POL200Y1Y L5101
Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society
Themes
This course introduces students to ancient, medieval, and early modern political thought. To bring some focus to our broad inquiry, we will concentrate primarily on common ethical and political concepts, questions, and problems. Particular attention will be paid to questions of justice, freedom, equality, and political authority, and how various articulations of these concepts serve as the foundations of liberalism. There is a rich set of foundational questions posed by these thinkers that we continue to engage today. This course aims to be self-reflexive about the perspectives we have chosen to include, as it is important to consider the voices that are absent and why. By the end of this course, students should be able to engage critically with key political concepts and develop their reflective, argumentative, and writing skills.
Texts
Plato. The Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube, ed. C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1992; Aristotle. Politics. 2nd ed., ed. C. Lord. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2013; Al-Farabi, TBA; de Pizan. The Book of the City of Ladies and Other Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2018; Machiavelli. Selected Political Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994; More. Utopia. Trans. C. Miller. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014; Cavendish, TBA; Hobbes. Leviathan. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994; Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Ed. C.B. Macpherson. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980.
Format and Requirements
Attendance and Participation (15%), Weekly Reading Quizzes (5%), Passage Interpretation (15%), Theme Essay (20%), Comparative Essay (20%), Capstone Writing Assignment (25%)