Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

Interdisciplinary readings from major works exploring issues of ethics and leadership.

Introduces students to classical political thought through a study of seminal works of antiquity, focusing on those of Plato and Aristotle.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

Interdisciplinary readings from major works exploring issues of ethics and leadership.

Introduces students to classical political thought through a study of seminal works of antiquity, focusing on those of Plato and Aristotle.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Introduces students to classical political thought through a study of seminal works of antiquity, focusing on those of Plato and Aristotle.

Interdisciplinary readings from major works exploring issues of ethics and leadership.

GOV 312L 

Dana Stauffer

Fall 2019 

This course examines American democracy in its origins, its evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, and its enduring character. We will read primary texts from the American colonial period, the American Founding, the pre-Civil-war period, the Progressive era, and the late twentieth century. Much of the course will be devoted to Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America, one of the most famous books ever written on American politics. Written in the 1830s, the work takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. Tocqueville was interested in analyzing American democracy from all angles and his work is a mix of sociology, history, and moral psychology, as well as political science. Key themes of our examination will be: the relationship between religion and politics, the relationship between American materialism (and America’s economic life more generally) to its politics, and the meaning of American equality. We will also take up Tocqueville’s wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes, as they relate to the American political experiment. In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course satisfies the second half of the legislative requirement in Government.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required and four or more unexcused absences will causes a drop in one’s final grade.

Required Texts:

1. A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume I. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

4. Online readings.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

GOV 312L 

Dana Stauffer

Summer 2019 

This course examines American democracy in its origins, its evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, and its enduring character. We will read primary texts from the American colonial period, the American Founding, the pre-Civil-war period, the Progressive era, and the late twentieth century. Much of the course will be devoted to Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America, one of the most famous books ever written on American politics. Written in the 1830s, the work takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. Tocqueville was interested in analyzing American democracy from all angles and his work is a mix of sociology, history, and moral psychology, as well as political science. Key themes of our examination will be: the relationship between religion and politics, the relationship between American materialism (and America’s economic life more generally) to its politics, and the meaning of American equality. We will also take up Tocqueville’s wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes, as they relate to the American political experiment. In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course satisfies the second half of the legislative requirement in Government.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required and four or more unexcused absences will causes a drop in one’s final grade.

Required Texts:

1. A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume I. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

4. Online readings.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

Interdisciplinary readings from major works exploring issues of ethics and leadership.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

GOV 335M   Women in the History of Political Thought

This course examines themes of women, the family, and the private sphere in the history of political thought. We will analyze and interpret theoretical and dramatic works in which women have a central role, and we will seek to understand the relationship between political thinkers’ views about women and the family and their larger political theories. We will begin in ancient Greece, the society that laid the basis for Western political ideals of freedom and equality, and consider how women were viewed by the ancient dramatists as well as the great philosophers. Then we will move through the development of the modern West, considering the critique of paternalism launched by John Locke, the portrait of the ideal woman advanced by Rousseau in Book V of the Emile, and the response of Mary Wollstonecraft to Rousseau’s ideal. In the second half of the course, we will consider the development of early feminism in the thought of John Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Emma Goldman, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Some of the questions we will pursue are the following: How have political thinkers conceived of the role of women in Western society and how have their views on that question illuminated their theories about justice, human nature, and human freedom? We will also contemplate theoretical questions of gender for ourselves, such as: What does justice demand in the realm of the relations between the sexes? What kinds of social and political arrangements are best for women? How do our answers to these questions intersect with broader questions about identity, political community, and the common good?

Texts:

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. (Vintage)

Euripides II. (Complete Greek Tragedies, Chicago)

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wall-paper, Herland, and Selected Writings.

(Penguin Classics)

Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. Edited by Susan M. Okin (Hackett)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, or On Education. Translated by Allan Bloom. (Basic Books)

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. (Prometheus)

A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 512-482-0779.

