Thomas Pangle

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Major alternative approaches to the question of the moral character of international relations, as elaborated by some of the greatest political thinkers.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Might and Right Among Nations (Fall 2019)

GOV 351J AND CTI 323 (Unique numbers GOV 37750 and CTI 33080)

Lectures in RLP 0.112, MWF 1-2 (except for Fridays of weeks of discussion sections; see below)

Professor Thomas L. Pangle, Mezes Hall 3.154; office tel. 232 1529; tpangle@austin.utexas.edu

Office hours: TUES. 10-1 PM; or by appt

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of major alternative approaches, elaborated by the greatest political theorists, to the question of the moral character of international relations.

                  The basic aim of the course is twofold: 1) to gain a better understanding of what kind of justice and law exists among nations; and 2) to gain a better understanding of what justice itself means, in human relations, as its nature is revAealed under the stress of the intensely competitive international arena, always overshadowed by the threat of war.

                  We will examine the original, foundational philosophic arguments for: the classical republican struggle for and against empire (Thucydides); Christian Just War theory (Aquinas and Vitoria); Islamic Jihad Theory (The Koran and Hadith; Shaybani, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Ibn Khaldun); the moral supremacy of independent national sovereignty (Hobbes); globalizing moral community achieved through commercialization (Montesquieu); and world legal order achieved through international legal organization (Kant).

                  We will try to uncover the hidden philosophic foundations of our contemporary ways of thinking, and confront our assumptions with challenges from earlier, alien ways of conceiving the world.

                  While we will not forget contemporary issues, we will try to transcend our passionate biases, and view our own immediate situation from a liberating distance, by taking as our primary empirical focus the philosophic historian Thucydides’s dramatic presentation of The Peloponnesian War—a moral as well as military struggle pitting the imperialism of one of history’s greatest democracies (Athens) against the anti-imperialism of one of the most conservative and pious aristocracies in history (Sparta).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND BASIS OF GRADING: THERE ARE TWO OPTIONS, ONE OF WHICH YOU MUST CHOOSE BY FRI., SEPT. 6.

OPTION ONE—MID-TERM EXAM OPTION

40%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.

30%—Mid-term closed book exam on Thucydides, administered in class, on questions chosen at random from study questions handed out two weeks before.

15%—Attendance (required) at all lectures; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 2% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy, by beginning of class Mon., Aug. 30.

15%—Answers to weekly quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions).

OPTION TWO—PAPER/DISCUSSION SECTION OPTION

35%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.

30%—Two short analytical/interpretative essays (each about 1200-1500 words) on topics to be assigned.

10%—Attendance (required) at all lectures and discussion sections; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 1% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy, by beginning of class Fri. Sept. 4.

10%—Answers to weekly quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions).

15%—Attendance and participation in discussion sections, which will meet Fridays. Sept. 13, 27, Oct. 11, 25, Nov. 8, 29. Meeting Times and Places TBA.

REQUIRED TEXTS (be sure to get the correct editions and translations!)

—Some key passages from Thucydides, and major excerpts from Aquinas, Spinoza, Rousseau, and The Federalist as well as readings on the theory of jihad in photocopied booklet (purchase at Co-op).

—The Landmark Thucydides, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0684827905 The translation is not always accurate, and key passages will be found accurately translated in the booklet (see previous).

—Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings, Cambridge, ISBN 052136714x

—Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, U. of Chicago, Mansfield and Tarcov, eds. and trans. ISBN 978-0226500362

—Thomas Hobbes, On the Citizen, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521437806 Tuck and Silverthorne, eds.

—Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521369746 Anne Cohler et al., eds. and trans.

—Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Harper, ISBN# 0061311596 H. J. Paton, ed. and trans.; and Political Writings,

GOV 382M

THE Moral And Political Philosophy of Kant

T/Th 2-3:30 PM, CBA 4.338

Prof. Thomas L. Pangle

Mezes Hall 3.154

tel.: 232 1529

email: tpangle@austin.utexas.edu

Office Hours: Fri. 10 AM- 1 PM

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A study Kant’s major works articulating his moral and political philosophy, including his philosophy of history and of religion. The aim is to understand and to critically assess Kant's Rousseau-inspired elevation of the Enlightenment's previous liberal constitutionalism, in comparison and contrast not only with previous modern political philosophers but above all with the Aristotelian and Socratic conceptions of the ethical basis of politics.

