Lorraine Pangle

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  Fulfills second half of the legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Government 312R and 312P may not both be counted for credit.

Close readings from primary texts that have shaped or that reflect deeply upon American democracy, including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  Fulfills second half of the legislative requirement for government. May be taken for credit only once. Government 312R and 312P may not both be counted for credit.

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Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Explores the origins of social scientific thought in the history of political philosophy and traces the development of one or more of the social sciences in modern times. Focuses on fundamental ideas about human nature, civil society, and politics, explored through reading such authors as Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Freud.

Explores the origins of social scientific thought in the history of political philosophy and traces the development of one or more of the social sciences in modern times. Focuses on fundamental ideas about human nature, civil society, and politics, explored through reading such authors as Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Freud.

Government 382M

Nietzsche

Lorraine Pangle

Fall 2019

This course will consist in a close reading of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, parts 1-3, and of Twilight of the Idols. Our aim will be to understand Nietzsche’s radical critique of past political philosophy, including both Socratic thought and the modern Enlightenment project, and of the modern, cosmopolitan, bourgeois, commercial world that he saw as the ultimate product of rationalist philosophy. Major themes of the course will be human nature and its relation to history; the character of human excellence, freedom, and nobility; the will to power; the ills of modern society, including nihilism, the death of God, and the prospect of the last man; Nietzsche’s new perspectival account of truth; the task of philosophy; and the relationship of the philosopher to the rest of society.

Text

The Portable Nietzsche, ed. Kaufmann (New York: Penguin), ISBN 014015062

Course Requirements and Grading Policy

5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, due at the beginning of class in alternate weeks for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

5 bi-weekly question sets, elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, and submitted by e-mail before class in alternate weeks for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.

GOV 382M

Homer and Plato

Spring 2019

Lorraine Pangle

MW 2:30-4pm, MEZ 1.118

Course Description:

This course will explore the political philosophy of Homer through a close study of the Iliad and Plato’s critical response to Homer in the Apology and Republic. In reading the Iliad we will seek to uncover Homer’s subtle teaching on political psychology, with special attention to the phenomena of anger, the love of honor, good and bad leadership, courage, justice, and beliefs about divine justice. But Homer is more than a great poet and a fine observer of human phenomena; Plato called him the “educator of the Greeks.” In this light, we will consider the question of what kind of human characters, beliefs, and communities Homer’s poems help to foster, and the possibility that Homer was indeed engaged in a deliberate and spectacularly successful “civilization building” project that contributed to the development of both republican self-government and philosophy.

Although Plato praises Homer in the highest terms, he also criticizes him, joining what he describes as the “ancient quarrel between the poets and philosophers.” In the Apology Socrates subtly critiques the hero Achilles as insufficiently concerned with justice. In the Republic he argues that Homer’s depictions of the gods and heroes provided defective models for moral and civic education, and he actually banishes the poets from his city in speech, although in the last book he welcomes them to return under certain conditions. In the second part of the course we will explore and assess these critiques, with a view to understanding better both Plato’s own practical political project and his agreements and disagreements with Homer about human nature and the requirements of a healthy society.

Texts:

Homer, Iliad. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. ISBN 044646940-9.

Plato, Apology, in Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Aristophanes’ Clouds. Trans. Thomas G. West. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998. ISBN 0801485746.

Plato, Republic, trans. Bloom. New York: Basic Books, 2016. ISBN 9780465069347.

Course requirements:

5 bi-weekly 2-3 page papers, 10% each

10-15 page term paper, 35%

class participation, 15%

GOV 379S / LAH 350

Homer and Plato

Lorraine Pangle

Fall 2018

Course Description:

This course will explore what Plato described as the “ancient quarrel between the poets and philosophers.” The first part of the course will be devoted to a close study of one of the formative texts of Western Civilization, Homer’s Iliad. Beginning with Homer preferred epithet for human beings, “mortals,” we will explore Homer’s account of human nature, humans’ place in the cosmos, and the way humans are shaped by the struggles to come to terms with the finitude of their existence. We will explore the political themes of good and bad leadership, courage, honor, ambition, and justice, supplementing our reading of the Iliad with some of the key stories from the Odyssey and comparing the heroes Achilles and Odysseus. Finally, we will look at Homer’s puzzling suggestions about the relationship between necessity, fate, divine power, and human freedom or moral responsibility. Through these explorations we will consider how Homer earned the epithet “educator of the Greeks,” and how his  heroes’ models of manly excellence and his own example of probing reflection may have helped foster the civilization that gave us both republican self-government and philosophy.

