cultural, and historical writing bearing on his intellectual context, and selected texts. S. Rudolph. Autumn 2001.
33015. Education for Liberty: Locke and Rousseau. (=FNDL 29303) PQ: Consent of instructor. A reading of Locke s Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Rousseau s Emile considered in relation to their political thought. Familiarity with the political thought of at least two of the authors is presumed. N. Tarcov. Spring 2006.
33100. The Self (=Philos 331, PolSci 331). This course focuses on the nature of self-knowledge and on the role which self-interpretation plays in the constitution of the self. Readings range from Montaigne and Fichte to contemporary authors such as Charles Taylor and Donald Davidson. C. Larmore. Autumn 2000.
33100. Gender and "Development." (=GNDR 23501) This course will analyze issues of gender and development studies. Questions discussed include: How does the gender division of labor between unpaid household labor and paid employment intersect with government policies and actions of international organizations in less developed countries? What is the gendered construction of piece work in the home, and of factory work in export processing zones? What are the attitudes of governments in less developed countries and in developed countries toward sex work, sex tourism, and sex trafficking? How do structural adjustment programs condition the lives of women and relations between men and women? How do issues of environmental ethics, development, and gender intersect? What are the circumstances of sexual freedom or lack of it, as well as freedom to express sexual orientation, in societies of Africa or South Asia? What role are women and members of sexual minorities playing in social movements of democracy and self-determination in less developed countries and in transnational movements to confront corporate globalization? I. Young. Winter 2005. Spring 2006.
33600. Plutarch's Lives. (=FNDL 29001, SCTH 41810). A reading of selections from Plutarch's Parallel Lives (possibly supplemented by essays from the Moralia) with attention to individual character, moral virtues and vices, the scope and limits of statesmanship, and the differences between Greece and Rome. R. Lerner, N. Tarcov. Autumn 2004.
34000. American Political Thought, 1700-1900. This course will survey major themes in American political thought beginning in prerevolutionary times, as well as historiographic debates about the course of American political thought (the liberal consensus, the civic republican turn, etc). These will include constitutionalism and constitutional interpretation, federalism, the separation of powers, slavery, continental expansion and the dispossession of Indians, relations between state and market, and religion. Depending on student interest, some twentieth-century work may be included. J. Levy. Spring 2004.
34210. The Political Philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Enrollment limited to 16. This seminar will consider the political writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We will begin with Rousseau's critique the 1st and 2nd Discourses and then move to his positive project the Discourse on Political Economy, the Geneva Manuscript, and the Social Contract. The seminar will conclude with an exploration of the Considerations on the Government of Poland and the fragmentary Constitutional Project for Corsica. A. Davis. Winter.
34500. Marx's Capital (=Hist 543). A close, critical study of Volume 1 of Marx's Capital. We will also read Moishe Postone's Labor, Time, and Social Domination and possibly some additional secondary literature. P. Markell, W. Sewell. Winter 2001.
34520. Arendt's The Human Condition. PQ. By consent only. Enrollment limited to 20. For advanced undergraduates. Undergraduates must have completed their Humanities and Social Sciences sequences, and one more specialized course in a relevant area of political theory or philosophy is strongly recommended. This seminar will be devoted to a close reading of Hannah Arendt s The Human Condition, focusing both on its internal conceptual structure and on its intellectual and political contexts. P. Markell. Winter 2006.
34600. Seminar: Agency. P. Markell. Spring 2003.
34900. African American Political Thought. Politics has played a key role in the African American experience in the United States. This course offers and intensive introduction to black political thought.This course focuses on the various ideologies and strategies which have informed the African American quest for human fulfillment, self actualization, and equity in the United States of America. The readings will focus on thinkers and activists from the rebellion against slavery to the contemporary charges of institutional racism and reparations. The course will focus on such activists, thinkers, and writers, as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr, Angela Davis, Kwame Toure, Malcolm X, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, the contemporary African American conservatives, public intellectuals, and lesser known figures will be explored. M. Harris-Lacewell. Spring 2004.