Some reading knowledge of German recommended; the translations of Kant are quite reliable, but it is very helpful to be able to check the originals, especially when writing papers.

Kant's works in German, in the most authoritative edition (the Academieausgabe), are available online at:

https://korpora.zim.uni-duisburg-essen.de/kant/verzeichnisse-gesamt.html

Requirements:

30% six bi-weekly two-page papers, either on one of the study questions handed out each week, or on a portion of Kant's text not yet covered in class. Three due before spring break. (5% each).

10% Class participation.

60% Two analytic, textual-interpretative papers, 10-15 pages each, one due at end of Spring break and one at end of term. Some suggested topics will be handed out.

Texts of Kant in English

The Cambridge Editions of the Works of Immanuel Kant

Practical Philosophy

Anthropology, History, and Education

Religion and Rational Theology

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.

 A theoretically informed close reading and study of the greatest and most influential work of classical political philosophy, Plato's Republic.

            Themes include: the Platonic analysis of the problematic of justice; the way of life of the philosopher as exemplified in the Platonic Socrates and the significance of this way of life for human existence; the meaning of the “best regime” or “utopia” as the central theme of Platonic and consequently of classical and medieval political philosophy.

            These and other related or subordinate themes will be addressed by way of a textual analysis that is constantly informed and invigorated by comparisons with the radically different approach to these and kindred themes in modern political philosophy, beginning with Machiavelli and Hobbes and continuing through the twentieth century.

Prerequisites:

Some reading knowledge of ancient Greek would be very helpful; students are strongly encouraged to read or to consult the original as much as they are able.

It will be assumed that students have a basic familiarity with major thinkers in the history of political philosophy, as well as some experience

with studying Plato.

Grading policy, Requirements:

30% six bi-weekly two-page papers, on one of the study questions handed out each week, or on a portion of the text not yet covered in class. Three due before spring break. (5% each).

10% Class participation.

60% Two analytic, textual interpretative papers, 10-15 pages each, one due at end of Spring break and one at end of term. Some suggested topics will be handed out.

Texts:

Required readings:

Plato’s Republic, trans. Allan Bloom (Harper Collins, Basic Books).

Some Recommended Secondary Literature (in addition to Bloom’s interpretive essay):

James Adam, The Republic of Plato [Greek text with Critical Notes, the latter being what you need]. Cambridge U., 1900. Seems to be available online at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270984193_Adam%27s_Republic_of_Plato_The_Republic_of_Plato_Edited_with_Critical_Notes_Commentary_and_Appendices_by_James_Adam_MA_Hon_LLD_of_Aberdeen_University_2vols_Pp_xvi_364_532_Cambridge_University_Press_1902

Peter Ahrensdorf (1994) “The Question of Historical Context and the Study of Plato,” Polity 27: 113-35.

David Bolotin, “The Critique of Homer and the Homeric Heroes in Plato’s Republic,” in M. Palmer and T. L. Pangle, eds., Political Philosophy and the Human Soul (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995), 83-94. JA 71 P62

Christopher Bruell, “On Plato’s Political Philosophy,” Review of Politics 56:2 (Spring 1994) 261-82. JA 1 R4

Devin Stauffer, Plato’s Introduction to the Question Of Justice (Albany: SUNY Press, 2001) B398. J87 S73

Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964), chap. 2. 320.9 ST827C

_____, “The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures,” in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 103-83. JA 81 S756

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 382M.9 (Unique number 38900) 2017

THE Political Philosophy of Rousseau

MW 12:30-2 P M, in Batts 1.104

Prof. Thomas L. Pangle

Mezes Hall 3.154

tel.: 232 1529

email: tpangle@austin.utexas.edu

website: https://webspace.utexas.edu/tlp374/www/index.html

Office Hours: Thur., 12:30-3:30 PM

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A study of several of Rousseau’s major works articulating his political theory—including Emile, First and Second Discourses, Dialogues, and Reveries. The aim is to understand Rousseau’s comprehensive critique, and then radicalization, of the Enlightenment, or of liberal and rationalist modernity (and post-modernity). Major themes or foci will be Rousseau’s new conceptions of human nature (and its relation to history), of virtue (and its distinction from goodness), of freedom, of republicanism, of the philosophic life—and of the proper relation of the philosopher or wise man to the rest of society.

