Fall/Winter Timetable
POL2011Y1S L0101
Undergraduate Course Code: POL402Y1S L0101
Problems in the Political Thought of the Socratic School
Themes
We will read Xenophon’s Hiero or On Tyranny, the Strauss –Kojève debate over the work, and Estienne de La Boëtie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire. What are the arguments for and against the life of a tyrant? Is the submission of the tyrant’s subjects to him intelligible? What is the relationship of modern totalitarianism to ancient tyranny?
Texts
Translations TBA. Various secondary reading.
Format and Requirements
Four-hour weekly seminar. Numerous essays and seminar participation.
November 14, 2023
Congratulations to Madalyn Hay, a recipient of a 2023-2024 Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship. Madalyn, one of our doctoral students, holds a BAH in Contemporary Studies and Classics from the...
August 24, 2023
Congratulations to alumna Meaghan Williams, a recipient of the 2022-23 Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the highest academic honour available to graduate students in Canada. Awarded annually by the Office of the...
June 14, 2021
Great news from the Canadian Political Science Association, which held its annual awards ceremony (online) over the weekend of June 12 & 13: Professor Stefan Rencken’s book "Private Governance and Public...
April 22, 2021
Congratulations to two political science alumni now teaching at U of T who have both won Superior Teaching Awards! Igor Shoikhedbrod and Khalid Ahmed will be celebrated on May 5th at...
August 6, 2020
Q&A with 2020 Vanier Scholar Yojana Miraya Oscco Congratulations to PhD student Yojana Miraya Oscco who has won a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC). Launched in 2008, the program enables...
April 30, 2020
Congratulations to our graduate student Kevin Edmonds who has won New College's June Larkin Award for Pedagogical Development. A PhD candidate specializing in Caribbean political economy, histories of alternative/illicit development, foreign intervention and...