35200. Multiculturalism, Ethnicity, Nationalism. This course will draw on history, sociology, political science, and the history of political thought to supplement its primary attention to contemporary debates in political philosophy about ethnicity, culture, and nation. Topics will include some or all of: secession, the rights of linguistic groups, the rights of indigenous peoples, immigration, cosmopolitanism, the relationship between nationalism and democracy. J. Levy. Winter 2001.
35300. Conservative and Radical Liberalisms. This course will explore a recurring tension within liberal thought--between a view that society can and should be radically remade in accordance with liberal ideas of rationality, autonomy, and freedom, and a view that the liberal state must respect existing traditions and ways of life (even when these are not autonomous), that it must be so powerful as to dominate society, and that rationality is of limited importance to liberalism. The latter view favors decentralized power, federalism, and a thick civil society made up of a variety of kinds of associations and communities; the former favors the use of state power to prevent the growth of local tyrannies. We will discuss whether one or the other is truer to liberalism or morally preferable in general, and whether and how they could or should be synthesized. We will read Burke, Paine, and Wollstonecraft; Tocqueville and Mill; Montesquieu and Voltaire; and debates surrounding the abolition of slavery and the rights of women. We will also--briefly--consider the contemporary instantiations of this debate. J. Levy. Spring 2001.
35710. The Long 18th Century I. PQ: For undergraduates: At least four quarters of political or social theory or philosophy (including core sequences). This course will examine political, legal, and economic thought in Western Europe and North America from 1688 until the middle of the 18th century. It will focus on English and French thought during the early years of the post-Glorious Revolution era and the early Enlightenment, with particular attention given to Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Students may take this course or its Spring successor without taking the other, but there will be considerable gains from taking them in sequence. The course will include an optional French-language discussion section for students interested in reading selections from 18th-century French political thought in the original. J. Levy. Winter 2006.
35720. The Long 18th Century II. PQ: At least four quarters of political or social theory or philosophy (including core sequences). This course will examine political, legal, and economic thought in Western Europe and North America from the mid-18th century through the French Revolution. It will focus on the Scottish Enlightenment, the American Revolution and founding, and the French Revolution, with particular attention given to Hume, Smith, and the Federalist Papers. Students may take this course or its winter-quarter predecessor without taking the other, but there will be considerable gains from taking them in sequence. J. Levy. Spring 2006.
35900. Gandhi (=Fndmtl 249). Course readings deal with Gandhi's life (including his autobiography), texts that articulate his thought and practice, and critical and interpretative works that assess his meaning and influence. Topics include nonviolent collective action in pursuit of truth and justice, strategy for cooperation and conflict resolution, and alternatives to industrial society and centralized state. L. Rudolph. Spring 2001. Spring 2002.
36000. Philosophical Theories of Modernity (=Philos 361, PolSci 360). This course focuses on critical theories of modern and Enlightenment thought. We will discuss the extent to which formal or instrumental ideas of rationality are characteristic of modern thought, the supposed differences between ancient and modern moral thinking, the nature of secularization, the notion of a "dialectic of Enlightenment," and the meanings of "post-modernism." Readings from Schiller, Nietzsche, Weber, Heidegger, Adorno, Horkheimer, Blumenberg, Habermas, Lyotard, and Taylor. C. Larmore. Winter 2001.
36200. Women and Political Theory (=GNDR 26200/36200). This course reads some of the major writings of modern political theory in which sexuality and gender issues are thematically related to political values of citizenship, equality and freedom -- including works of Rousseau, Wollstonecraft and Mill. It also reads some contemporary feminist interpretation of these and other modern political theorists. The course then proceeds to consider some works of contemporary feminist political theory engaging themes such as gender and democracy; intersections of gender and racial positioning in politics; justice, gender and sexuality; normative analysis of women and public policy issues. Among writers who may appear in that segment of the course are Anne Phillips, Patricia Hill Collins, Carole Pateman, Anna Marie Smith. I. Young. Spring 2002.
36600. Value Pluralism (=PHIL 31700). A study of pluralistic theories of moral value, focusing on their motivations, structure, and implications. Readings will be from Aristotle, Herder, Berlin, and contemporary writers. C. Larmore. Winter 2002.