Some reading knowledge of French recommended; the Collected Writings (see below) contains excellent translations, but it is very helpful to be able to check the translations against the originals, especially when writing papers.

Requirements:

30% six bi-weekly two-page papers, on one of the study questions handed out each week (5% each).

10% Class participation.

60% Two analytic and textual interpretative papers, approx. 15 pages, due at end of Spring break and at end of term.

Texts of Rousseau:

Oeuvres complètes, Pléiade edition, 5 vols. [PCL Call # 848 R76 A4; fifth volume catalogued as ML 3800 R68 1995 Fine Arts Library].

The Collected Writings of Rousseau, University Press of New England, 11 vols. [PCL Call # PQ 2034 A3].

Internet Resources:

http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Author.php?recordID=0284: The Liberty Fund website, which contains downloadable complete texts of all Rousseau’s major political writings, in French and in (poor) English translations.

http://www.rousseauassociation.org/aboutRousseau/works.htm: The Rousseau Association Website, with links to French sites containing the complete text of major non-political writings of Rousseau.

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 382M Unique number 38130

Spinoza and the Ethical Basis of Liberal Democracy (Spring 2016)

2-3:30 PM M/W in Batts 1.104

Professor Thomas L. Pangle Office hours: Tues. 2-5 PM (and by appt.) in Mezes 3.154; office tel. 232 1529 email address: tpangle@austin.utexas.edu

Description:

 Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise is the first elaboration in history of the philosophical foundation for what we call "liberal" democracy—that is, democratic republicanism dedicated to freedom of speech and thought. Spinoza lays the foundation for this regime by confronting the massive alternative to political rationalism: the Bible, understood as conveying a superhuman and supra-rational divine revelation that ought to be the supreme guide to human existence.

            In his unfinished Political Treatise. Spinoza further develops or elaborates the implications—but he died before writing the section on democracy.

            In his Ethics, which presupposes and requires the Theologico-Political Treatise, Spinoza elaborates the strictly rationalist metaphysical and moral principles that arise upon this foundation.

            The course will be devoted to study of these works, and especially the Theologico-Political Treatise, with a view to clarifying—in the light of the growing contemporary crisis of enlightenment rationalism as it faces scripturally based politics—the nowadays mostly unknown theologico-political grounding of the modern theory of liberal democracy. A key background theme will be the quarrel between Spinoza’s enlightenment rationalism (which still reigns—if in ever more ignorant, embattled, and precarious condition—over our culture) and the profoundly different rationalism of the classical republican theorists: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—and their medieval reviver, Maimonides (to whom Spinoza directly responds).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of major alternative approaches, elaborated by the greatest political theorists, to the question of the moral character of international relations.

                  The basic aim of the course is twofold: 1) to gain a better understanding of what kind of justice and law exists among nations; and 2) to gain a better understanding of what justiceitself means, in human relations, as its nature is revealed under the stress of the intensely competitive international arena, always overshadowed by the threat of war.

                  We will examine the original, foundational philosophic arguments for: the classical republican struggle for and against empire (Thucydides); Christian Just War theory (Aquinas and Vitoria); Islamic Jihad Theory (The Koran and Hadith; Shaybani, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Ibn Khaldun); the moral supremacy of independent national sovereignty (Hobbes); globalizing moral community achieved throughcommercialization (Montesquieu); and world legal order achieved through international legal organization (Kant).

                  We will try to uncover the hidden philosophic foundations of our contemporary ways of thinking, and confront our assumptions with challenges from earlier, alien ways of conceiving the world.

                  While we will not forget contemporary issues, we will try to transcend our passionate biases, and view our own immediate situation from a liberating distance, by taking as our chief empirical focus the philosophic historian Thucydides’ dramatic presentation of The Peloponnesian War—a moral as well as military struggle pitting the imperialism of one of history’s greatest democracies (Athens) against the anti-imperialism of one of the most conservative and pious aristocracies in history (Sparta).

****This course carries the Ethics and Leadership flag, designating courses 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.