Grading and Requirements:

Option One:

Option Two:

First Exam: 20%

Final Exam:  20%

Paper: 35%

Class Participation: 5%

Research Project: 10%

Pop Quizzes: 10%

This course examines American democracy in its origins, its evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, and its enduring character. We will read primary texts from the American colonial period, the American Founding, the pre-Civil-war period, the Progressive era, and the late twentieth century. Much of the course will be devoted to Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America, one of the most famous books ever written on American politics. Written in the 1830s, the work takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. Tocqueville was interested in analyzing American democracy from all angles and his work is a mix of sociology, history, and moral psychology, as well as political science. Key themes of our examination will be: the relationship between religion and politics, the relationship between American materialism (and America’s economic life more generally) to its politics, and the meaning of American equality. We will also take up Tocqueville’s wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes, as they relate to the American political experiment. In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course satisfies the second half of the legislative requirement in Government.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required and four or more unexcused absences will causes a drop in one’s final grade.

Required Texts:

1. A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume I. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

4. Online readings.

Do the ends justify the means? If they don’t, what does? Is revenge just? Is it a good idea? What, if any, are legitimate grounds for starting a war? Is it always better that the truth come out in politics? Should politicians keep their promises? Is loyalty to our friends and family more important than the common good? What is the relationship between moral virtue and both political success and personal happiness? We will examine the ways in which great thinkers both ancient and modern have grappled with these questions. About half of the course will be devoted to examining the arguments that two great political philosophers, Aristotle and Machiavelli, make about the role of morality in politics. We will spend the other half of the course examining moral dilemmas, and how various characters resolve them, in plays and novels by authors such as Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Addison, and Ibsen.

This course carries the Ethics and Leadership flag. Ethics and Leadership courses are designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for making ethical decisions in your adult and professional life. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments involving ethical issues and the process of applying ethical reasoning to real-life situations.

 Required Texts:

1. Euripides II. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

2. Euripides IV. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

3. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. By Aristotle. Translated by Robert C. Bartlett and Susan Collins. University of Chicago.

4. The Prince. By Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. University of Chicago Press.

5. The Theban Plays. By Sophocles. Translated by Peter Ahrensdorf and Thomas L. Pangle. Agora.

6. Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays. By Joseph Addison. Edited by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin. Liberty Fund.

7. Politics. By Aristotle. Translated by Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press.

8. Julius Caesar. By William Shakespeare. Bantam Classics.

9. Darkness at Noon. By Arthur Koestler. Bantam Books.

10. Ibsen: Four Major Plays, Volume II. By Henrik Ibsen. Signet Classics.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required.

312L Course Description

This course examines American democracy in its origins, its evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, and its enduring character. We will read primary texts from the American colonial period, the American Founding, the pre-Civil-war period, the Progressive era, and the late twentieth century. Much of the course will be devoted to Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America, one of the most famous books ever written on American politics. Written in the 1830s, the work takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. Tocqueville was interested in analyzing American democracy from all angles and his work is a mix of sociology, history, and moral psychology, as well as political science. Key themes of our examination will be: the relationship between religion and politics, the relationship between American materialism (and America’s economic life more generally) to its politics, and the meaning of American equality. We will also take up Tocqueville’s wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes, as they relate to the American political experiment. In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course satisfies the second half of the legislative requirement in Government.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required and four or more unexcused absences will causes a drop in one’s final grade.

Required Texts:

1. A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume I. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

4. Online readings.

Course Description: Women in the History of Political Thought

This course will examine the themes of women, the family, and the private sphere in the history of political theory. We will analyze and interpret works of political theory in which women have a central role, and we will seek to understand the relationship between political thinkers’ views about women and the family and their larger political theories. We will begin in classical Greece with political theory and drama. Then we will move through history, considering the critiques of paternalism launched by Hobbes and Locke and the portrait of the ideal woman advanced by Rousseau in Book V of the Emile. In the second half of the course, we will consider the development of early feminism in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Henrik Ibsen, John Stuart Mill, and Simone de Beauvoir. Some of the questions we will pursue are the following: What does justice demand in the realm of the relations between the sexes, and what kinds of social and political arrangements are best for women? How do our answers to these questions intersect with broader questions about human nature, identity, political community, and justice?