Although Plato praises Homer in the highest terms, he also criticizes him. In the Apology Socrates claims that he is superior to the hero Achilles; in the Republic Socrates argues that Homer’s depictions of the gods and heroes provided defective models for moral and civic education, and he banishes all such poets from his city in speech. In the second part of the course we will explore and assess these critiques, with a view to understanding better both Plato’s own practical political project and the agreements and disagreements between him and Homer about human nature and the requirements of a healthy society.

Texts:

Homer, Iliad. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. ISBN 044646940-9.

Homer, Odyssey. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. ISBN 006124418X (selections).

Plato, Apology, in Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Aristophanes’ Clouds. Trans. Thomas G. West. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998. ISBN 0801485746.

Plato, Republic, trans. Bloom. New York: Basic Books, 2016. ISBN 9780465069347 (selections).

Course requirements:

three 3-4 page papers, 15% each

final 8-10 page paper, 40%

attendance and class participation 15%

GOV 382M

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Lorraine Pangle

Fall 2017

T Th 2-3:30

BAT 1.104

Course Description:

This course will proceed through a close reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the foundational work for his political philosophy and in many ways for all subsequent political thought. Themes will include human nature; the relation of virtue to happiness; the character of moral education; courage and the other moral virtues; reciprocal, distributive, and corrective justice; natural right; moral and criminal responsibility; practical wisdom or prudence; friendship; and the relative merits of the political and philosophic lives.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy:

5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, 5% each.

5 bi-weekly question sets (maximum 200 words), elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, 5% each.

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.

Texts

Required: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Robert Bartlett and Susan Collins (Chicago).

Recommended: Aristotelis, Ethica Nicomachea, ed. I. Bywater (Oxford). 

Description: 

This course explores the changing understanding of the human psyche 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 the evolution of human mental faculties, 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.

Prerequisites: none

Required Texts:

• Plato, Republic; Symposium
• St. Augustine, City of God
• Hobbes, Leviathan
• Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
• Darwin, Descent of Man
• Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
• Wilson, E. O., On Human Nature
• and selected articles on evolutionary psychology

Course Requirements and Grading Scheme:

• weekly posts on discussion board and class participation: 20%
• two short (1200-1500 word) papers: 25% each
• final exam: 30%

Description:

This course explores the changing understanding of the human psyche 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 the evolution of human mental faculties, 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.

Prerequisites: none

Required Texts:

• Plato, Republic; Symposium
• St. Augustine, City of God
• Hobbes, Leviathan
• Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
• Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
• Darwin, Descent of Man
• Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
• Wilson, E. O., On Human Nature
• and selected articles on evolutionary psychology

Course Requirements and Grading Scheme:

• weekly posts on discussion board and class participation: 20%
• two short (1200-1500 word) papers: 25% each
• final exam: 30%

GOV 382M, Unique 37935

Xenophon

Lorraine Pangle

Fall 2015

T Th 2-3:30, Batts 1.104

Course Description:

This course will explore the thought of the great ancient Socratic philosopher Xenophon on the themes of the active and contemplative lives. It will proceed through a close reading of the two works that represent the poles of Xenophon’s thought and his two most compelling models of human excellence, his historical novel about Cyrus the Great, The Education of Cyrus, and his recollections of his own teacher Socrates, The Memorabilia.

In The Education of Cyrus Xenophon gives us a kind of thought experiment with a rich depiction of a man of supreme ambition and supreme political talent, who is given an education perfectly suited to develop his political skills to the utmost. By tracing the education and adventures of such a man, Xenophon explores the character of high ambition, the tangle of selfishness and noble-mindedness that it entails, and the question of how far the desires that drive great ambition are capable of satisfaction in the political life.

