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This course explores the changing role of human psychology in the history of political thought through the study of classic texts in philosophy and psychology. In roughly chronological order, we will examine several key philosophers’ accounts of the deepest human concerns—justice, happiness, and love—and the potential political life has to fulfill those yearnings. In the final part of the course, we will study Darwin’s evolutionary theory of human mental faculties in The Descent of Man, Freud’s theory of unconscious psychological drives, and current theories of evolutionary psychology. We will discuss how these different views of human nature suggest different approaches to politics and ethics.

We will read selections from the following works:

• Plato The Republic, The Symposium 
• St. Augustine: The Confessions, City of God 
• Hobbes The Leviathan 
• Rousseau Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil
• Darwin The Descent of Man 
• Freud Civilization and its Discontents
• And selected articles on evolutionary psychology

This course explores the changing role of human psychology in the history of political thought through the study of classic texts in philosophy and psychology. In roughly chronological order, we will examine several key philosophers’ accounts of the deepest human concerns—justice, happiness, and love—and the potential political life has to fulfill those yearnings. In the final part of the course, we will study Darwin’s evolutionary theory of human mental faculties in The Descent of Man, Freud’s theory of unconscious psychological drives, and current theories of evolutionary psychology. We will discuss how these different views of human nature suggest different approaches to politics and ethics.

We will read selections from the following works:

• Plato The Republic, The Symposium 
• St. Augustine: The Confessions, City of God 
• Hobbes The Leviathan 
• Rousseau Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil
• Darwin The Descent of Man 
• Freud Civilization and its Discontents
• And selected articles on evolutionary psychology

This course explores the changing role of human psychology in the history of political thought through the study of classic texts in philosophy and psychology. In roughly chronological order, we will examine several key philosophers’ accounts of the deepest human concerns—justice, happiness, and love—and the potential political life has to fulfill those yearnings. In the final part of the course, we will study Darwin’s evolutionary theory of human mental faculties in The Descent of Man, Freud’s theory of unconscious psychological drives, and current theories of evolutionary psychology. We will discuss how these different views of human nature suggest different approaches to politics and ethics.

We will read selections from the following works:

• Plato The Republic, The Symposium 
• St. Augustine: The Confessions, City of God 
• Hobbes The Leviathan 
• Rousseau Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil
• Darwin The Descent of Man 
• Freud Civilization and its Discontents
• And selected articles on evolutionary psychology

This course explores the changing role of human psychology in the history of political thought through the study of classic texts in philosophy and psychology. In roughly chronological order, we will examine several key philosophers’ accounts of the deepest human concerns—justice, happiness, and love—and the potential political life has to fulfill those yearnings. In the final part of the course, we will study Darwin’s evolutionary theory of human mental faculties in The Descent of Man, Freud’s theory of unconscious psychological drives, and current theories of evolutionary psychology. We will discuss how these different views of human nature suggest different approaches to politics and ethics.

We will read selections from the following works:

• Plato The Republic, The Symposium 
• St. Augustine: The Confessions, City of God 
• Hobbes The Leviathan 
• Rousseau Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil
• Darwin The Descent of Man 
• Freud Civilization and its Discontents
• And selected articles on evolutionary psychology

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Description: This course is an introduction to philosophy through problems that arise within religion. The course investigates four different attitudes that have been held about the relation of human beings to God. First is an ancient view according to which God's existence is presupposed and all events are interpreted as expressions of God's will. Second is a medieval view according to which the existence of God and his various attributes are suitable subjects for proof and argument. Third is a modern view according to which God exists but little is known about him through reasoning. Fourth is a contemporary view according to which God is assumed not to exist; the questions whether anything has any value and whether human life has a meaning will be asked. Although the course is divided historically, our goal will be to identify what is true or false, rational or not rational about the views expressed in each.

Note: This is not a course in World Religions.

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Examines the history of Christian philosophy through classic Christian thought, concerning what can be known and how people should live.

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Studies major tragedies, comedies, and historical plays from various epochs, including at least one of Shakespeare's plays. Explores themes related to ethics, politics, and human nature, as well as the craft of the playwright. Students attend and discuss at least one play performance.

Studies major tragedies, comedies, and historical plays from various epochs, including at least one of Shakespeare's plays. Explores themes related to ethics, politics, and human nature, as well as the craft of the playwright. Students attend and discuss at least one play performance.

This course explores interesting episodes in the history of science, focusing on questions about what aspects of human behavior are essentially determined by biological factors rather than by experiences and society. Changing beliefs about what is natural have affected how some people are treated, so we will discuss the social consequences of such notions. The course will include the following topics: theories of race, Darwin’s works, evolution in schools and U.S. courts, American eugenics and Nazi science, differences between women and men, IQ testing, the controversy about DNA and Rosalind Franklin, studies of twins separated at birth, genetic engineering, ethical issues on cloning animals and humans, biotechnology, the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks, designer babies, biology in forensic science. This is a lecture course, with participation encouraged.

This course fulfills a College of Liberal Arts Science Component: Alternative Science & Technology course.

Some readings are in the Course Packet, required, which will be available at Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St. There are no readings at the Libraries, on reserve, instead, all other readings will be available online through the UT Libraries website or on Blackboard: https://courses.utexas.edu/

Some of the readings: Francis Galton, "Comparative Worth of Races," in Hereditary Genius (1869). Charles Darwin, Descent of Man (1871), "On the Races of Man," and “Sexual Differences." Cesare Lombroso, Criminal Man (1st ed. 1876). Lombroso, The Female Offender (1895). Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Man a Machine (1748). Francis Galton, "Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims" (1904). Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (1976).

First exam 20%, Midterm Exam 20%, Final Exam 30%, Quizzes 20%, Attendance 10

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This class aims to acquaint the student with the main works of ancient historiography, as well as provide grounding in the central issues with which these works engage. The ancient historians are our first port of call in our quest to understand democracy, tyranny, empire, religion, civil war, and international relations, so it is to these foundational texts that we will turn to enliven our connection with the ancient world. Beyond acquiring basic knowledge of each of the historians and their text, we will explore issues such as: the development and coherence of a historiographical tradition, the value of textual material as historical evidence, the status of prose historiography as an independent work of literary art, and the function of historiography as a space to explore broader questions such as truth, identity, nationalism, ethnicity, and political ideologies. We will conclude by thinking about the unique qualities of historiography, and what distinguishes it from related genres such as biography, historical epic, or historical novels.

This course carries the Ethics flag.

The French revolution is one of the most famous events in global history. We have still not resolved the fundamental questions it raises. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Why are some revolutions peaceful while others become protracted and violent? The human drama of this tumultuous decade and a half is irresistible. How were extraordinary careers made and then lost? How did people take sides? How did ordinary people survive?We will use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely.

We have three aims. The first is to master the major developments of the revolution itself. The second is to understand how those events have produced classic political arguments about the conditions for democracy, the sources of rights, and the process of historical change.  Third, we consider how the revolution has shaped the world, and how it compares with other revolutions, including ones going on right now.

Texts:

Rousseau, The Social Contract

William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short History

Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight

Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution or R.R. Palmer, 12 Who Ruled.

David Bell, Napoleon, A Biography

Requirements:

• 2 4-5 page take home papers (25% each) (total 50% of grade**)
• 1 comprehensive test (25%)
• group political club assignments (25%).