Required Texts

A Course Reader

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. (Vintage)

Euripides II. (Complete Greek Tragedies, Chicago)

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. (Penguin Classics)

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House and Other Plays. (Penguin Classics)

Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. Edited by Susan M. Okin (Hackett)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, or On Education. Translated by Allan Bloom. (Basic Books)

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. (Prometheus)

Course Requirements and Grading

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam: 30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation (including pop quizzes): 10%

312L Course Description

This course examines American democracy in its origins, its evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, and its enduring character. We will read primary texts from the American colonial period, the American Founding, the pre-Civil-war period, the Progressive era, and the late twentieth century. Much of the course will be devoted to Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic work Democracy in America, one of the most famous books ever written on American politics. Written in the 1830s, the work takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. Tocqueville was interested in analyzing American democracy from all angles and his work is a mix of sociology, history, and moral psychology, as well as political science. Key themes of our examination will be: the relationship between religion and politics, the relationship between American materialism (and America’s economic life more generally) to its politics, and the meaning of American equality. We will also take up Tocqueville’s wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes, as they relate to the American political experiment. In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course satisfies the second half of the legislative requirement in Government.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required and four or more unexcused absences will causes a drop in one’s final grade.

Required Texts:

1. A COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume I. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volume II. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer and edited by Olivier Zunz. Library of America. 2012.

4. Online readings.

MORALITY AND POLITICS SPRING 2016

Do the ends justify the means? If they don’t, what does? When the moral and the expedient conflict, which one should you choose? Is revenge just? Is it a good idea? What, if any, are legitimate grounds for starting a war? Is it always better that the truth come out in politics? Should politicians keep their promises? Is loyalty to our friends and family more important than the common good? What is the relationship between moral virtue and both political success and personal happiness? We will examine the ways in which great thinkers both ancient and modern have grappled with these questions. About half of the course will be devoted to examining the arguments that political philosophers—Aristotle, Cicero, and Machiavelli—make about the role of morality in politics. We will spend the other half of the course examining moral dilemmas, and how various characters resolve them, in plays and novels by authors such as Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Addison, and Ibsen.

This course carries the Ethics and Leadership flag. Ethics and Leadership courses are designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for making ethical decisions in your adult and professional life. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments involving ethical issues and the process of applying ethical reasoning to real-life situations.

 Required Texts:

1. Euripides II. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

2. Euripides IV. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

3. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. By Aristotle. Translated by Robert C. Bartlett and Susan Collins. University of Chicago.

4. The Prince. By Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. University of Chicago Press.

5. The Theban Plays. By Sophocles. Translated by Peter Ahrensdorf and Thomas L. Pangle. Agora.

6. Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays. By Joseph Addison. Edited by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin. Liberty Fund.

7. Politics. By Aristotle. Translated by Ernest Barker. Oxford University Press.

8. Julius Caesar. By William Shakespeare. Bantam Classics.

9. Darkness at Noon. By Arthur Koestler. Bantam Books.

10. Ibsen: Four Major Plays, Volume II. By Henrik Ibsen. Signet Classics.

11. On Duties. By Marcus Tullius Cicero. Edited by M. T. Griffin and E. M. Atkins. Cambridge Texts.

Grading and Requirements:

Attendance is required.

312L Spring 2016

Dana Stauffer

This course examines American political life and development primarily through the lens of one book: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. This classic of political science, written in the 1830s, takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. As a French aristocrat trying to understand and adapt to the rise of democracy, Tocqueville examined American life from all sides. In particular, he was interested in understanding what made American democracy work, and what it main drawbacks were. We will read as much of his two-volume work as possible, focusing particular attention on its main themes: the relationship of religion to American political life, the vitality of local government, the love of material goods, and the dangers of majority tyranny. Along the way, we will also read primary texts from the American colonial period and the American Founding, and reflect on Tocqueville’s view that the former was at least as important as the latter in shaping the polity that developed. We will also discuss his wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes. We will consider such questions as: What are the sources—intellectual, cultural, and social—of American’s political outlook? What are the strengths and weaknesses of American democracy? What legislators and citizens do to ensure that American polity remains vital, and American citizens active and engaged? In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course fulfills the second half of the legislative requirement for government.

Requirements: A mid-term exam, an optional paper, a final exam, quizzes, and attendance.