In the Memorabilia Xenophon presents his alternate model of human excellence, that of the philosopher who pursues a contemplative life of inquiry, moderation, and friendship. Here we will trace Xenophon’s suggestions about the questions that drove Socrates, his reflections on the human soul and its passions, freedom, the moral and intellectual virtues, happiness, mortality, the divine, and the relation of the philosopher to the political community of which he is a part.

Texts:

Xenophon, Education of Cyrus, trans. Ambler, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8750-1.

Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates, trans. Bonnette, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8171-6.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy:

5 short papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class: 25%.

5 question sets, elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class: 25%.

Greek option: In lieu of half of the short assignments, students with at least one year’s study of classical Greek may meet weekly with a tutor and read passages from Xenophon’s Memorabilia in Greek.

Term paper of 10-15 pages: 50%.

Class Participation: 25%.

In this course we will look at the problem of justice as it was explored in some of the greatest literary and philosophic works of ancient Greece. In the first part of the course, we will explore the challenges posed to political authority by three famous rebels: Achilles, a man of outstanding courage; Antigone, a woman who chose to obey the gods rather than a human king; and Socrates, a philosopher whose pursuit of the truth brought him to be condemned for impiety and corruption of the youth by the city of Athens. After reading their stories in Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Antigone, Aristophanes’ comedy The Clouds, and Plato’s Apology, we will turn to Plato’s masterpiece on justice, The Republic. In this dialogue we will see how Socrates defends justice to the young, skeptical Glaucon by creating in speech a perfectly just city. This city, ruled by philosopher-kings, is an attempt to do justice to every claim to authority based on human excellence, inspiration, and wisdom, so as to win the loyalty of every reasonable person. In the course of creating the city in speech, Socrates explores the problem of justice from every angle and leads us to wonder whether a “perfect” political order may not even be desirable.

Prerequisites: thirty hours of coursework.

Required Texts:

Homer, Iliad

Sophocles, Antigone

Aristophanes, Clouds

Plato, Apology, Republic

Course Requirements:

Three short (3-5 pp.) papers, final exam.

Description:

This course will study works of ancient Greek poetry, philosophy, and history that explore fundamental themes of political philosophy as they first emerged in the brilliant, tumultuous world of ancient republicanism. We will focus especially on the challenge that philosophy posed to piety and traditional notions of justice and the ways in which philosophic thinkers defended their claim to provide the best guidance for political life. Is unaided human reason adequate for grasping the proper ends and limits of political action? What new understandings of justice and moral responsibility did political philosophy offer? What can it teach us about how to arbitrate between the claims of justice and the demands of necessity or national security? Is a truly enlightened society possible? Is it desirable? 

Texts:

Plutarch, Greek Lives

Sophocles, Antigone

Aristophanes, The Clouds

Plato, Apology of Socrates and Gorgias

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 

Assignments:

3 short papers 50%

Attendance, class participation, and short presentations 20%

Final exam 30% 

About the Professor:

Lorraine Pangle is Professor of Government and Co-director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas at UT. She studies and teaches political philosophy with a special focus on ethics and problems of justice and moral responsibility. She has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Earhart Foundation. Her publications include Virtue is Knowledge: The Moral Foundations of Socratic Political Philosophy (Chicago, 2014), The Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin (Johns Hopkins, 2007), Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship (Cambridge, 2003), The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of the American Founders, co-authored with Thomas L. Pangle (Kansas, 1993), and articles on Plato, Aristotle, the American founders, and the philosophy of education.

Course Description:

This course will proceed through a close reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the foundational work for his political philosophy and in many ways for all subsequent political thought. Themes will include human nature; the relation of virtue to happiness; the character of moral education; courage and the other moral virtues; reciprocal, distributive, and corrective justice; natural right; moral and criminal responsibility; practical wisdom or prudence; friendship; and the relative merits of the political and philosophic lives.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy:

5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, 5% each.

5 bi-weekly question sets (maximum 200 words), elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, 5% each.

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.

Texts

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Robert Bartlett and Susan Collins (Chicago).

