History of Political Ideas 2100-ERASMUS-HPID
This course will introduce students to the key ideas, thinkers, and texts of the Western tradition of political thought. It adopts a chronological approach, beginning with the Greek origins of political ideas, covering the most important ideational developments in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern era, and concluding with the political aspects of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy.
The chronological approach does not mean a mere linear reconstruction of major ideas—the course will attempt to address, in a comparative manner, a few fundamental questions, dilemmas, and controversies of Western political philosophy and theory, such as:
1. The problem of knowledge (also considered the basic problem of legitimacy): What do we know, and in what way? (revelation, faith, experience, reason, different types of rationality)
2. Human nature and the character of social and political institutions
3. The question of justice and the social aspects of human conduct
4. The problem of power and authority
This course does not require any prior specific knowledge of political ideas (though it would be very helpful). However, participants are expected to be familiar with fundamental political and social concepts; they should also know the basics of the history of Western civilization.
Topics (Classes):
1. Ancient Political Thought – Greek Beginnings
The concept of the polis, Athenian democracy
Sophists and Socrates (relativism vs. rationalism & ethical intellectualism)
Plato (theory of ideas, ideal state, critique of democracy)
Aristotle (origins of the state, the best political order, Plato and Aristotle—similarities and differences)
2. Political Dimension of Christian Thought
Early Christianity, its understanding of power and social order
St. Augustine
St. Thomas Aquinas (comparison with St. Augustine)
3. Early Modern Political Thought
Thomas More (utopianism, anti-utopias / dystopias)
Niccolò Machiavelli (various interpretations; The Prince and Discourses—are these works consistent?; Renaissance republicanism)
Thomas Hobbes (human nature, the state of nature, social contract, understanding of authority)
4. The Enlightenment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (the state of nature, critique of civilization & progress, social contract, general will vs. the will of all, understanding of freedom)
Immanuel Kant (liberal motifs)
5. Liberal Thought (Aristocratic and Classical Periods)
John Locke (the state of nature, social contract, and vision of authority—in comparison with Hobbes)
John Stuart Mill (utilitarian justification of the liberal order)
6. Two Faces of Early Conservatism
Joseph de Maistre (the French Revolution, the problem of change, human nature, critique of rationalism)
Edmund Burke (in comparison with de Maistre)
7. Socialism and Communism
Karl Marx (“scientific” vs. “utopian” socialism, theory of history and socio-economic development, justification of revolution)
8. Political Aspects of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Philosophy
Critique of Christianity, liberalism, and democracy; the question of nihilism; the death of God; Übermensch; Nietzsche and fascism
Note: Topics 1–6 will each be covered over two consecutive classes.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Assessment criteria
Assessment:
Regular attendance – Required. Two absences are allowed without consequence. In the event of additional absences, extra reading or a written assignment may be required.
Active participation in class discussions, primarily based on assigned readings – Recommended.
Short midterm exam (in-class essay, 40 minutes) – Required.
Final written examination (in-class essay, 80 minutes) – Required.
Important: In order to complete the course, students must meet the formal attendance criteria and receive at least a passing grade (“3”) on the final exam.
The final exam (zaliczenie na ocenę) will be held on the last day of classes.
Grade Distribution (Approximate):
Attendance and class participation: 20%
Midterm exam: 25%
Final examination: 55%
Bibliography
READING:
Assorted Primary Texts – selected fragments of:
Plato’s “Republic”
Aristotle’s “Politics”
St Augustine’s “City of God”
St. Thomas’ “Treatise on Law”, selections of “Summa”
More’s “Utopia”
Machiavelli’s “Prince
Hobbes’ “Leviathan”
Rousseau’s “Social Contract”
Kant’s “Perpetual Peace”
Locke’s “Two Treatises on Government”
J.S. Mill’s “On Liberty” and “Utilitarianism”
Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France”
Marx’s & Engel’s “Communist Manifesto”
Nietzsche’s “Genealogy of Morals” and “Twilight of Idols”
Supplementary reading:
* J.S.McClelland, “A History of Western Political Thought” (selected chapters),
* I. Adams, R. W. Dyson, Fifty Major Political Thinkers, Routledge, New York 2003, (selected fragments),
* Socrates (by Debra Nails) and Plato's Ethics and Politics in The Republic (by Eric Brown), at: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html
* E. B. Portis, Reconstructing the Classics. Political Theory from Plato to Marx (chapters: St. Augustine and the Politics of Sin, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Politics of Salvation), Chatham House Publishers, Chatham, NJ 1998, pp. 49-63, 65-81.
* Isaiah Berlin, The Question of Machiavelli, “The New York Review of Books”, volume 17, number 7 · November 4, 1971 (or on-line at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/10391).
* E. B. Portis, Reconstructing the Classics. Political Theory from Plato to Marx (chapter: Rousseau and the Politics of Citizenship), pp. 135-150.
* Kant's Social and Political Philosophy (by Frederick Rauscher), at:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-social-political/
* E. B. Portis, Reconstructing the Classics. Political Theory from Plato to Marx (chapter 10, Mill and the Politics of Character), pp. 153-167.
* Edmund Burke (by Ian Harris), at: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/burke
* Donald F. Busky, Communism in History and Theory: From Utopian Socialism to the Fall of the Soviet Union, (chapter 3: Utopian Socialism in the Nineteenth Century) pp. 67-83.
All texts will be submitted to participants in the digital format.
The list may be slightly altered - though not extended - during the course.