            After four weeks of historical background, this course will focus chiefly on close textual analysis of a few capital texts, in translation, of political philosophers (falasafa) in Islam, beginning with Farabi and continuing with Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) as well as the later historian-theorist  Ibn Khaldun—with some attention to the great critic of the falasafa, Al-Ghazali.

            The principal aims of the course are to make some progress in understanding the falasafa in regard to:

1) their theoretical concepts of political life (e. g., the regime[s], including especially democracy, prophecy and law, the virtues (especially justice), jihad, the relation between the philosopher and civil-religious society, etc.), seen as appropriating and modifying the concepts of Platonic and Aristotelian political philosophy;

2) how the applications and re-conceptions by the falasafa of Platonic and Aristotelian thought put the latter in a new light; and, especially,

3) what is the new, strategic, rhetorical and theoretical, adaptation of classical political rationalism to Muslim monotheism.

Some familiarity with Plato's Republic and Laws, and Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, will be presupposed.

Approximate schedule of classes and texts to be covered:

Weeks 1-4 or 5

Background

The Koran and early intellectual history of Islam (The Glorious Quran. Trans Pickthall; or The Koran Interpreted. Trans. A. J. Arberry), 2.1-21, 39-65, 82-89, 106-12, 129-41, 168-202, 215-53; 3.31-80, 92, 137-48; 4. 1-38, 71-77, 88-104; 5.3, 15-54, 68-83, 115-end; 6.31-32, 123-32, 151-end; 7.34-53, 94-99; 8.38-40, 56-end; 9.1-29, 38-53, 111-23; 13.19-26; 15.26-44; 16.125-28; 17.13-22; 19.16-40; 20.116-24; 21.1-10; 22.17-25; 24.1-10; 27-37; 26.221-end; 29.36-49; 30.1-8; 33.35-41; 37.35-49;49.9-end; 52.29-36; 53.1-18; 56.1-74; 57.20-21; 91.1-10; 96.1-8 (READ this last, first—by tradition, it is the first revelation given to M.)

Fazlur Rahman, Islam. 2d. ed. (U. of Chicago), chaps 1-2

Recommended:

Asma Afsaruddin, The First Muslims (Oneworld), chaps. 1-4 (pp. 1-58)

Bernard Lewis, The Middle East: A Brief History. (Simon and Schuster), chaps. 3-4 (pp. 51-85)

F. Rahman, Major Themes of the Qur'an (U. of Chicago), chaps. 3-6, 8

Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (U. of Chicago)

Emergence of law or fiqh, shari'a (Rahman, Islam, chaps 4 and 6; Bernard Weiss, The Spirit of Islamic Law [U. of Georgia], chaps. 1 and 6)

Recommended: the rest of Weiss.

Emergence of Hadith (Rahman, Islam, pp. 63-67).

Jih?d in particular (excerpts from Shaybani's Siyar [Johns Hopkins U].; handout of brief reading from Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah; Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader [Markus Wiener].

Recommended:

            David Cook, Understanding Jihad (U. of California)

Marius Canard, "La guerre sainte dans le monde islamique et dans le monde chrétien," in Byzance et les mulsulmans du proche orient (Brill)

Etan Kohlberg, "The Development of the Imami Shi'i Doctrine of Jihad," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 126 (1976) 64-85

Kalam; Great Debate Between Mutazilites and Asharites (Rahman, Islam, chap. 5).

Recommended:

Richard C. Martin and Mark R. Woodward, Defenders of Reason in Islam (Oneworld)

M. Abdul Hye, "Ash'arism," in History of Muslim Philosophy, ed. Shairf, chap. 11, online at :

http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/hmp/index.html

Weeks 5 or 6ff.

The Falasafa (we will make our way through the following works, in approx. the following order).

Recommended for history of transmission of Greeks: Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Greco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (Routledge)

Ibn Tufayl, Hayy the son of Yaqzan, "Introduction" (in Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. Parens and Macfarland, Cornell U. P.)

Farabi, Preface to Compendium of Plato's Laws (in Med. Pol. Phil. Sourcebook)

_____, Enumeration of the Sciences, chap. 5 (in Med. Pol. Phil Sourcebook and also in Butterworth trans., Alfarabi The Political Writings, Cornell U. P.)

