Political Ideas

The course will introduce students into the realm of political ideas, their importance in politics and social life as well as to the content of the main currents of political thought, both ancient and modern.

The course will introduce students into the realm of political ideas, their importance in politics and social life as well as to the content of the main currents of political thought, both ancient and modern.

Asessment of the status and real impact of political ideas depends on our fundamental understanding of politics and political process as such. According to some scholars, political ideas are secondary to such factors as material or economic foundations of social life. Others consider such ideas to be reflections and rationalizations of what they see as deeper, cultural structures. However, according to another approach, relations between thought and living conditions and experiences look different – ideas are primary, they shape our understanding of social life, expressing not only what is (explaining status quo), but also what could or ought to be (promoting change).

We will discuss all major interpretations, naturally focusing on the latter approach.

Topics:

1. Outline of ancient and medieval political ideas.

2. Modernity as the turning moment. Leo Strauss’s interpretation of the differences of between classical and modern political philosophy.

3. Early modern ideas - the importance of Thomas Hobbes’s and Niccolò Machiavelli’s ideas.

4. European Enlightenment and the heritage of the French Revolution 1789 as another formative period in the development of political ideas.

5. Main currents of political thought:

- liberalism

- conservatism

- socialism and communism

- anarchism

- Fascism and Nazism

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.

Assessment:

1. Regular attendance - required. Two absences are allowed without consequences. In case of greater number of absences, some additional reading or an extra assignment paper may be required.

2. Active participation in class discussions, based first of all on assigned reading - recommended.

3. Short mid-term exam (in-class essay, 40 minutes) - required.

4. Final written examination (in-class essay, 80 minutes) - required.

Important: in order to complete the course, student needs to meet formal criteria (attendance) and to receive at least a passing grade (“3”) from the final exam.

The final exam ("zaliczenie na ocenę") will be held at the beginning of the examination session.

Grade distribution (approximately):

Attendance, participation in class discussions: 20%

Mid-term exam: 25%

Final examination: 55%