Texts:

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volumes I and II, Vintage Classics edition

A Course Reader

Course Description: Women in the History of Political Thought

This course will examine the themes of women, the family, and the private sphere in the history of political theory. We will analyze and interpret works of political theory in which women have a central role, and we will seek to understand the relationship between political thinkers’ views about women and the family and their larger political theories. We will begin in classical Greece with political theory and drama. Then we will move through history, considering the critiques of paternalism launched by Hobbes and Locke and the portrait of the ideal woman advanced by Rousseau in Book V of the Emile. In the second half of the course, we will consider the development of early feminism in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Henrik Ibsen, John Stuart Mill, and Simone de Beauvoir. Some of the questions we will pursue are the following: What does justice demand in the realm of the relations between the sexes, and what kinds of social and political arrangements are best for women? How do our answers to these questions intersect with broader questions about human nature, identity, political community, and justice?

A Course Reader

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. (Vintage)

Euripides II. (Complete Greek Tragedies, Chicago)

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. (Penguin Classics)

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House and Other Plays. (Penguin Classics)

Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. Edited by Susan M. Okin (Hackett)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, or On Education. Translated by Allan Bloom. (Basic Books)

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. (Prometheus)

Course Requirements and Grading

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam: 30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation (including pop quizzes): 10%

312P Spring 2015 37795

Dana Stauffer

This course examines American political life and development primarily through the lens of one book: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. This classic of political science, written in the 1830s, takes up questions and themes that continue to resonate almost two centuries later. As a French aristocrat trying to understand and adapt to the rise of democracy, Tocqueville examined American life from all sides. In particular, he was interested in understanding what made American democracy work, and what it main drawbacks were. We will read as much of his two-volume work as possible, focusing particular attention on its main themes: the relationship of religion to American political life, the vitality of local government, the love of material goods, and the dangers of majority tyranny. Along the way, we will also read primary texts from the American colonial period and the American Founding, and reflect on Tocqueville’s view that the former was at least as important as the latter in shaping the polity that developed. We will also discuss his wide-ranging observations on American intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes. We will consider such questions as: What are the sources—intellectual, cultural, and social—of American’s political outlook? What are the strengths and weaknesses of American democracy? What legislators and citizens do to ensure that American polity remains vital, and American citizens active and engaged? In the last third of the course, we will read authors who challenge Tocqueville’s key arguments, or take his assertions in a new direction, and we will consider how well his predictions have been borne out.

This course fulfills the second half of the legislative requirement for government.

Requirements: A mid-term exam, an optional paper, a final exam, quizzes, and attendance.

Texts:

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volumes I and II, Vintage Classics edition

A Course Reader

GOV 351L/CTI 325: Morality and Politics  37925/33125

Do the ends justify the means? If they don’t, what does? When the moral and the expedient conflict, which one should you choose? Is revenge just? Is it a good idea? What, if any, are legitimate grounds for starting a war? Is it always better that the truth come out in politics? Is loyalty to our friends and family more important than the common good? How much should ethical considerations guide our political decision-making? Does the best political order aim at a morally decent life for individuals and communities? Or are moral aims misplaced in politics? We will examine the ways in which great thinkers both ancient and modern have grappled with these questions. About half of the course will be devoted to examining the arguments that political philosophers—Aristotle, Cicero, and Machiavelli—make about the role of morality in politics. We will spend the other half of the course examining moral dilemmas, and how various characters resolve them, in plays and novels by authors such as Euripides, Shakespeare, Addison, and Ibsen.

Required Texts:

1. The Theban Plays. By Sophocles. Agora.

2. Euripides II. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

3. Euripides IV. By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago.

4. Politics. By Aristotle. Oxford University Press.

5. The Prince. By Niccolo Machiavelli. University of Chicago Press.

6. Julius Caesar. By William Shakespeare. Bantam Classics.

7. Darkness at Noon. By Arthur Koestler. Bantam Books.

8. Ibsen: Four Major Plays, Volume II. By Henrik Ibsen. Signet Classics.

9. On Duties. By Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cambridge Texts.

10. Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays. By Joseph Addison. Liberty Fund.

11. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. By Aristotle. University of Chicago.

