Dr. V. McGuire University of Colorado
Western Political Thought 2004-888 Spring 2006
Office: Farrand 101 Ph.735-3019 Hours: 11.300-12.30 TTr
Lectures: TTh 4.00-5.15 Kittredge Honors Program
"Man is by nature a political animal.” Aristotle
Webster's: philosophy is:
Main Entry: phiq·losq·oq·phy
Pronunciation: f&-'lää-s(&-)fE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -phies Etymology: Middle English philosophie, from Old French, from Latin philosophia, from Greek, from philosophos philosopher Date: 14th century
1 a (1) : all learning exclusive of technical precepts and practical arts (2) : the sciences and liberal arts exclusive of medicine, law, and theology <a doctor of philosophy> (3) : the 4-year college course of a major seminary b (1) archaic : PHYSICAL SCIENCE (2) : ETHICS c : a discipline comprising as its core logic, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology
2 a : pursuit of wisdom b : a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means c : an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs
3 a : a system of philosophical concepts b : a theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity or thought <the philosophy of war> <philosophy of science>
4 a : the most general beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group b : calmness of temper and judgment befitting a philosopher
Course Description: This course provides more aggressive students with an introduction to the study of western political thought. Through a critical reading of the works of eight seminal thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Mill, students investigate some of the most important perspectives that have emerged over the past 2500 years for discussing political issues. The course is broken into four sections: Greek, Christian, Liberal and Modern theoretic eras. Among the questions to be considered in the course are: What is justice? Why obey? What is the good society? What is the best regime? Are there natural rights? If so, what are they? What is the calculus between toleration and totalitarianism? As we will see, the answers to these questions vary and change over time. By understanding this change we may, hopefully, better understand the world and society in which we live. The specific theme will be a search for the natural law and, its relationship to the best regime.
Goals: This Honors course is designed to give the advanced student an opportunity to do more in-depth types of work. Toward this end, a great deal is expected of students. The benefit is the student will gain greater insight and knowledge of political thought and, most importatnlty, him or ser self .
Procedure: Most classes will be of the lecture/discussion format. This does not abrogate the student of any work. This is a course of ideas but the ideas come from the students. There will be many opportunities for you to have ideas but you must create your own personal set of ideas. They may be the same as your friends or your parents but they must be yours, not theirs. Thus, participation in class is crucial, not just for the course but for your personal development. In addition, each student will make a presentations on one or more books. (See below)
The Ethics of the Course: What are our aims, and how are we going to achieve them? The central value of all education should be truth seeking. Truth cannot be acquired if we do not eschew nihilism (saying ‘there’s no such thing’), emotivism (believing what makes you feel good), or populism (to avoid "weird" beliefs). The main constraints on how we pursue truth are a limited rationality, mutual respect and civility. Limited rationality is being prepared to give reasons and evidence for what you believe, reasons that are at least understandable to your audience and do not pursue ends at all costs, ad nauseam. Mutual respect is that each of us as human beings has a natural aptitude for truth-seeking. Moreover, we are naturally social beings -- we need each other in order to fully realize this truth-seeking aptitude. This does not require us to blunt the edge of disagreement, or lapse into an easygoing relativism. Lastly, civility is a mutual respect. It expresses itself in deference and humility. Criticize the ideas, not the person! We will not accuse each other of evil (e.g., racism, sexism, etc.) on the basis of sincere expressions of ideas. [thanks to Robert C. Koons for this construction].
Policies: All University policies are in effect for this course. [http://www.colorado.edu/policies/index.html] The University Honor Code [http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/Home.html] is the most important policy in this class. It is taken, by me, with the utmost seriousness. Familiarize yourself with these policies especially in regards to incompletes, drops/add, withdrawal, etc. Students are expected to attend all classes, do all reading prior to the class and take all exams at the appointed times. No make-up exams will be given. No ‘extra credit’ given. Every effort shall be made to accommodate all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance.
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and
require accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that your
learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide
documentation of your disability to the Disability Services Office in Willard
322 (phone 303-492-8671).
If you have any problems with the college, the course, the material or me,
please come see me. If there is anything I can help you with please come see
me. I am here to help.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Plato, (2000) The Republic, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, ISBN: 0-521-48443-X
Aristotle, (1988) The Politics, Stephen Everson, ed., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, 1996, Second Edition, ISBN 0-521-35731-4
Augustine, (2001) Augustine: Political Writings, Edited by E. M. Atkins, R. J. Dodaro Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, ISBN: 0521441722
Aquinas, Aquinas's Shorter Summa, Sophia Institute Press, ISBN: 1928832431
Machiavelli, (1988) The Prince Quentin Skinner and Russell Price, eds., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought ISBN 0-521-34993-1
Hobbes, Leviathan (1996) Richard Tuck ed., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, Revised student edition ISBN: 0521567971
Locke, (1988) Two Treatises of Government, Peter Laslett, ed., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought 1988 ISBN 0-521-35730-6
Rousseau, (1997) The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings Victor Gourevitch, ed., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought ISBN 0-521-42446-1
Mill, On Liberty (1989) Stefan Collini, ed., Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, ISBN: 0521379172
Harvey C. Mansfield (2001) A Student’s Guide to Political Philosophy ISI Books; ISBN: 1882926439
James V. Schall A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning Intercollegiate Studies Institute: ISBN 1-882926-53-6
Michael Schermer, 2004, “The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule” Henry Holt, ISBN 0-8050-7520-8 (Recommended)
Steven Pinker, 2002, “The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature” Penguin, ISBN 0-14-200334-4 (Recommended)
Books are on sale at the UMC bookstore and Colorado bookstore on the hill. You are responsible for acquiring the books. They are also available on-line at, e.g., bigwords.com or textbooks.com
EVALUATION:
There are four midterm exams, a presentation and paper on one or more authors a final exam and participation.
Midterms: Each midterm exam is essay in format and drawn from class lectures and assigned readings on one section. All essays will be written in blue or black ink. You must bring an 8 ½ x 11 "blue book" to all exams (also available in the bookstore). To attain a passing grade ALL work must be completed.
Presentation and paper: I will assign each student a theorist. The student will be investigate that reading in depth. The student will also write a five (5) page paper on the book and its relation to understanding natural law and regime. There will also be another reader who will read both books in that section but in less depth. This person will write a five (5) page paper and compare and contrast the readings. Reports will be typed, double spaced and in your best prose style. The paper is due on the day the presentation is given. Also, a copy must be sent to me via E-mail, either in the body or as an attachment. The assignment is not considered complete until I receive an electronic copy of your paper.
Final Exam: This exam is a take-home exam. It will be an attempt to summarize the course, using Harvey Mansfield’s book and judge whether Western Political Thought is the most useful course in a liberal education, as defined my James Schall.
Participation: In an Honors class discussion among and between students is paramount. As much as anything, in a seminar setting students learn from each other. Toward this end participation is an integral part of the total grade and I will take it very seriously. The participation grade will be of equal value to all the other grades.
University of Colorado grading criteria:
Superior/Excellent ................A
A-
B+
Good/Better than Average.....B
B-
C+
Competent/Average...............C
C-
D+
D
Minimum Passing.................. D-
F
E-mail list: Each student must subscribe to the class’s E-mail list. To subscribe send the following E-mail message:
listproc@lists.colorado.edu
leave the subject Blank. In the content area insert:
"subscribe khptheory full name" without the quotes
send message.
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