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Abstract/Syllabus:
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Song, Sarah, 17.03 Introduction to Political Thought, Spring 2004. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 09 Jul, 2010). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
Spring 2004
Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651. Holmes Collection. (Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.)
Course Highlights
This course features a full set of lecture notes and links to downloadable readings.
Course Description
This course examines major texts in the history of political thought and the questions they raise about the design of the political and social order. It considers the ways in which thinkers have responded to the particular political problems of their day, and the ways in which they contribute to a broader conversation about human goods and needs, justice, democracy, and the proper relationship of the individual to the state. One aim will be to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various regimes and philosophical approaches in order to gain a critical perspective on our own. Thinkers include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Tocqueville.
*Some translations represent previous versions of courses.
Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651. Holmes Collection. (Image courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.)
Course Highlights
This course features a full set of lecture notes and links to downloadable readings.
Course Description
This course examines major texts in the history of political thought and the questions they raise about the design of the political and social order. It considers the ways in which thinkers have responded to the particular political problems of their day, and the ways in which they contribute to a broader conversation about human goods and needs, justice, democracy, and the proper relationship of the individual to the state. One aim will be to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various regimes and philosophical approaches in order to gain a critical perspective on our own. Thinkers include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Tocqueville.
*Some translations represent previous versions of courses.
Syllabus
This course examines major texts in the history of political thought and the questions they raise about the design of the political and social order. It considers the ways in which thinkers have responded to the particular political problems of their day, and the ways in which they contribute to a broader conversation about human goods and needs, justice, democracy, and the proper relationship of the individual to the state. One aim will be to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various regimes and philosophical approaches in order to gain a critical perspective on our own. Thinkers include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Tocqueville.
Course Requirements
| First Paper (5-7 pages) |
25% |
| Second Paper (5-7 pages) |
35% |
| Final Exam |
30% |
| Participation |
10% |
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A selection of paper topics will be distributed two weeks in advance of each paper assignment.
A selection of exam questions will also be distributed in advance of the final, a subset of which will appear in the exam itself.
Calendar
| 1 |
Introduction |
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| 2 |
Plato, Apology |
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| 3 |
Plato, Crito |
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| 4 |
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics |
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| 5-6 |
Aristotle, Politics |
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| 7 |
Machiavelli, The Prince |
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| 8-9 |
Machiavelli, The Discourses on Livy |
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| 10-12 |
Hobbes, Leviathan |
First paper due (Lec #11) |
| 13-15 |
Locke, Second Treatise |
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| 16-17 |
Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality |
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| 18-19 |
Rousseau, Social Contract |
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| 20 |
Marx, "On the Jewish Question," and "1844 Manuscripts" |
Second paper due |
| 21 |
Marx, "Communist Manifesto and Selections from Capital" |
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| 22-24 |
Tocqueville, Democracy in America |
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| 25 |
Concluding Lecture |
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| 26 |
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Final exam |
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Further Reading:
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Readings
Required Texts
Plato. Four Texts on Socrates. Translated by T. G. West, and G. S. West. London, UK: Cornell University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780801485749.
Aristotle. Politics. Edited by Stephen Iverson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988. (Download a version from the Internet Classics Archive.)
Machiavelli. The Portable Machiavelli. Edited by Peter Bondanella, and Mark Musa. New York, NY: Penguin, 1979. ISBN: 9780140150926.
Hobbes. Leviathan. Edited by Richard Tuck. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780521560993. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)
Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Edited by C. B. Macpherson. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co., 1980. ISBN: 9780915144938. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)
Rousseau. Basic Political Writings. Edited by Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co., 1987. ISBN: 9780872200470.
Marx. The Marx-Engels Reader. Edited by Robert Tucker. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1978. ISBN: 9780393056846.
Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Edited by J. P. Mayer. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1988. ISBN: 9780060915223. (Download versions from Project Gutenberg: Volume 1 and Volume 2.)
Reading Assignments
| 1 |
Introduction |
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| 2 |
Plato, Apology |
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| 3 |
Plato, Crito |
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| 4 |
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics |
Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics. Edited by Iverson. Book 10. Chapter 9.
———. Politics. Book 1 (entire).
———. Politics. Book 2. Chapters 1-5. |
| 5 |
Aristotle, Politics |
Aristotle. Politics. Book 3 (entire).
———. Politics. Book 4. Chapters 1-13. |
| 6 |
Aristotle, Politics (cont.) |
Aristotle. Politics. Book 5. Chapters 1-5 and 8.
———. Politics. Book 6. Chapters 1-5.
———. Politics. Book 7 (entire). |
| 7 |
Machiavelli, The Prince |
Machiavelli. The Prince. Dedication, and chapters 1-14. |
| 8 |
Machiavelli, The Discourses on Livy |
Machiavelli. The Prince. Chapters 15-26.
———. Discourses on Livy. Book 1. Introduction and chapters 1-5. |
| 9 |
Machiavelli, The Discourses on Livy (cont.) |
Machiavelli. Discourses on Livy. Book 1. Chapters 6-12, 16-18, 55 and 58.
———. Discourses on Livy. Book 2. Introduction, and chapters 1-2.
———. Discourses on Livy. Book 3. Chapters 1 and 40-41. |
| 10 |
Hobbes, Leviathan |
Hobbes. Leviathan. Introduction, and chapters 6, 10-11 and 13. |
| 11 |
Hobbes, Leviathan (cont.) |
Hobbes. Leviathan. Chapters 14-19. |
| 12 |
Hobbes, Leviathan (cont.) |
Hobbes. Leviathan. Chapters 21, 24 and 28-30. |
| 13 |
Locke, Second Treatise |
Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 1-5. |
| 14 |
Locke, Second Treatise (cont.) |
Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 7-9. |
| 15 |
Locke, Second Treatise (cont.) |
Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 10-14, and 19 (pp. 211-230 and 240-243). |
| 16 |
Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality |
Rousseau. Discourse on Inequality. Part 1. |
| 17 |
Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality (cont.) |
Rousseau. Discourse on Inequality. Part 2. |
| 18 |
Rousseau, Social Contract |
Rousseau. Social Contract. Book 1 (all).
———. Social Contract. Book 2. Chapters 1-4, 6-9. |
| 19 |
Rousseau, Social Contract (cont.) |
Rousseau. Social Contract. Book 3. Chapters 1-7, 9-10.
———. Social Contract. Book 4. Chapters 1-2, 7-9. |
| 20 |
Marx, "On the Jewish Question," and "1844 Manuscripts" |
Marx. "On the Jewish Question." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 26-52.
———. "1844 Manuscripts." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 70-105.
———. "Communist Manifesto." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 472-91. |
| 21 |
Marx, Communist Manifesto and Selections from Capital |
Marx. "Selections from Capital." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 302-8, 319-29, 392-403 and 407-15. |
| 22 |
Tocqueville, Democracy in America |
Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Vol. 1. Introduction, Part 1, chapters 2-4, chapter 5 (pp. 61-70 and 87-98), Part 2, chapter 4, chapter 5 (pp. 196-201 and 220-230), chapters 6-9, chapter 10 (pp. 316-20 and 340-63), Conclusion. |
| 23-24 |
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (cont.) |
Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Vol. 2. Part 1, chapters 1-2, Part 2 chapters 1-8, Part 3, chapters 1, 5, and 7-9, Part 4, chapters 1-3, and 6-8. |
| 25 |
Concluding Lecture |
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