39000. Global Justice. Are obligations of justice confined to members of a single society or nation-state or do they extend to relations among distant peoples? This course will consider arguments on both sides, but take a position that obligations of justice should be thought of as global in scope. It will then consider theories of global districtive justice, cosmopolitan democracy, moral responsibility and Third World debt, international ethics and environment, human rights. Among authors read will likely be: Immanuel Kant, David Miller, Onora O'Neill, John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas, Thomas Pogge, Alan Wood, David Held, and Kathleen Newland. I. Young. Autumn 2000.
39000. Global Justice. Are obligations of justice confined to members of a single society or nation-state or do they extend to relations among distant peoples? This course will consider arguments on both sides, but take a position that obligations of justice should be thought of as global in scope. It will then consider theories of global distributive justice, cosmopolitan democracy, moral responsibility and human rights in the context of international inequality in resources and power. Among the issues we will analyze using political philosophy are: Third World debt; environmental policy; trade, investment, and patents; democracy and international organizations, gender and human rights. Among authors read will likely be: Immanuel Kant, Onora O'Neill, John Rawls, Jurgen Habermas, Thomas Pogge, Alan Wood, David Held, Peter Singer, Drucilla Cornell. I. Young. Winter 2005.
39600. Foucault on Discipline and Governmentality. In this course we will read some of Foucault's middle and later works, including Discipline and Punish, some of the essays in Power/Knowledge, essays on governmentality and technologies of the self. We will also read some contemporary commentary on Foucault as well as examples of applying his approach to social and political theory, such as work by Nikolas Rose, Thomas Dumm, Barbara Kruikschank, and Sandra Bartky. I. Young. Winter 2001.
40700. Constitutionalism (=LL/Soc 253). In this course we will study the ideas and practices of constitutionalism. These center around the constraint of state power, and especially its constraint by law. We will look at the constitutions, and the constitutional practices, of a number of contemporary and historical states. We will also read works from political theory and from the philosophy of law on the idea of a legally binding constitution, on the founding of states, on the relationship between constitutionalism and democracy, and on processes of constitutional revision and reform. We will read some judicial cases that cast light on basic practices and ideas of constitutionalism, but the course is not case-driven. In particular, it is not focused on how the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the U.S. Constitution. Rather, it is comparative, historical, and theoretical. J. Levy. Spring 2001.
40810. Practical Reason. (=PHIL 51500) In this seminar we will examine some of most notable recent work on the means and ends of practical reasoning as well as on the nature of reasons and of normativity in general. Books discussed will include Gibbard, Wise Choices, Apt Feelings; Korsgaard, The Sources of Normativity; and Scanlon, What We Owe to Each Other. There will also be discussion of essays by Williams, Frankfurt, Raz, McDowell, and Dancy. C. Larmore, Autumn 2005.
41100. Tyranny: Ancient and Modern. (=SCTH 31600) An examination of some classical understandings of tyranny and consideration of their relevance to modern tyrants. Reading will include relevant works by Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, Leo Strauss, and Alexandre Kojve, and secondary literature about modern tyrants. N. Tarcov. Spring 2004.
42000. Augustine's City of God. (=RETH 52000) A close reading of Augustine's great masterwork with a strong emphasis on his critical deconstruction of the politics, rhetoric, and civic religion of Rome and on the social, political, and cultural implications of his concept of a pilgrim people in their sojourn in the earthly city, a people whose lives are framed by the hope of membership in the eternal city of God. PQ: Some background in political/social theory useful. J. Elshtain. Spring 2004.
42300. Democratic Theory. Is democracy best conceived as the constraint of potentially tyrannical power, or as the exercise of popular sovereignty? Is it best imagined as an institutional form, or as an unruly force that necessarily challenges institutional authority? What is the relationship between democracy and economic inequality? Between democracy and constitutional law? In this seminar we shall consider such questions obliquely, by following the development, over more than four decades, of the work of two eminent American scholars, Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl. Rough contemporaries, trained and employed in the same field, Wolin and Dahl have nevertheless made little reference to each other s work, and their spheres of influence in contemporary democratic theory do not much overlap. At one level, then, the seminar is meant to stage a much-needed encounter between what might be called radical and mainstream democratic theory; yet it should also help us reflect critically on the adequacy of those labels, and also to understand how the substance of twentieth-century democratic theory has been shaped by arguments about what theory is, about its place in the academic discipline of political science, and about the relationship between democratic politics and the institutionalized expert cultures of political theory and political science. This course is primarily for Ph.D. students in the Department of Political Science, although applications from students in other fields are welcome; enrollment will be limited and instructor consent required. P. Markell. Spring 2006.