Aristotelis, Ethica Nicomachea, ed. I. Bywater (Oxford). 

Course Description

This course will study Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origins of Inequality and Emile, followed by selections from Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Our aim will be to understand both thinkers’ radical and comprehensive critiques of the Enlightenment or the modern rationalist project of reforming politics and society. Major themes will be human nature and its relation to history, the character of human excellence, freedom, religion, and the relationship of the philosopher to the rest of society. Special attention will be given to Rousseau’s and Nietzsche’s opposing assessments of compassion, equality, democracy, and the Christian faith. Throughout the course, we will reflect on the impact that the revolutionary teachings of these philosophers have had on the political world in which we live.

Some previous study of political philosophy is strongly recommended.

Texts

Rousseau, The First and Second Discourses, ed. Masters (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1964), ISBN 0312694407.

Rousseau, Emile, trans. Bloom (Hanover, NH: Dartmouth U Press, 2009), ISBN  1584656778.

Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo (New York: Vintage, 1989), ISBN 0679724621.

Nietzsche, Portable Nietzsche, ed. Kaufmann (New York: Penguin Books, 1977), ISBN 0140150625.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy

attendance, quizzes, and participation                                                                    20%

short paper on Rousseau                                                                                      25%

short paper on Nietzsche                                                                                       25%

final exam                                                                                                           30%

Flag: Ethics and leadership

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Course Description

In this class, we will explore some of the greatest works of classical epic, tragedy, comedy, and philosophy.  We will use them not only to get a better understanding of a society very different from our own, but also to help us think about questions of enduring importance.  What is justice?  What is virtue?  What is love, and what should we expect from it?  How should we think about God and religion?  What about the life of the mind – what is its place in political society, and in a well-lived human life?  We will examine the answers given to these questions in classical Greece and compare those answers to our own. But beyond that, we will see that the works which we read are more than mirrors of their times; their authors reflected profoundly on these basic questions, challenging and transcending the conventions of their own society.  We will find that many of their insights are still valid, and that they can teach us about today’s moral and political situation.

Grading Policy

Weekly 1-page papers for the first 10 weeks of class: 4% each

5-page paper: 20%

Final exam: 20%

Attendance, quizzes, and class participation: 20%

Required Texts (all available at The University Co-op)

Homer, Odyssey.  Tranlated by Richmond Lattimore.  University of Chicago Press.

Sophocles, Antigone. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone.  Translated by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.  University of Chicago Press.

Plato, Apology. In West, Thomas G. and Grace Starry.  Four Texts on Socrates.  Cornell University Press. 

Plato, Gorgias.  Translated by James Nichols.  Cornell Univesity Press.

Plato, Symposium. Translated by Seth Benardete.  University of Chicago Press.

Recommended Texts (available at The University Co-op)

H. D. F. Kitto, The Greeks, Penguin Press.

Strunk, William, and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press.

Turabin et al, Manual for Writers of Research Papers, University of Chicago Press.

Course Description

This course will consist in a close reading of Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus and selections from Machiavelli’s Prince and Discourses. In the Education of Cyrus we have Xenophon’s rich fictional depiction of a virtuous ancient polis and the process by which a talented man of boundless ambition might easily subvert it. In place of the virtuous republic, Xenophon’s Cyrus creates a progressive, dynamic, multi-ethnic society, aimed at wealth and expansion and glory, in which merit is rewarded and a self-sacrificing view of justice is replaced by a frank pursuit of the good things of this world. Yet in exploring this entrancing vision, Xenophon gives clear reasons why, in the end, he rejects it as the best model for a healthy society. Machiavelli had the highest opinion of Xenophon and gave all his works the closest study. Yet he came to the opposite conclusion from Xenophon, and devoted his writings to promoting the progressive, expansive political vision and the embrace of ambition that Xenophon had rejected. What did Machiavelli see that Xenophon did not, or what did Xenophon see that Machiavelli did not? How can these contrasting works help us understand and assess the deepest differences between ancient and modern republicanism and the fundamental presuppositions of modern liberalism?

Course Requirements and Grading Policy

5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, due at the beginning of class on alternate Mondays for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

5 bi-weekly question sets, elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, and submitted by e-mail before Monday’s class in alternate weeks for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.

