POL381H1F L0101

Topics in Political Theory

Tragedy: Approaches to Political Theory

Themes

The aim of the course will be to expose students to Greek tragedy as a resource for thinking about
tragedy as a phenomenon. In particular, we will focus on the ethical questions brought out in three
Sophoclean dramas, Antigone, Ajax, and Philoctetes, including the problem of competing or clashing
ethical systems, the inversion or destruction of individual and communal frameworks, and individual
moral responsibility in the face of collective injustice. Each play will be paired with corresponding texts
from political theory; together these readings pose such questions as, is the good life possible or does the possibility of irresolvable ethical conflict undermine this ideal? How are individuals or communities supposed to act or continue to live when their horizons of meaning collapse or cease to exist? What does it mean for individual moral responsibility when one is immersed in a corrupt ethical framework? Finally, this course will encourage students to consider, more broadly, the implications of turning to literature as an alternative and complement to traditional political theory.

Texts

Arendt, Hannah. Responsibility and Judgment. Schocken Books: 2003.
Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle. Trans. Epps. The University of North Carolina Press: 1942, 1970.
Lear, Jonathan. Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. HUP: 2008.
Nietzsche. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge: 1999.
Sophocles. Sophocles 1: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone.
Ed. Grene and Lattimore. University of Chicago Press: 1991.
Sophocles. Sophocles II: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra & Philoctetes.
Ed. Grene and Lattimore. University of Chicago Press: 1969.

Format and Requirements

Participation (10%); short essay (1000 words) (30%); final essay (2500 words) (30%); final exam: (30%).

Prerequisites

POL200Y1 or POL200Y5 or (POLC70H3 and POLC71H3)