42500. Postcolonial Political Theory. How do issues of global politics, freedom, oppression, equality, cultural difference race, and imperialism look from the point of view of 20th century thinkers outside Europe and North America, but interacting with them? This course will consider this question by considering texts of political and social theorists and critics from India, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Many of these writings respond to the context of colonialism at the historic moment of transformation to independence, and others reflect on the relationship of European politics and European ideas to aspirations for freedom in the other continents. Writers we are likely to read include: Mahatma Gandhi, Partha Chatterjee, Frantz Fanon, Leopold Senghor, Edward Glissant, Carols Rangle, Enrique Dussel, Gayatri Spivak, Emmanuel Eze, Ofelia Schutte, and Walter Mignolo. I Young. Autumn 2002. Autumn 2005.
42600. Political Responsibility (=LAWS 79701). Collective action through institutions directed at goals of maximizing freedom equity and well being for people cannot occur unless the individuals acting with and within these institutions are responsible. What does responsibility mean in the context of large scale social structures and organized action? Can we make meaningful distinctions between moral responsibility in individual interaction and political responsibility in the context of participation in political community? Is it important to see political responsibility in backward looking terms of assigning causal agency to events that have occurred, or is it more important to consider responsibilities for future transformation? Can it be argued that people in a collective share responsibility for passive assent or sharing attitudes even when they themselves have not performed harmful or unjust acts? We will discuss questions such as these through works of writers such as Hannah Arendt, Jean Paul Sartre, Larry May, Marion Smiley, Hans Jonas, Dennis Thompson, Robert Goodin, Jacques Derrida and others. I. Young. Winter 2003. Winter 2006.
43400. Theorizing Social Justice. (=LAWS 43002) (Please note: This class will meet from 1:00-3:50 on Tuesdays.) This course will examine the debate about whether it is appropriate to distinguish moral evaluation of institutional structures from evaluation of individual action, as Rawls claims, or not, as Gerald Cohen, among others claims. Then we will examine differing approaches to theorizing justice by considering several issue areas: commodification, gender division of labor, occupational hierarchy, the marginalization of some people through process that normalize, cultural justice, and environment. Authors we will read include, John Rawls, Gerald Cohen, Michael Walzer, Ian Shapiro, Susan Okin, Eva Kittay, Nancy Fraser, Anita Silvers, Howard McGary. I. Young. Autumn 2004.
43800. Plato's Laws (=FNDL 23400, LLSO 28500, SCTH 30300). PQ: Enrollment limited. Open to undergraduates with consent of instructor. An introductory reading of Plato's Laws with attention to such themes as the following: war and peace; courage and moderation; rule of law; music, poetry, drinking, and education; sex, marriage, and gender; property and class structure; crime and punishment; religion and theology; and philosophy. N. Tarcov. Winter 2002.
43900. Language, Politics and Political Theory. How do academic political theorists combine the study of texts, the study of history, and reflection on larger theoretical, philosophical, or political problems? To explore this question, we read and discuss a series of interpretations of the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, along with related works that make explicit the conceptions of language, history, and theory that inform these interpretations. Primarily for Ph.D. students in political theory; enrollment will be limited and instructor consent required. P. Markell. Winter 2006.
44000. Nineteenth-Century European Political Thought: Hegel and Marx. (=FNDL 25702) This course examines the work of two key figures in the development of European political theory and philosophy in the aftermath of the French Revolution: Hegel and Marx. We focus on Hegel's Philosophy of Right and Marx's early critiques of Hegel, although these readings may be supplemented by selections from Hegel's early political and cultural writings and from his Phenomenology of Spirit, as well by some of Marx's political writings up through the revolutions of 1848. The course does not deal with Marx's mature critique of political economy. P. Markell. Winter 2004.
