Download HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: AN INTRODUCTION Sample

HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: AN INTRODUCTION
Sample Syllabus
Alexander Guerrero
I. OVERVIEW: This course is an introduction to the history of political thought. We will focus on the
work of ten figures: Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hume, Madison & Hamilton, Mill,
Marx, and Rawls. The course is structured chronologically, although, as we will see, that is not
necessarily because there is a linear progression from one figure to the next. We will read only a
sampling of the work of each of these figures, and, of course, there are many other philosophers and
theorists that might have been added or chosen instead. The course focuses on these figures both because
of their centrality to political thought and because many of the same themes and preoccupations arise in
their work. The particular works assigned were chosen to highlight some of the most important
innovations and ideas of each figure, and to enable careful and sustained attention to each of the following
four sets of interrelated questions:
(1) Conceptual Taxonomy: What are the different kinds of government or types of political
systems? What are their particular features and weaknesses?
(2) Normative Evaluation: How should we evaluate political institutions? What makes one
political system better than another? What are the different political values? Is there a hierarchy
amongst these values? Are they commensurable? What are the best accounts of political values
such as equality, justice, and liberty?
(3) Political Justification: What, if anything, justifies the State, given that the State operates
backed by coercive force? What are the limits, if any, on legitimate State action? How can the
State be kept in check?
(4) Methodology: Is normative political theory constrained by empirical political and social
reality? If so, how, and why? Is “human nature” one such constraint? If so, what is the best
account of human nature? In general, how much must one know about the world—history,
economics, sociology, psychology—in order to engage in political theory and particularly in
normative assessment of political institutions? Is abstract normative assessment possible?
II. TEXTS: We will be using a number of different texts. Please pay special attention to securing the
correct edition. This is important to ensure that (a) we all are using texts with the same pagination and (b)
the translation (when translated) is of high quality.
●Plato, The Republic, Translated by G.M.A. Grube (Hackett)
●Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Penguin World Classics)
●John Locke, Political Writings, ed. David Wootton (Hackett)
●Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, eds. Anne M. Cohler, Basia Carolyn Miller,
Harold Samuel Stone (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
●Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Hackett)
●Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (Hackett)
●David Hume, “On the Original Contract” (online)
●Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, selected Federalist Papers (online)
●John Stuart Mill On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford: Oxford World Classics)
●Karl Marx, The Marx-Engels Reader ed. Robert Tucker (WW Norton)
●John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Revised Edition (Harvard, 1999)
●John Rawls, excerpts from Political Liberalism (handout)
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III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
●Class Participation (15% of grade): Based on quantity and quality of in-class participation.
Effort counts. More precisely, informed effort counts. It will be evident if you have not done the
assigned reading in advance of class. Please do the reading. I leave open the possibility of
including ‘pop quizzes’ as part of class participation. Attendance also counts. Any unexcused
absence can result in a 20% reduction in your overall class participation grade. Absences are
unexcused unless you have contacted me prior to 11am on the day of the class you’ll be missing
to let me know both that you will be absent and why.
●Paper One (20% of grade): The first paper will be due ___. Topics will be distributed on ____.
●Paper Two (25% of grade): The second paper will be due ____. Topics distributed ___.
●Paper Three (40% of grade): The third paper will be due ____. Topics distributed ____.
Important Note: Plagiarism will result in automatic failure for the course. Please come
speak with me if you are having difficulty with a paper. Plagiarism is defined in the
student handbook at _______
IV. TOPICS AND READINGS: There are 24 course meetings. Below, there are 24 different numbered
topics and associated readings. These numbered topics will correspond roughly, though not perfectly,
with the 24 course meetings, so that Topic 1 falls on the first day of class, Topic 2 on the second day of
class, and so on. I will let you know which topic number and reading to prepare for each class. Please
pay attention to these announcements. Feel free to email me if you are ever uncertain of the precise
readings for the next class.
Important Note: When “excerpts” are assigned, the specific reading pages will be identified at
the previous lecture and on the course website.
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Topic
Introduction
Reading
●no reading
Plato (424 BC – 348 BC)
2
3
4
Plato: The City/Soul Analogy
Plato: Guardians and Philosopher Kings
Plato: Decline of the Polis
●excerpts from The Republic Books II-V
●excerpts from The Republic Books VI-VII
●excerpts from The Republic Books VIII-IX
Hobbes (1588 – 1679)
5
Hobbes: The State of Nature
6
Hobbes: Consent and the Social
Contract
Hobbes: The Sovereign
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●Leviathan Introduction, Chapters 11-13
● Sharon Lloyd and Susanne Sreedhar, “Hobbes’s Moral
and Political Philosophy,” Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (2008)
●Leviathan Chapters 14-15, 20-21, 31, 43
●Leviathan Chapters 16, 17, 18-21 (review 20-21), 26, 30
Locke (1632 – 1704)
8
Locke: Natural Law and Punishment
●Second Treatise Chapters 1-4
2
9
10
Locke: Property, State of Nature, and
Consent
Locke: Religion and Tolerance
●Second Treatise Chapters 5, 7-9, 11, 14
●First Treatise Chapter 4, Section 42
●excerpts from “A Letter Concerning Toleration”
Montesquieu (1689 – 1755)
11
12
Montesquieu: The Nature and
Corruption of Governments
Montesquieu: Separation of Powers,
Importance of Context
●excerpts from The Spirit of Laws Books 2-5, 8
●excerpts from The Spirit of Laws Books 11, 12, 14, 18
●Sharon Krause, “The Spirit of Separate Powers in
Montesquieu,” Review of Politics (2000)
Rousseau (1712 – 1778)
13
14
15
Rousseau: Inequality and Human
Nature
Rousseau: The General Will and the
Social Contract
Rousseau: Governments, Contract, and
Power
●excerpts from “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”
●excerpts from On the Social Contract Books 1 and 2
●excerpts from On the Social Contract Books 3 and 4
Hume (1711 – 1776)
16
Hume: Consent and Contract
●excerpts from “Of the Original Contract”
Madison (1751 – 1836) and Hamilton (1755 – 1804)
17
Madison and Hamilton: Size, Scope,
Power
●The Federalist Papers 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 39, 51, 78
Mill (1806 – 1873)
18
19
20
Mill: Utilitarianism and Welfare
Mill: Liberty and Democracy
Mill: Liberty and the State
●excerpts from Utilitarianism
●excerpts from On Liberty I, II, III
●excerpts from On Liberty IV and V
Marx (1818 – 1883)
21
22
Marx: Class, Property, Power
Marx: Religion and the State
●Communist Manifesto I and II
●excerpts from “On the Jewish Question”
Rawls (1921 – 2002)
23
Rawls: The Original Position and the
Two Principles of Justice
24
Rawls: Overlapping Consensus and
Public Reason
●A Theory of Justice Chapter 1 (Sections 1-4 only),
Chapter 2 (Sections 10-14 only), Chapter 3 (Sections 2026 only)
●excerpts from Political Liberalism Introduction, Lecture
IV, Lecture VI
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