Grading and Requirements:

First Exam 30%          Second Exam 30%       Paper 30%

Class Participation and Quizzes 10%

GOV312L Issues and Policies in American Government

Professor Dana Stauffer

The focus of this course is the most famous book ever written on American politics, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. The wide-ranging insights of this classic work  speak not only to American political life and culture, but also to race, class, the family, friendship, and the state of the American soul. We will read as much of the two-volume work as possible, focusing particular attention on its main themes, such as the American love of equality, the importance of local government, the perils of American materialism, and the dangers of tyranny of the majority. We will discuss his observations on American religion, ambition, intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes. We will consider such questions as: What are the sources—intellectual, cultural, and social—of American’s political outlook? What are the strengths and weaknesses of American democracy? What can the world learn from American democracy, and what can legislators and citizens do to ensure that it remains healthy and vibrant? What is the relationship between democracy and freedom? In the latter part of the course, we will examine the ways in which Tocqueville’s predictions have and have not been borne out. Now over a century and a quarter old, Tocqueville’s analysis remains surprisingly accurate and surprisingly relevant.

This course fulfills the second half of the legislative requirement for government.

Requirements: A mid-term exam, an optional paper, a final exam, and quizzes. Class participation is taken into consideration and attendance counts.

Texts:

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volumes I and II, Vintage Classics edition

A Course Reader

Course Description: Women in the History of Political Thought

This course will examine the themes of women, the family, and the private sphere in the history of political theory. We will analyze and interpret works of political theory in which women have a central role, and we will seek to understand the relationship between political thinkers’ views about women and the family and their larger political theories. We will begin in classical Greece with political theory and drama. Then we will move through history, considering the critiques of paternalism launched by Hobbes and Locke and the portrait of the ideal woman advanced by Rousseau in Book V of the Emile. In the second half of the course, we will consider the development of early feminism in the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, and Simone de Beauvoir. Some of the questions we will pursue are the following: What does justice demand in the realm of the relations between the sexes, and what kinds of social and political arrangements are best for women? How do our answers to these questions intersect with broader questions about human nature, identity, political community, and justice?

Required Texts

A Course Reader

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. (Vintage)

Euripides II. (Complete Greek Tragedies, Chicago)

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. (Penguin Classics)

Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. Edited by Susan M. Okin (Hackett)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, or On Education. Translated by Allan Bloom. (Basic Books)

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. (Prometheus)

Course Requirements and Grading

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam: 30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation (including pop quizzes): 10%

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

GOV 351L/CTI 325: Morality and Politics

The guiding question of this course concerns the relationship between morality and politics. What is the proper place of morality in political life? How much should moral and ethical considerations guide our political decision-making? Does the best political order aim at a morally decent life for individuals and communities? Or are moral aims misplaced in politics? We will examine the ways in which great thinkers both ancient and modern have grappled with these questions in political philosophy, history, and drama. The heart of the course consists of a contrast between the viewpoints of two giants of ancient and modern political philosophy respectively, Aristotle and Machiavelli. We will read selections from Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, and we will follow that with a close reading of Machiavelli’s Prince. We will also consider how the ethical questions considered in abstract terms in political philosophy play out in the stories of particular political actors in the plays by the likes of Euripides, Ibsen, and Shakespeare. Questions of friendship, revenge, necessity, fortune and chance, love, greed, religion, selflessness and self-concern, form the principle elements of our examination.

Required Texts:

1. Sophocles II: Four Tragedies. By Sophocles. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago Press.

2. Euripides II.  By Euripides. Complete Greek Tragedies Series. University of Chicago Press.

3. Politics. By Aristotle. Oxford University Press.

4. The Prince. By Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. University of Chicago Press.

5. Julius Caesar. By William Shakespeare. Bantam Classics.

6. Darkness at Noon. By Arthur Koestler. Bantam Books.

7. Ibsen: Four Major Plays, Volume II. By Henrik Ibsen. Signet Classics.

Grading and Requirements:

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam:  30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation, Including Pop Quizzes: 10%

This course examines the principles that lie at the core of the American political system. Why do we, as Americans, stand for liberty, equality, and democracy? How did these come to be our principles? How has our commitment to these principles manifested itself in our political history? How has our understanding of these principles changed over time, and what do these principles demand of us today?