45500. Black Political Thought. This course is a very intensive introduction to black political thought. The majority of texts considered during the first part of the course will be from key authors such as the Combahee River Collective, W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ida B. Wells. During the second part of the course we will reconsider the status of the black public sphere and its connection to other publics and counterpublics. Themes to be considered this year include: What are the core concepts and constellations of concepts historically found in African-American political thought? To what degree has the construction of gender in the African-American community and the interaction between gender and racial oppression shaped African-American political thought? To what degree do different classes and sectors within classes embrace different aspects of African-American political thought? To what degree does Habermas' concept of the "public sphere" help us understand the development of black political ideologies? Are other more modern understandings of publics, public spheres, and counterpublics useful for understanding African American ideological formation and the impact of African American ideologies on politics within the United States? M. Dawson. Spring 2006.
45600. Ralph Ellison (SCTH 41700). This seminar will explore the novels and essays of Ralph Ellison with a view, especially, to their analyses of democracy and democratic citizenship. We will explore the question of the relationship between literature and politics also, and such Ellisonian categories as the tragi-comic and topics like the place of anger, laughter, and public ritual in politics. D. Allen. Spring 2002.
45800. Politics, Ethics and Terror (=RETH 45800). An examination of three responses to twentieth century totalitarianism - Arendt, Bonhoeffer, and Camus. What ethical wellsprings were drawn upon to confront Nazism and Stalinism? What sorts of arguments about the function of ideology, the loss of limits, the transgression of 'orders of being,' metaphors of plague or other ravages got deployed and to what ends? What is the connection between explanation, understanding, and action in the 'dark times' through which our thinkers lived or in which they died? J. Elshtain. Autumn 2001. Winter 2004. Spring 2006.
45900. Theories of Equality (=LAWS 92402). This course will discuss some of the major debates in political theories of equality that have occupied philosophers, political theorists and legal theorists in recent decades. We will consider Ronald Dworkin's arguments for equality of resources over equality of welfare, along with responses to this theory by writers such as Gerald Cohen, Amartya Sen, and Richard Arneson. We will consider critiques of this debate that focus on its treatment of the status of so-called disability by writers such as Elizabeth Anderson, Eva Kittay and Steven Smith. We will think about political equality and equality of recognition through writers such as Charles Beitz and Anne Phillips. Finally, we will consider issues of whether equality must mean evaluating people according to the same norms, or whether equality can take account of social difference, as these have been debated by feminist legal theorists and critical race theorists. I. Young. Spring 2002.
46100. 20th Century Hegelianism. A reading of several important works by twentieth-century thinkers influenced by Hegel, with special attention to the theme of recognition. Readings are to be determined, but may include works by: Bataille, Kojve, Fanon, Lacan, DuBois, Habermas, Derrida, Honneth, Taylor, Zizek, Butler, Sartre, Adorno, and others. Students should have some prior experience with Hegel's thought. P. Markell. Winter 2004.
46200. Contemporary Theories of Agency. A survey of important work in contemporary social and political theory on the theme of agency. P. Markell. Spring 2004.
46600. Jurisprudence (=LAWS 76001). After a brief introduction to some major schools in the history of legal thought, this course will be devoted to twentieth-century philosophical jurisprudence, including Hart, Fuller, Raz, Dworkin, Finnis, and Kelsen. We will explore questions including what law is, the relationship between law and morality, the relationship between law and politics, and the idea of rights in a legal system. J. Levy. Spring 2002.
47100. Plutarch's Lives (=SocTh ). N. Tarcov. Autumn 2000.
47200. Coriolanus and Julius Caesar (=SocTh ). A reading of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Julius Caesar along with treatments of those two figures by such ancient authors as Livy, Plutarch, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and by Machiavelli. N. Tarcov, G. Most. Spring 2001.