_____, The Political Regime (partially available in Medieval Pol. Phil. Sourcebook)

_____, Aphorisms of the Statesman (in Alfarabi The Political Writings, Cornell)

_____, Attainment of Happiness and Philosophy of Plato (from The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, Cornell U. P.)

Avicenna (Ibn Sina), excerpts from On the Divisions of the Rational Sciences and Healing: Metaphysics 10 (in Med. Pol. Phil. Sourcebook)

Averroes (Ibn Rushd), The Decisive Treatise (Brigham Young U.; also excerpts in Med. Pol Phil. Sourcebook)

_____. Averroes on Plato's Republic, trans. Lerner (Cornell U.)

Algazel (Al-Ghazali), excerpts from The Deliverer From Error (Med. Pol. Phil. Sourcebook)

_____. Path to Sufism (Fons Vitae)

Ibn Khaldun, excerpts from Muqaddimah ("Introduction" to World History), available online at:

http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah

Formal Requirements and Basis of Grading:

—10-15 page interpretative paper on some portion of, or theme or problem in, the texts treated—perhaps in comparison with other texts and other major political theorists. Some suggested topics will be distributed. Due at end of term in May  (50%).

—class participation (8%).

—6 one-two page papers (500 words max.) interpreting an upcoming portion of the readings that has not yet been discussed, to be handed in by the start of class. If you wish, you may address study questions that will be handed out from time to time. You may choose which weeks to write (7% each, or total 42%).

Course description:

A study of major alternative approaches, elaborated by the greatest political theorists, to the question of the moral character of international relations.

                  The basic aim of the course is twofold: 1) to gain a better understanding of what kind of justice and law exists among nations; and 2) to gain a better understanding of what justice itself means, in human relations, as its nature is revealed under the stress of the intensely competitive international arena, always overshadowed by the threat of war.

                  We will examine the original, foundational philosophic arguments for: the classical republican struggle for and against empire (Thucydides); Christian Just War theory (Aquinas and Vitoria); Islamic Jihad Theory (The Koran and Hadith; Shaybani, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Ibn Khaldun); the moral supremacy of independent national sovereignty (Hobbes); globalizing moral community achieved through commercialization (Montesquieu); and world legal order achieved through international legal organization (Kant).

                  We will try to uncover the hidden philosophic foundations of our contemporary ways of thinking, and confront our assumptions with challenges from earlier, alien ways of conceiving the world.

                  While we will not forget contemporary issues, we will try to transcend our passionate biases, and view our own immediate situation from a liberating distance, by taking as our chief empirical focus the philosophic historian Thucydides’ dramatic presentation of The Peloponnesian War—a moral as well as military struggle pitting the imperialism of one of history’s greatest democracies (Athens) against the anti-imperialism of one of the most conservative and pious aristocracies in history (Sparta).

Course Requirements and Basis of Grading: THERE ARE TWO OPTIONS, ONE OF WHICH YOU MUST CHOOSE BY Fri., Aug. 29.

option one—Mid-term exam option

40%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.

30%—Mid-term closed book exam on Thucydides, administered in class, on questions chosen at random from study questions handed out two weeks before.

20%—Attendance (required) at all lectures; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 2% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy.

10%—Answers to closed book quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions) administered at the start of the class hour on the Fridays when there will be no lecture.

OPTION TWO—PAPER/DISCUSSION SECTION OPTION

35%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.

30%—Two short analytical/interpretative essays (each about three pages, or 1200 words) on topics to be assigned. Late papers penalized 3% per calendar day.

15%—Attendance (required) at all lectures and discussion sections; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 2% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy.

10%—Answers to closed book quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions) administered at the start of each discussion section.

10%—Participation, in discussion sections.

GRADING POLICY

We will use the plus / minus grading system for this class.

Required Texts (be sure to get the correct editions and translations!)

—Excerpts from Thucydides, and from Thomas Aquinas, Spinoza, Rousseau, and The Federalist as well as readings on the theory of jihad in photocopied booklet available for purchase at Co-op.

—The Landmark Thucydides, Simon & Schuster, ISBN# 0684827905 The translation is not always accurate, and key passages will be found accurately translated in the booklet of readings.

—Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings, Cambridge, ISBN# 052136714x

—Thomas Hobbes, On the Citizen, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521437806 Tuck and Silverthorne, eds.

—Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521369746 Anne Cohler et al., eds. and trans.

—Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Harper, ISBN# 0061311596  trans. H. J. Paton; and Political Writings, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521398371, H. Reiss, ed.

Flags: Ethics and Leadership

no prerequisites

Course Description:

An in-depth critical study of Plato's dialogues SOPHIST and STATESMAN

Grading:

10-15 page interpretative paper on some portion of, or theme or problem in, the Statesman. Some suggested topics will be distributed. Due May 12 (40%).

—class participation (10%).

—Beginning second week 5 one-two page papers (600 words max.) responding to one of the study questions that has not yet been discussed, or interpreting another question of your own or a portion of thetext that has not yet been discussed. Each of these is to be emailed to EVERYONE IN THE CLASS Monday of the week you have chosen to write (50%).

Readings:

Any standard Greek text; recommended translation is Seth Benardete's, Plato's Trilogy, U. of Chicago Press.

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.

Course Description:

The course will be devoted to a study of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War.

—If you have not read the whole work before, try to read through it once to get a bird’s-eye view as soon as you can; then concentrate each week on the next portion announced for that week, keeping an eye on the study question(s). For the class after the first, we will focus on Book One, secs. 1-23, the so-called “archaeology.”

Grading Policy:

—10-15 page interpretative paper on some portion of, or theme or problem in, Thucydides. Some suggested topics will be distributed. Due May 11 (40%).

—class participation (10%).

—Beginning second week, ten short assignments, one due by email before the first class of each of ten of the remaining weeks: 5 one-two page papers (500 words max.) interpreting a portion of the text that is to be discussed that week; and 5 sets of three questions (each set 200 words max.) that would need to be answered to understand any portion of the text to be discussed that week (50%).

Texts:

The Landmark Thucydides. Ed. R. B. Strassler. Simon & Schuster, Touchstone Books. (Revised Crawley translation, which is inaccurate and not at all reliable; but this edition has good maps and conventional scholarly notes that are sometimes helpful).

The Loeb Library Thucydides, in four volumes. The translation is not reliable but has facing Greek.

The Hobbes Translation. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1989. “Of the Life and History of Thucydides” (The famous introd. to Hobbes’s translation).

An email attachment of selected literal translations of key passages by T. Pangle.

Recommended Secondary Literature (Orwin’s book is a good guide to the literature more generally):

Ahrensdorf, Peter. “Thucydides’ Realistic Critique of Realism.” Polity 30 (1997): 231-65.

_____. “The Fear of Death and the Longing for Immortality: Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature and the Problem of Anarchy.” American Political Science Review 94 (2000): 579-93.

Bolotin, David. “Thucydides.” In History of Political Philosophy, 3rd ed., ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Bruell, Christopher. “Thucydides’ View of Athenian Imperialism.” American Political Science Review 68 (1974) 11-17.

_____. “Thucydides and Perikles.” St. Johns Review 32:1 (1981) 24-29.

Forde, Steven. “International Realism: Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Neorealism.” International Studies Quarterly, 39 (1995) 141-60.

Kagan, Donald. A New History of the Peloponnesian War. 4 volumes. Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1969-87. The major recent history of the peiod.

Orwin, Clifford. The Humanity of Thucydides (Princeton University Press, 1994).

Palmer, Michael. Love of Glory and the Common Good: Aspects of the Political Thought of Thucydides. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992.

Rahe, Paul A. Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina Press, 1992.

Strauss, Leo. The City and Man. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964.

_____. “Preliminary Observations on the Gods in Thucydides’ Work.” In Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1983.

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.

Course Description:

A study of Maimonides' GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED as the most profound attempt to apply, and to enrich or deepen, classical political theory by confronting it with biblical revelation and revealed law—and vice versa, to deepen and clarify the meaning of biblical revelation and law by confronting it with classical political theory.

Prerequisites:

Familiarity with the political theory of Plato and Aristotle will be presumed, as well as some familiarity with the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. Also recommended is A. Cohen, EVERYMAN'S TALMUD (New York: Schocken Books), esp. Introd. and chaps 1-4, 6-7, 9, sec. 1.