We will begin by considering the theoretical foundations of our liberal democracy in the thought of John Locke. Then we will consider how the political theory of modern liberalism found expression in the American Founding. We will examine the considerations that led the Founders to design the Constitution as they did, as well the arguments of those who opposed the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists. We will turn from the Founding period to Alexis de Tocqueville’s great work Democracy in America, and consider his analysis of American political life and of the American character more generally. After that, we will consider how liberty and equality became thematic issues in the debate over slavery. We will examine the ways in which Americans conceived of liberty and equality changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We will examine how those principles were defended in the context of the Cold War. And we will conclude by considering some of the most compelling and provocative assessments of American life today.

Requirements: A mid-term exam, an optional paper, and a final exam. Class participation is taken into consideration and attendance counts.

Texts:

Second Treatise of Government by John Locke

The Federalist Papers

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

A Course Reader

Course Description:

This course introduces students to the political thought of classical Greek antiquity.

Ancient Greek thinkers presented their reflections on politics in a variety of ways. Some wrote treatises, but others expressed themselves through plays, histories, and, of course, dialogues. While the authors we will read in this course present their work in different formats, they all address themselves to the simplest and deepest questions raised by political life, and offer profound insight into the answers to those questions. Two main themes lie at the heart of their common inquiry: Justice—what it is, and how human beings can attain it—and the human good. Examples of the questions that we will take up are: What is the best form of political community? Why philosophize? What is human virtue? Do human beings necessarily follow their self-interest? Is devotion possible? Do we have free will? What is courage? What is friendship? What is a good life? We will not approach the texts as historical curiosities, but rather, as potential sources of wisdom about the greatest questions we face in our own lives.

Required Texts:

• Aristotle’s Politics. Translated by Ernest Barker. (Oxford)

• Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. (Penguin Classics)

• Four Comedies. By Aristophanes. (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

• Sophocles I: Three Tragedies. By Sophocles. (Chicago)

• “Protagoras” and “Meno” By Plato. Translated by Robert C. Bartlett. (Agora)

• Plato’s Republic. Translated by Allan Bloom. (Basic Books)

It is particularly important to obtain the recommended translations of Plato.

Course Requirements and Grading:

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam: 30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation (including pop quizzes): 10%

Exams: Exams will be in-class blue book exams, comprised mostly if not entirely of

essays. I will hand out a list of themes in advance from which the essay question(s) will be drawn. The second exam will be cumulative, but it will be weighted considerably more toward the readings of the second half of the semester.

Papers: You will be required to write one 5-7 page paper over the course of the term. I will hand out possible paper topics three times during the term, each with their own respective due dates. The task of the paper will be to explain and evaluate the arguments of one or two of the thinkers we have read. You must choose to write one of the two papers. Late work will be marked down one-third of a letter grade for each day of lateness (from a B+ to a B, for example), and papers will NOT be accepted by email.

Class Participation, Quizzes, and Attendance: The works we will read this semester were written with extraordinary care, and they are difficult. It is essential that you read every assignment carefully, preferably twice, and you should come to class with thoughtful comments and questions. Credit will be given in the area of class participation not only for serious and intelligent contributions to class, but also for listening attentively both to the lecture and to the contributions of your fellow classmates.

Laptops are not allowed in class; if you have a special need for a laptop,

please explain that need to me. To encourage students to keep up with the readings, I will give an unspecified number ofpop quizzes. These quizzes will consist of basic questions that should not be difficult forthose who have done the reading. If you are absent on the day of a quiz, you will receivea zero for that quiz. Makeup quizzes will not be given. If your absence is excused, I willnot count that quiz toward your overall quiz grade. I will also drop your lowest quizgrade.

Attendance: I will take attendance frequently, either by passing around an attendance sheet or by taking roll, either at the beginning or at the end of class. On the days on which there is a quiz, attendance will be registered by handing in the quiz. Absences will be excused with a doctor’s note only. Students with 4 or more unexcused absences will be docked a letter grade for the course. Example: the grade of a student with a B+ average who has four or more unexcused absences will be a C+.

You will be expected to bring the relevant volume(s) to every class.