47901. Religion and the First Amendment. (=RETH 31600, PHIL 21415/31415, LAWS 47901). This course will cover the major legal issues in this area, focusing on the relationship between the Establishment clause and the Free Exercise clause. Some background reading in philosophy (e.g. Hobbes, Locke) will begin the class, and some comparative reading about other countries (especially India) will end it. M. Nussbaum. Spring 2005.
48200. Contemporary Theories of Justice (=PHIL 41200, LAWS 77801). This course focuses on four contemporary classics - Rawls' A Theory of Justice, Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Walzer's Spheres of Justice, and Sen's Inequality Re-Examined. C. Larmore. Spring 2002.
48500. Quantum Social Science. Enrollment will be limited to 25. The scientific study of society has long been based on the ontological and epistemological assumptions of classical physics. In the 20th century quantum mechanics revolutionized physics and other natural sciences, but it has been though irrelevant to social science because quantum effects are significant only at the micro-physical level, washing out at the macro-level of reality of interest to social scientists. Some recent work in neuroscience, however, has suggested that mind or consciousness--the foundation of social life and normally understood in classical terms--may be a quantum mechanical phenomenon (may, since this remains highly speculative). On the heroic assumption that this conjecture proves to be correct, this course explores possible implications of quantum consciousness for social science and society. After reviewing the essentials of quantum philosophy and consciousness, topics addressed will include the nature of human agency, free will, rationality, individualism vs. holism on social structure, the possibility of group minds, the debate between positivism and interpretivism over the proper methodology of social inquiry, and normative implications for political theory. Basic familiarity with social theory or philosophy of social science is essential; background in physics desirable but not necessary. A. Wendt. Spring 2002.
48600. Social Space: Theory and History. W. Sewell. Winter 2004.
50200. Political Realism (=RETH 50200). The exploration of the realist tradition in politics and its ethical implications, from Thucydides to Niebuhr and Aron. J. Elshtain. Autumn 2002. Autumn 2004.
50201. Religions and the Political Order. (=RETH 50201) An advanced introduction to basic ordering concepts in the study of social and political ethics. We will explore the underlying presuppositions that frame each thinker's perspective and that bear directly or indirectly on political and social life. Special attention will be paid to the theorist's understanding of the role of religion in public life. Readings from Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Mill. J. Elshtain. Winter 2005.
50300. The Just War Tradition (=RETH 44800). An exploration of the tradition of just war thinking from St. Augustine through Michael Walzer, James Turner Johnson and others. We will examine critically attempts to limit the occasions for war and the tactics and strategies deployed in war. J. Elshtain. Winter 2003. Winter 2005.
50500. War and Human Identity. (=RETH 50500) War is pervasive in human history and politics; indeed, the story of politics is to a remarkable extent a story of what war has destroyed or helped bring into being. The human "war story" is complex, putting on display human capacities for self-sacrifice and heroism and, as well, providing an arena for human deed-doing of the most destructive and evil sort. J. Elshtain. Spring 2003.
51300. Money and Commodities as Social Forms. (=HIST 51300). W. Sewell. Winter 2006.
51620. The Legal and Political Philosophy of Ronald Dworkin. (=PHIL 51810) This seminar will be centered primarily on Dworkin's legal philosophy, as expounded in Taking Rights Seriously and Law's Empire, focusing on his critique of positivism and on his interpretive theory of law as integrity. But considerable attention will also be given to its connections to his political philosophy and to his ideas about liberalism and justice. C. Larmore. Winter 2006.
52110. Contemporary Virtue Ethics. M. Nussbaum. Autumn 2004.
52300. Florentine Republicanism I: Political Theory. This is the first in a two-course sequence on republican theory and practice in Renaissance Florence. This term is devoted to the political writings of the two giants of Florentine republicanism: Francesco Guicciardini and Niccolo Machiavelli. Readings include Machiavelli's The Prince, and Discourses on Livy; and Guicciardini's Maxims and Dialogue on Florentine Government; as well as both authors' recommendations for reforming the constitution of Florence. Themes include the relationship between the person and the polity; the compatibility of moral and political virtue; the utility of class conflict; the advantages of mixed institutions; the principles of self-government, deliberation, and participation; and the question of military conquest. J. McCormick. Autumn 2003.
