PS 50: INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
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Ms. Sharon Snowiss
Office: 206 Scott Hall, ext 73178
Fall 2006 email: ssnowiss@pitzer.edu
Office Hours: MW 4:15-5:30PM
This course is a broad introduction to the field of Political Philosophy. People from every society have asked fundamental questions concerning the nature of the universe, the character and purpose of human life, and the determination of just political and social orders. Answers to these questions have varied profoundly over time and across the world. The course will compare responses by selected political thinkers from different societies. There are many rich traditions of political discourse. The comparisons will serve as an introduction to a number of these traditions as well as highlighting and providing a deeper understanding of concepts that we take for granted in our own tradition.
The course is designed as a discussion class. It is expected that assigned readings will be completed by class time and that students will participate actively in the conversations. Students are also expected to complete two papers (7-10 pages each) and a final examination. From time to time, short (1-2 pages) position papers will be assigned to help facilitate discussions. Grading will be based on an equal weighting of the above components: 25% participation, 25% for each of the papers and 25% for the final examination.
Assigned books are available at Huntley Book Store.
Other readings are available on electronic reserve at Honnold Library.
Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching
Plato, The Apology and Crito
Plato, The Republic
Aristotle, The Politics
Machiavelli, The Prince
Hobbes, The Leviathan
Locke, The Letter on Toleration
The Bible: Old and New Testaments
The Koran
Parel and Keith, Comparative Political Philosophy: Studies Under the Upas Tree
T.N. Ramaswamy, Essentials of Indian Statecraft: Kautilya's Arthasastra (ereserves)
Confucius, The Analects
Han Fei Tzu, Basic Writings
Descartes, Discourse on Method
READING ASSIGNMENTS
August 30 Introduction
September 4 The Comparative Perspective
Parel and Keith, Comparative Political Philosophy, chpt. 1-3
Arendt, “Introduction” to Between Past and Future (ereserves)
NATURE AND THE POLITICAL ORDER
September 6 The Bible (Genesis 1-29, Exodus 1-21, 28-34, 1 Samuel 8-11,
Isaiah 1-7, 21, 45, John 1-8, 13-14)
September 11 The Koran (selections)
September 13 Lao Tse, The Tao Te Ching
September 18 Descartes, The Discourse on Method
September 20-25 The Questions of King Melinda (ereserves) p. 1-136, 190-95,
202-13
PHILOSOPHY AND THE POLITICAL ORDER
September 27 Plato, The Apology and the Crito
October 2 Plato, The Republic , Part 1, Part 2 chpt. 5
October 4 Aristotle, The Politics , Bk I, III chpt 1-4, Bk VII
October 9 Confucius, The Analects , Bk 1-8, 11-15
October 11 Hsun Tzu, Basic Writings (ereserves)
October 13 First Paper Due
October 16 Fall Break (no class)
REASON VERSUS REVELATION: RELIGION AND STATE
October 18 St. Thomas Aquinas Introduction to St. T. Aquinas (ereserves)
p. 3-15, 435,609-22, 646-50
St. Augustine , Political Writings of St. Augustine (ereserves)
p.1-21, 28, 118-133. 195. 203-228
Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (ereserves) p. 154-166, 170-178, 183-188, 333-346, 388-90, 398-405
Alfarabi, “The Letter Concerning the Intellect” in Walsh & James, Philosophy in the Middle Ages (ereserves)
Averroes, “The Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection Between Religion and Philosophy” in Walsh & James (ereserves)
Umar, “Farabi and Greek Philosophy in Parel and Keith, Comparative Political Philosophy (optional)
Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching (ereserves) no. 15, 16, 43, 47-51, 78
Religion and the State
October 23
Hobbes, Leviathan (selections)
Locke, Letter on Toleration
MORALITY VERSUS EXPEDIENCY
October 25 Machiavelli, The Prince
October 30 Kautilaya's, Arthasastra (selections)
November l K.J. Shah, “Of Artha and The Arthasastra” in Parel and Keith
Confucius, The Analects , Bk 13-17
Chuang Tzu, Basic Writings (ereserves)
GOVERNMENT: AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY
November 6-8 Aristotle, The Politics Bk IV, V
Chuang Tzu (ereserves)
The Koran (selections)
The Bible (selections)
November 13-15 The Law and Society
Hobbes, The Leviathan (selections)
Han Fei Tzu, Basic Writings Keith, “Law and Society in Confucian Thought” in Parel
and Keith (optional)
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY
November 20-22 Hobbes, The Leviathan (selections
J.S. Mill, On Liberty , chpt. 3 (ereserves)
Confucius, The Analects (selections)
Gbadegesin, “Eniyan: The Yoruba Concept of a Person (ereserves)
Plato, “ The Myth of Er”, The Republic, Part VI
November 27 Equality and Hierarchy
Plato, The Republic (selections)
The Bhagavad Gita (ereserves)chpts. 1-4, 6, 13,18
December 1 Second Paper Due
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD: GLOBALIZATION AND DIALOGUE
November 29 Nationalism/Decolonialism
Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (ereserves)
Mao Tse Tung (selections)
Keith, “Mao Zedong and his Political Thought” in Parel and Keith
Ware, “What Good is Democracy? The Alternatives in China and the West”, in Parel and Keith
December 4 Moral Critique of the West
Gandhi (ereserves)
Parel, “M. Gandhi's Critique of Modernity” in Parel and Keith
Tehranian, “Khomeini's Doctrine of Legitimacy” in Parel and Keith
December 6 Dialogue
Final Examination: Friday, December 15, 2006, 2PM
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