PoGo 341

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Political Theory Since 1500

This course provides an introduction to some of the major thinkers and ideas in European political philosophy from 1500 to the present day. We will explore perennial themes in politics: the nature of justice, liberty, and community; the origins of political society and of the will to power; the source and limits of political obligation and the justifications and cause of revolution; the relationship of God and morality to politics; and the quality of our own knowledge of politics.

The course has two primary objectives. First, the course is designed to acquaint the student with some of the main ideas of a few of the more profound thinkers on politics in the modern era. While this might make you only slightly more interesting at cocktail parties, it can provide a profound insight into the Western social, political, and intellectual history that continues to influence our lives. We live in a nation governed according to a constitution written in large part over two hundred years ago. The authors of this document were intimately familiar with the writings of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Locke. The French Revolution, the first great movement in the democratization of Europe, was inspired in part by the writings of Rousseau. In most of the world, contemporary thought on the nature of the economy is based in no small part on the thinking of Smith, Bentham, and Mill. In much of the rest of the world, including the largest nation, Karl Marx is considered the most gifted social and economic theorist. The ideas of Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche are still very much alive in the discussions of contemporary moral philosphers. We will also read some of the great theorists of the 20^th century, including Dewey, Gramsci, de Beauvoir, Arendt, Foucault, Rawls, and Habermas, whose ideas continue to provide political and philosophical inspiration.

The second objective is even more important than the first. It is a goal of this course to inspire students to challenge their own political beliefs. While each of these theorists has attracted a number of disciples down to the present day, the idea is not to convert anyone to Marxism, liberalism, postmodernism, or any other "ism," but rather to encourage students to use the writings of Marx, Mill, Foucault, and the others to evaluate their own political conceptions. These philosophers offer powerful arguments about human nature—what kinds of lives and politics people are capable of; the scope of the political realm in human life—what things are of public concern and what should be kept private; and how to discern appropriate political action—how to do the right thing. Reflecting on these and other arguments touching at the foundations of politics, we as individuals might find some of them convincing, some of them ridiculous. But the hope is that the examination of why these arguments are or are not compelling to us will challenge and thus enrich our own nascent ideas about politics.