(in Polish) Politics and Violence 3800-PV26-S-OG
The seminar will provide a theoretically grounded and historically situated introduction to the
relationship between politics and violence. Its primary aim is to demonstrate that violence cannot be
reduced to war or spectacular acts of cruelty. Rather, it also manifests itself in law, the apparatus of the
state, the economy, ideology, language, systems of punishment, and related institutional and social
formations. Violence is linked to the sphere of politics through relations of power, as well as through
processes of regulation and the organization of the life of the political community. It encompasses
different historical moments and different forms of operation, including direct, structural, symbolic,
colonial, racial, economic, and biopolitical violence. Alongside the philosophical justifications of
violence, the seminar will also examine the relations between violence and power, as well as between
violence and law.
The seminar will consist of the analysis of selected theoretical texts and historical case studies.
Discussion will be organized around several core questions, such as: what is the difference between
violence, coercion, force, domination, and power? Can political violence ever be justified? What is the
relationship between violence and the state? In what ways do ideology, propaganda, and language
normalize violence? How, if at all, do surveillance, secrecy, and policing practices transform the
meaning of violence in democratic societies? Is a politics without violence possible? The overarching
aim of the course, therefore, is to explore whether politics can ever be disentangled from violence, or
whether the task of political philosophy is rather to distinguish among the forms, limits, justifications,
and consequences of violence.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Acquired skills:
Student can:
K_U01, independently interpret the philosophical text, creatively and innovatively comment and
confront ideas derived from various texts
K_U02, specify the degree of significance of the examined problem or argumentation and ideas
K_U03, analyze complex philosophical arguments, identify their assumptions, determine logical and
argumentative relationships within them
K_U04, identify advanced argumentative strategies in oral and written statements
K_U06, creatively and innovatively use philosophical and methodological knowledge in formulating
hypotheses and constructing critical arguments
K_U09, construct and reconstruct arguments from the perspective of various philosophical positions,
taking into account the types of argumentation specific to each of them and noticing convergences and
differences between them
K_U10, write creative texts based on self-selected literature, using original, innovative approaches and
taking into account new achievements in the field of political philosophy
Social competences acquired:
Student is ready to:
K_K02, recognize gaps in his/her knowledge and skills and search for the possibility of removing
these gaps
K_K03, independently undertake professional activities as well as planning and organizing them
K_K04, perceiving and formulating ethical problems related to one’s own research; be responsible to
colleagues and other members of society, and be active in solving these problems
K_K05 participate in social and cultural life; is interested in innovative philosophical concepts in
connection with other parts of cultural and social life and encourages the implementation of these
concepts
Additional learning outcomes for PHD students
WG_01, to the extent that allows the revision of existing paradigms - achievements, including
theoretical foundations as well as general issues and selected specific issues - appropriate for
humanities disciplines, in this case concerning the issue of violence in political philosophy,
WK_01, fundamental dilemmas of modern political philosophy from the perspective of the
humanities.
Assessment criteria
activity (discussion in class, participation etc.) - 45%
preparing and leading workshops – 45%
creating report from text and discussion – 10%
Allowed number of absences during semester: 2
Bibliography
Selection: Agamben, Giorgio, Homo Sacer. Sovereign Power and Bare Life; Arendt, Hannah, On
Violence; Arendt, Hannah, Civil Disobedience; Benjamin, Walter, Critique of Violence; Clausewitz,
Carl von, On War; Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth; Foucault, Michel, Discipline and
Punish; Galtung, Johan, Violence, Peace, and Peace Research; Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan;
Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince; Sussman, David, What’s Wrong with Torture?; Thucydides, History
of the Peloponnesian War; Walzer, Michael, Just and Unjust Wars; Žižek, Slavoj, Violence.