History of Political Thought 71-108-18

History of Political Thought

71-108-18

Lecturer: Dr. Avital Pilpel
Type of Course: compulsory

Academic Year: 2015-16 Semester: A+B Credit Hours: 2
Lecturer Details:

Time: ***** ******

Office Hours: ****** ******

Email: [e-mail]

A. Course Objectives

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, law, 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. Another would be to gain historical perspective: to see how the same questions were important to most cultures in most places, and to see the connections and influences of different period had on later thinkers, or how one culture’s thought influenced another.
In the first semester we will consider pre-modern political thought: from its beginnings to the end of the Renaissance. In the second semester we will consider modern thought, from Hobbes onward. Thinkers and sources include, among others, the Bible, Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Ibn Khaldun, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, and Rawls.

B. Course Requirements

1. Attendance & Active Participation.

2. Required Reading: See list below.

3. Midterm and Final Examinations.

4. Paper (7-8 pages)

C. Final Grade Apportionment:

Paper : 20%

Midterm examination: 40%

Final examination: 40%.

To pass the course, a minimal grade of 60% is required in each exam and in the paper.

D. The Course Program and Readings

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, we always will only read selections from the primary sources noted below (i.e., those of the philosophers themselves, as opposed to commentary on them)

1st Semester:

Section 1:

Ancestral Voices Prophesying War: Introduction and Political Thought in the Ancient World: Pre-Socratic Ideas.

1^st Lesson: Is there political thought in the Bible?

2^nd Lesson: The politics of the Gods: The Iliad and Greek Mythology

3^rd Lesson: The Greek presocratic ideas: from Homer to Parmenides

Primary Sources:

The Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, Samuel I

Homer, Iliad

881 HOM – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the English, History & Literature libraries
Presocratic philosophers -- selections
Secondary Sources:

Ball, Terence. "The Value of the History of Political Philosophy", in: George Klosko (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy, 2011, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 47-59.

320.01 OXF 2013 (2398204) – in the Philosophy library
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology (selections; available in numerous editions)

292 HAM m (186063) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the English library
Hazony, Yoram. "Does the Bible Have a Political Teaching?", HPS, Vol. 1, No. 2, Winter 2006, pp. 137-161.

Section 2:

ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον: Greek and Roman Political Philosophy

4^th Lesson: Plato’s Republic and the Laws

5^th Lesson: Aristotle’s Politics

6^th Lesson: The Stoics, Epicureans, and others Late-Hellenism thinkers

7^th Lesson: O tempora! O mores! – Cicero and Roman political thought.
Primary Sources:

Plato: The Apology,

184 PLA – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the English library

The Republic,

321.07 PLA r – in the Cen.lib-Stacks

Laws

888 PLA l.S (128940) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the English library
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics,

185 ART – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the Philosophy library

Politics

888 ARI po.E (105794) – in the Social Sciences library
Epicurus: The Extant Remains

888 EPI e.B (1190874) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks
Seneca: Moral and Political Works

N/A
Cicero, De Re Publica [sic], De Legibus

878 CIC 5/r.K (253575) – In the Cen.lib-Stacks & the Literature library

Secondary Sources:

Barker, Ernest. Greek Political Theory. 1967, London: Methuen, pp. 1-60.

320.938 g5 (155017) – in the Philosophy, French & the Literature libraries
Michael, Oakeshott. Lectures in the History of Political Thought. 2006. Exeter : Imprint Academic, Ch. 10, pp. 160-175.

Ebook (2417102)
Griffin, M., 1992, Seneca: A Philosopher in Politics 2^nd edn., Oxford: Oxford University Press. (selections)

N/A

Section 4:

Civitas Dei – Medieval Political Thought

8^th Lesson: Augustine

9^th Lesson: Thomas Aquinas

10^th Lesson: Ibn Khaldun and other Islamic thinkers

Primary Sources:

St. Augustine, The City of God

239.3 AUG c (175365) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the History library
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

189.4 THO s (330731) – in the Philosophy library
Ibn Kaldun, selections

892.794 IBN-KHA p (271701) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks
Secondary Sources:

Oakeshott, Michael Lectures in the History of Political Thought. 2006. Exeter : Imprint Academic, Ch. 21-22, pp. 322-338, 339-358.

Others TBA

Ebook (2417102)

Section 5:

“Hier stehe ich, Ich kann nicht anders”: The Renaissance and the Reformation: From Cynicism to Reform to Utopia

11^th Lesson: Machiavelli

12^th Lesson: Luther

13^th Lesson: More and Summary

Primary Sources:

Machiavelli The Prince, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius

321.6 MAC p (161440)
Luther, Selected Political Writings

270.6 LUT 1961s (95232) – in the Philosophy & English libraries

More, Utopia

321.07 MOR u (275655)
Secondary Sources:

TBA

2nd Semester:

Section 6:

L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers: The Social Contract – Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau

14^th Lesson: Hobbes

15^th Lesson: Locke
16^th Lesson: Rousseau
Primary Sources:

Hobbes, Leviathan

192 HOB l (3353)
Locke, Second Treatise on Government

320.01 LOC s (1220033)
Rousseau, A Discourse on Inequality, The Social Contract

320.1 ROU s (100233)
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

944.04 BUR r (1169062) – in the History library
Secondary Sources:

TBA

Section 7:

Workers of the World, Unite! Idealism from the Enlightenment to Marxism

17^th Lesson: Kant

18^th Lesson: Hegel

19^th Lesson: Feuerbach & Wagner

20^th Lesson: Nietzsche & Marx
Primary Readings:

Kant, What is Enlightenment,

193 KAN f (569320) – in the Philosophy library

Critique of Pure Practical Reason,

193 KAN c (330633) – in the Philosophy library

Perpetual Peace

193 KAN p (2383039) – in the Philosophy library
Hegel, Hegel’s Political Writing,

320.81 HEG h (445670) – in the Philosophy library

The Phenomenology of Spirit

193 HEG p (446001) – in the Philosophy library

Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity

230.01 FEU e (402490) – in the Philosophy & English libraries
Wagner, Art and Revolution

N/A
Nietzsche, So Spake Zarathustra,

193 NIE t (195866) – in the Philosophy & English libraries

On the Genealogy of Morality

193 NIE(ANS) o (267147) – in the Philosophy library
Marx, The Communist Manifesto

335.42 MAR c (295873)
Secondary Sources:

TBA

Section 8:

The Lights are going out all over Europe: The Age of Extremism

21^st Lesson: Communism from Lenin onward

22^nd Lesson: Fascism: Giovanni Gentile & Mussolini

23^rd Lesson: Nazism

Primary Readings:

Lenin, Writings, esp.

What is to be Done?

335.430947 LEN w (37234)

AND

Imperialism, the Last Stage of Capitalism

335.43 LEN I (250644)
Gentile (as Mussolini): A Doctrine of Fascism

320.5330945 GEN o (1120203) – in the Philosophy library
Hitler: My Struggle

943.086 HIT m (603314) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks
Secondary Sources (selections):

Bollock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny

943.086092 HIT(BUL) h (189703)
Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris

943.086092 HIT(KER) h (413015) – in the Cen.lib-Stacks & the History library
Payne, A History of Fascism

320.533 PAY h (322406)

Section 9:

The Veil of Ignorance?: The Modern Thinkers & Summary:

24^th Lesson: Berlin

25^th Lesson: Rawls

26^th Lesson: Nozick & Summary

Primary Reading:

Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty

323.44 BER f (86749)
Rawls, A Theory of Justice

Reserved: under RAW (103450) & Ebook (2429875)
Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

320.1 NOZ a (107790)
Secondary Reading:

TBA