Texts

Xenophon, Education of Cyrus, trans. Ambler, Cornell University Press,

ISBN 0-8014-8750-1. Required.

Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates, trans. Bonnette, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8171-6. Recommended.

Machiavelli, Prince, trans. Mansfield, Chicago, ISBN 0-226-50038-1 Required.

Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, trans. Mansfield, Chicago, ISBN 0-226-50036-5 Required. 

Course Description

In this class, we will explore some of the greatest works of classical epic, tragedy, comedy, and philosophy.  We will use them not only to get a better understanding of a society very different from our own, but also to help us think about questions of enduring importance.  What is justice?  What is virtue?  What is love, and what should we expect from it?  How should we think about God and religion?  What about the life of the mind – what is its place in political society, and in a well-lived human life?  We will examine the answers given to these questions in classical Greece and compare those answers to our own. But beyond that, we will see that the works which we read are more than mirrors of their times; their authors reflected profoundly on these basic questions, challenging and transcending the conventions of their own society.  We will find that many of their insights are still valid, and that they can teach us about today’s moral and political situation.

Grading Policy

Weekly 500-word papers for the first 10 weeks of class: 4% each

5-page paper: 20%

final exam: 20%

attendance, quizzes, and class participation: 20%

Texts

Homer, Odyssey.  Tranlated by Richmond Lattimore.  University of Chicago Press.

Sophocles, Oedipus the King; Antigone. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone.  Translated by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.  University of Chicago Press.

Aristophanes, Clouds; and Plato, Apology. In West, Thomas G. and Grace Starry.  Four Texts on Socrates.  Cornell University Press. 

Plato, Gorgias.  Translated by James Nichols.  Cornell Univesity Press.

Plato, Symposium. Translated by Seth Benardete.  University of Chicago Press.

Recommended Texts (available at The University Co-op)

H. D. F. Kitto, The Greeks, Penguin Press.

Strunk, William, and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, Penguin Press.

Turabin et al, Manual for Writers of Research Papers, University of Chicago Press.

Prerequisites

Some previous study of political philosophy is recommended.

Course Description

This course will explore the themes of morality and leadership in the writings of two great political philosopher, the ancient Athenian Xenophon and the renaissance Florentine Machiavelli. First, we will read Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus, a rich fictional depiction of a virtuous ancient polis and the process by which a man of boundless talents and ambition easily subverts it. In place of the virtuous republic, Xenophon’s Cyrus creates a progressive, dynamic, multi-ethnic society, aimed at wealth and expansion and glory, in which merit is rewarded and a self-sacrificing view of justice is replaced by a frank pursuit of the good things of this world. Yet in exploring this entrancing vision, Xenophon gives clear reasons why, in the end, he rejects it as the best model for a healthy society. Thus we will turn next to Xenophon’s Memorabilia of Socrates, in which he presents an alternate model of human excellence, that of the philosopher Socrates. Machiavelli had the highest opinion of Xenophon and gave all his works the closest study. Yet he came to the opposite conclusion from Xenophon, and devoted his writings to promoting the progressive, expansive political vision and the embrace of ambition that Xenophon rejected. We will read next Machiavelli’s two great masterpieces, the Prince and Discourses on Livy. What did Machiavelli see that Xenophon did not, or what did Xenophon see that Machiavelli did not? How can these contrasting works help us understand and assess the deepest differences between ancient and modern republicanism and the fundamental presuppositions of modern liberalism?

Grading Policy

Attendance, quizzes, and participation- 20%

5-page paper on Xenophon- 25%

5-page paper on Machiavelli- 25%

Final exam- 30%

Texts

Xenophon, Education of Cyrus, trans. Ambler, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8750-1.

Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates, trans. Bonnette, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8171-6.