52315. Machiavelli's Political Thought. (=LLSO 28200) This course is devoted to the political writings of Niccol Machiavelli. Readings include The Prince, Discourses on Livy, Florentine Histories and the "Discourses on Florentine Affairs." Themes to be explored include: the relationship between the person and the polity; the compatibility of moral and political virtue; the utility of class conflict; the advantages of mixed institutions; the principles of self-government, deliberation, and participation; the meaning of liberty and the question of military conquest. J. McCormick. Spring 2005.
52400. Florentine Republicanism II: History and Interpretation. PQ: PLSC 27200. This is the second in a two-course sequence on republican theory and practice in Renaissance Florence. This term is devoted to classic histories and influential interpretations of Florentine republicanism. Readings include Burckhardt, Baron, Chabod, Rubinstein, Brucker, Pocock, Skinner, and Viroli. Themes include oligarchic versus populist republics, executive power in collegial regimes, the problem of faction, the significance of patriotism, the critique of tyranny, and the problems posed by alliances and wars. J. McCormick. Winter 2004.
52500. Contemporary Democratic Theory. This graduate seminar interrogates recent theoretical approaches to the theory and practice of popular government. In particular, it will focus on a number of tensions in the literature: between minimalist and participatory models; state-centered versus civil-society-focused approaches; emphases on class and identity; theories that prioritize rights as opposed to popular will, among others. Readings include Przeworski, Dahl, Putnam, Shapiro, Skocpol, Sandel, Young, and Pettit. J. McCormick. Autumn 2003.
52600. Natural Law. C. Larmore. Autumn 2003.
52700. Freedom. The focus will be recent studies of freedom in both its psychological and political senses. Topics covered will include free will, freedom and necessity, freedom and responsibility, negative and positive liberty. Readings from such authors as Berlin, Strawson, Chisholm, Frankfurt, Nagel, Pettit. C. Larmore. Winter 2004.
52800. The Roman Republic: Principles and Practice. This course is devoted to the history, institutions and ideas of the Roman republic. Readings include classical accounts of Rome's development (Polybius and Livy), contemporary analyses of its constitution and social structure (Nicolet, Lintott, and Mitchell), philosophic expressions of the epoch (Cicero), and considerations of their reception in subsequent ages (Millar). Themes to be discussed include: the relationship of rich and poor citizens in a republic; the political accountability of elites; the rule of law; the common good; and military power. J. McCormick. Spring 2005.
52900. Renaissance Florence: Political Theory meets Social History. This course adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the study of politics and society in Renaissance Florence, integrating political theory and social history. We will read primary sources, standard histories, classic interpretations, as well as examine new empirical data pertaining to the Florentine republics, oligarchies and Medici regimes of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. Primary authors include Bruni, Dante, Savonarola, Machiavelli and Guicciardini; historians consulted will be Najemy, Rubinstein, Butters, Stephens, Martines, Baron and Brucker. Mr. Padgett will make available original statistical data and analyses on the social networks and economic markets undergirding the political ideas, institutions and events that we consider. Renaissance intellectual history will be placed in the context of the political, social and economic context of thirteenth through fifteenth century Florence, thereby asking questions about mutual influence. J. McCormick, J. Padgett. Winter 2005.
55100. Seminar: Plato Menexenus and other Funeral Orations (=GREK 45100, SCTH 45100). D. Allen. Spring 2002.
62500. Advanced Seminar on Religion and Public Life. (=RETH 52500) Open to graduate students who have successfully completed at least one previous seminar with Prof. Elshtain and for whom this area of scholarly endeavor is one they intend to pursue. There are a number of areas we will explore through concrete cases, including the matter of how persons with religious convictions engage civic life. What are the "languages" (so to speak) of civic engagement? Is a person or group treating religious conviction functionally, as a means to an end, with politics driving theological claims? Or, by contrast, does the person or group begin with theological commitments and go on to think about possible civic implications of those commitments? And so on. We will organize this seminar in such a way that each student will be required to go through a shared set of materials--yet to be determined--and, in addition, go on to develop an independent project on religious and public life. J. Elshtain. Spring 2006.