Flags:

Ethics and Leadership

Global Cultures

See syllabus

See syllabus

Course Description

The focus of this course is the most famous book ever written on American politics, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. The wide-ranging insights of this classic work  speak not only to American political life and culture, but also to race, class, the family, friendship, and the state of the American soul. We will read as much of the two-volume work as possible, focusing particular attention on its main themes, such as the American love of equality, the importance of local government, the perils of American materialism, and the dangers of tyranny of the majority. We will discuss his observations on American religion, ambition, intellectual life, family life, and the relations between the sexes. We will consider such questions as: What is unique about American democracy? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What can the world learn from American democracy, and what can legislators and citizens do to ensure that it remains healthy and vibrant? What were Tocqueville’s broader concerns about the future of America? In the latter part of the course, we will examine the ways in which Tocqueville’s predictions have and have not been borne out. Now over a century and a quarter old, Tocqueville’s analysis remains surprisingly accurate and surprisingly relevant.

This course fulfills the second half of the legislative requirement for government.

Grading Policy

A mid-term exam, an optional paper, and a final exam. Class participation is taken into consideration and attendance counts.

Texts

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Volumes I and II, Vintage Classics edition

A Course Reader

Course Description

The Honors Tutorial is designed to facilitate the successful completion of a thesis in political science. The goals of the tutorial are three: first, to provide students with supervision and advice in the development of their ideas, and in the crafting of a thesis itself; second, to provide structure (read: deadlines!) in the completion of work that is primarily self-directed and independent in nature; and third, to provide a forum for students to develop their ideas, test out theories, and present their work to one another in a collegial setting. 

The Honors Tutorial is part of the year-long Honors Thesis Program. By the end of the academic year, students are expected to complete a thesis under the supervision of the Honors Advisor (Fall) and their individual thesis advisor (Spring). There are only a few required readings in the Honors Tutorial. But bear in mind that this is because a tremendous amount of outside reading and writing relating to your individual thesis projects is required. In the Honors Tutorial, students will be expected to complete all required readings before class, read extensively in their research areas, participate in all class discussions and other in-class activities, such as reading and commenting on other students’ research, meet regularly with their individual thesis advisors, and hand in all assignments on time. By the end of the Tutorial, students are required to have completed a 10-15 page proposal, including an outline of their thesis in its entirety, and the first chapter of their thesis. Students making sufficient progress at the close of the fall semester will be admitted to the spring semester of the Honors Tutorial (GOV679B).

Grading Policy

Students will earn a grade in the fall semester of the Honors Tutorial on the basis of the following factors: quality and rate of progress on the thesis project, particularly the first chapter submitted in the last three weeks of the course; quality of participation in class activities, including in-class presentations, class discussions, and assessments of peers’ work; and their ability to meet deadlines.  Attendance does not comprise a part of the grade per se. But it is expected that students doing work at this level will be dedicated participants in the tutorial and will attend every class. Any absences should be explained in advance, and repeated lack of attendance will prompt re-evaluation of your participation in the program.

Texts

The Elements of Style. By William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.  50th Anniv. Ed. Longman, 2008.

Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. By John R. Trimble. 2nd Ed. Prentice Hall, 2000.

This course examines the principles that lie at the core of the American political system. Why do we, as Americans, stand for liberty, equality, and democracy? How did these come to be our principles? How has our commitment to these principles manifested itself in our political history? How has our understanding of these principles changed over time, and what do these principles demand of us today?

We will begin by considering the theoretical foundations of our liberal democracy in the thought of John Locke. Then we will consider how the political theory of modern liberalism found expression in the American Founding. We will examine the considerations that led the Founders to design the Constitution as they did, as well the arguments of those who opposed the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists. We will turn from the Founding period to Alexis de Tocqueville’s great work Democracy in America, and consider his analysis of American political life and of the American character more generally. After that, we will consider how liberty and equality became thematic issues in the debate over slavery. We will examine the ways in which Americans conceived of liberty and equality changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We will examine how those principles were defended in the context of the Cold War. And we will conclude by considering some of the most compelling and provocative assessments of American life today.

Requirements: A mid-term exam, an optional paper, and a final exam. Class participation is taken into consideration and attendance counts.