Machiavelli, Prince, trans. Mansfield, Chicago, ISBN 0-226-50038-1

Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, trans. Mansfield, Chicago, ISBN 0-226-50036-5

In this course we will look at the problem of justice as it was explored in some of the greatest literary and philosophic works of ancient Greece. In the first part of the course, we will explore the challenges posed to political authority by three famous rebels: Achilles, a man of outstanding courage; Antigone, a woman who chose to obey the gods rather than a human king; and Socrates, a philosopher whose pursuit of the truth brought him to be condemned for impiety and corruption of the youth by the city of Athens. After reading their stories in Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Antigone, Aristophanes’ comedy The Clouds, and Plato’s Apology, we will turn to Plato’s masterpiece on justice, The Republic. In this dialogue we will see how Socrates defends justice to the young, skeptical Glaucon by creating in speech a perfectly just city. This city, ruled by philosopher-kings, is an attempt to do justice to every claim to authority based on human excellence, inspiration, and wisdom, so as to win the loyalty of every reasonable person. In the course of creating the city in speech, Socrates explores the problem of justice from every angle and shows why a “perfect” political order may not even be desirable.

Prerequisites: thirty hours of coursework.

Required Texts:

Homer, Iliad

Sophocles, Antigone

Aristophanes, Clouds

Plato, Apology, Republic

Course Requirements:

Three short (3-5 pp.) papers, final exam.

Course Description:

This seminar will proceed through a close reading of Plato's Laws, examining it as an ancient alternative to modern liberal conceptions of the just society. What is the proper relation of religion to government? Can and should laws be framed so as to teach virtue and not merely to restrain citizens from harming one another? How can a penal code be framed so as to reflect a rational understanding of moral responsibility? What type of education and way of life is best for the happiness of male and female citizens, for the cultivation of political leadership, and for philosophy?

Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of the instructor

Course Requirements and Grading Policy:5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, due at the beginning of class on alternate Mondays for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

5 bi-weekly question sets, elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, and submitted by e-mail before Monday’s class in alternate weeks for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.

Texts: Plato’s Laws, trans. Pangle (Chicago). Required.

Platonis, Opera, Volume V, J. Burnet, ed. (Oxford Classical Texts). Recommended for all students who know any Greek.

This course will study Rousseau’s Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts and Emile, followed by Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. Our aim will be to understand both thinkers’ radical and comprehensive critiques of the Enlightenment or the modern rationalist project of reforming politics and society. Major themes will be human nature and its relation to history, the character of human excellence, freedom, and the relationship of the philosopher to the rest of society. Special attention will be given to Rousseau’s and Nietzsche’s contrasting assessments of compassion, equality, democracy, and the Christian faith. Throughout the course, we will reflect on the impact that the revolutionary teachings of these philosophers have had on the political world in which we live.Some previous study of political philosophy is strongly recommended.

Course Description:

This course will proceed through a close reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, the foundational work for his political philosophy and in many ways for all subsequent political thought. Themes will include human nature; the relation of virtue to happiness; the character of moral education; courage and the other moral virtues; reciprocal, distributive, and corrective justice; natural right; moral and criminal responsibility; practical wisdom or prudence; friendship; and the relative merits of the political and philosophic lives.

Grading Policy:
5 bi-weekly 1-2 page papers (maximum 500 words) on a passage not yet discussed in class, due at the beginning of class on alternate Wednesdays for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

5 bi-weekly question sets, elucidating a few of the most important problems in a section of the text not yet discussed in class, and submitted by e-mail before Monday’s class in alternate weeks for the first 10 weeks of term (5% each).

Term paper of 10-15 pages on a topic of your choosing (35%).

Class Participation: 15%.


Recommended Texts:

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Joe Sachs (Focus). Recommended for literalness.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Martin Ostwald (Macmillan). Recommended for clarity.

All students who know any Greek at all are strongly urged to buy a Greek text and consult it continually as you read. Best is:

Aristotelis, Ethica Nicomachea, ed. I. Bywater (Oxford).
 
Three useful collections of articles are:

Bartlett, Robert and Susan Collins, eds., Action and Contemplation: Studies in the Moral and Political Thought of Aristotle (SUNY).

Lord, Carnes and David O’Connor, eds., Essays on the Foundations of Aristotelian Political Science (California).

Rorty, Amelie, ed., Essays on Aristotle's Ethics (California).

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

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.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.