Course Requirements and Grading Policy:

20% Take-home final exam essay, on assigned synoptic question, of 1000 words.40% Analytic-interpretative paper, 10+ pages, due at end of term.30% Ten weekly one-page papers, on some section of or theme in the reading for that week.10% Class participation.

Texts:

The required text will be Maimonides‘ GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED, trans. Shlomo Pines (Chicago: U. of Chicago Press), paperback in two volumes

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.

see syllabus

Course description:
A study of major alternative approaches, elaborated by the greatest political theorists, to the question of the moral character of international relations.

                  The basic aim of the course is twofold: 1) to gain a better understanding of what kind of justice and law exists among nations; and 2) to gain a better understanding of what justice itself means, in human relations, as its nature is revealed under the stress of the intensely competitive international arena, always overshadowed by the threat of war.
                  We will examine the original, foundational philosophic arguments for: the classical republican struggle for and against empire (Thucydides); Christian Just War theory (Aquinas and Vitoria); Islamic Jihad Theory (The Koran and Hadith; Shaybani, Alfarabi, Avicenna, Ibn Khaldun); the moral supremacy of independent national sovereignty (Hobbes); globalizing moral community achieved through commercialization (Montesquieu); and world legal order achieved through international legal organization (Kant).
                  We will try to uncover the hidden philosophic foundations of our contemporary ways of thinking, and confront our assumptions with challenges from earlier, alien ways of conceiving the world.
                  While we will not forget contemporary issues, we will try to transcend our passionate biases, and view our own immediate situation from a liberating distance, by taking as our chief empirical focus the philosophic historian Thucydides’ dramatic presentation of The Peloponnesian War—a moral as well as military struggle pitting the imperialism of one of history’s greatest democracies (Athens) against the anti-imperialism of one of the most conservative and pious aristocracies in history (Sparta).
 
Course Requirements/Grading Policy: THERE ARE TWO OPTIONS, ONE OF WHICH YOU MUST CHOOSE BY Monday, Aug. 30 .
 
OPTION ONE—Mid-term exam option
40%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.
30%—Mid-term closed book exam on Thucydides, administered in class, on questions chosen at random from study questions handed out two weeks before.
20%—Attendance (required) at all lectures; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 2% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy, by beginning of class Mon., Aug. 30.
10%—Answers to closed book quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions) administered at the start of the class hour on the Fridays of weeks when Option Two will have their discussions sessions..
 
OPTION TWO—PAPER and DISCUSSION SECTION OPTION
35%—Final Exam, held in the final exam period; format will be questions selected at random from study questions handed out at the end of term covering material from the entire term.
30%—Two short analytical/interpretative essays (each 1200-1500 words) on topics to be assigned. Late papers penalized 3% per calendar day.
15%—Attendance (required) at all lectures and all discussion sections; each absence after the second, not excused by a doctor’s note, will subtract 2% from the overall final grade. Attendance at lecture will be recorded by noting empty seats; each student must choose a permanent seat to occupy, by beginning of class Mon., Aug. 30.
10%—Answers to closed book quizzes on the readings (clues for which will be in the weekly study questions) administered at the start of each discussion section.
10%—Participation, in discussion sections, which will once on each of six weeks during term
 
Required Texts (be sure to get the correct editions and translations!)

—The Landmark Thucydides, Simon & Schuster, ISBN# 0684827905 Robert B. Strassler, ed. The translation is not always accurate, and key passages will be found in accurate translation in the photocopied booklet (see below).

—Vitoria, Political Writings, Cambridge, ISBN# 052136714x Pagden & Lawrence, eds

—Thomas Hobbes, On the Citizen, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521437806 Tuck and Silverthorne, eds.

—Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521369746 Anne Cohler et al., eds. and trans.

—Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Harper, ISBN# 0061311596 H. J. Paton, trans.; and
Political Writings, Cambridge, ISBN# 0521398371, H. Reiss, ed

—Selected excerpts from Thucydides, in accurate, literal translation, and from Thomas Aquinas, Rousseau, and The Federalist as well as readings on the theory of jihad in photocopied booklet available for purchase at Co-op.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Please check back for updates.

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

 Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.

Please check back for updates.

Seminar in Political Theory and Philosophy.