Texts:

Second Treatise of Government by John Locke

The Federalist Papers

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

A Course Reader

The major theme of this course is the relationship between virtue and politics, and, in particular, the different ways in which ancient and modern political philosophers understood this relationship. To that end, we will spend most of the course focusing on three key authors: Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Hobbes. We will begin by considering Aristotle’s view that moral virtue is the proper aim of life, both for the individual and for the community. Then we will examine the break with Aristotle begun by Machiavelli and continued, and modified, by Hobbes. The minor theme of the course is the subject of gratitude. What do we owe to those who have done us a good turn? And what do we have the right to expect from those whom we have benefitted? To explore these questions, and to round out our understanding of the differences between the ancient and modern perspectives, we will supplement our reading of these three philosophical giants with literary works by the likes of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Melville. Over the course of the course, a number of related questions will also be discussed, such as the relationships between philosophy and politics, politics and necessity, and friendship and virtue.

Required Texts:

1. Sophocles II: Four Tragedies. By Sophocles. Edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. University of Chicago Press.

2. The Politics of Aristotle. By Aristotle. Edited by Peter Simpson. University of North Carolina Press.

3. The Prince. By Niccolo Machiavelli. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. 2nd Edition. University of Chicago Press.

4. Julius Caesar. By William Shakespeare. Bantam Classics.

5. Leviathan. By Thomas Hobbes. Edited by J.C. A. Gaskin. Oxford University Press.

6. Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative). By Herman Melville. University of Chicago Press.

7. Darkness at Noon. By Arthur Koestler. Bantam Books.

Grading and Requirements:

First Exam: 30%

Second Exam:  30%

Paper: 30%

Class Participation, Including Pop Quizzes: 10%

This course examines the principles that lie at the core of the American political system. Why do we, as Americans, stand for liberty, equality, and democracy? How did these come to be our principles? How has our commitment to these principles manifested itself in our political history? How has our understanding of these principles changed over time, and what do these principles demand of us today?

We will begin by considering the theoretical foundations of our liberal democracy in the thought of John Locke. Then we will consider how the political theory of modern liberalism found expression in the American Founding. We will examine the considerations that led the Founders to design the Constitution as they did, as well the arguments of those who opposed the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists. We will turn from the Founding period to Alexis de Tocqueville’s great work Democracy in America, and consider his analysis of American political life and of the American character more generally. After that, we will consider how liberty and equality became thematic issues in the debate over slavery. We will examine how the ways in which Americans conceived of liberty and equality changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We will examine how those principles were defended in the context of the Cold War. And we will conclude by considering some of the most compelling and provocative assessments of American life today.

The course aims first to give students a better understanding of the origins and evolution of American principles and beliefs about politics. Second, it aims to provide students with a theoretical framework that will allow them to think critically about those principles and beliefs, and finally, it seeks to enable them to make informed judgments about how well America has achieved its ideals.

Required Texts (5):

1. COURSE READER, available at Jenn’s Copying and Binding, 2518 Guadalupe St., at the corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, tel. 482-0779.

2. Second Treatise of Government by John Locke. Hackett edition, edited by C.B. Macpherson.

3. The Federalist Papers by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.  Signet Classics edition, edited by Clinton Rossiter.

4. Democracy in America, Volume Two, by Alexis de Tocqueville. Vintage Classics edition.

5. Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. 40th Anniversary edition, University of Chicago Press.

Grading and Requirements:

Option 1 (No paper):

Midterm Exam: 40%

Pop Quizzes: 10%

Final Exam: 50% 

Option 2 (With paper):

Midterm Exam: 20%

Pop Quizzes: 10%

Final Exam:  30%

Paper: 40%

 Please check back for updates.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

 Please check back for updates.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

Introduces students to classical political thought through a study of seminal works of antiquity, focusing on those of Plato and Aristotle.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

 Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

 Please check back for updates.

Government 312L satisfies the second half of the mandated six hours of government that every UT student must take.  Course covers analysis of varying topics concerned with American political institutions and policies, including the United States Constitution, and assumes basic knowledge of government from GOV 310L. May be taken for credit only once.

 Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.