Syllabus for: Instructor: Mike Lattanzi
HISTORY OF POLITICAL Rm. 2026 HUSS
THEORY II Tel. x1935 (office),
POLS 3202.02 010 1888 1984 (mobile)
Spring 2017 E-mail:
Office Hrs: Sun. & Wed. 11:45-12:45
This course is the second of two historical introductions to political thinking in the western tradition. It begins with early modern, social contract thought, focuses on Karl Marx as an example of 19th century political theory and concludes with two thinkers from the 20th century: one, the moral leader of an anti-colonial, liberation movement and, the other, a political theorist who, among other things, writes about the meaning of freedom.
COURSE TEXTS
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract
Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
Karl Marx, “Estranged Labour” in, The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Manifesto of the Communist Party
M. K. Gandhi, Non-Violent Resistance, (Schocken)
Hannah Arendt, “What is Freedom?” in, Between Past and Future, (Penguin)
All texts will be available on Blackboard.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Midterm Exam: Wed. March 22 30%
Thought Paper: Assigned: Wed. April 5 30%
Due: Sun. April 30
Final Exam: Sun. May 21 30%
Attendance and Participation 10%
Note on Attendance: Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class. If, for unavoidable reasons, you are unable to make it to a class on time, you are welcome to join us when you are able. Students who arrive after attendance has been taken but before the halfway point of the class will be given half attendance – as will students who leave during the class.
ACDEMIC INTEGRITY
Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the AUC policy on academic integrity, which can be found at the following site:
http://www.aucegypt.edu/academics/integrity/Pages/default.aspx
I take questions of academic integrity very seriously and violations of the AUC policy on integrity will be reported to the Academic Integrity Committee. If a student has any questions about this policy – esp. what would qualify as an instance of plagiarism – please consult me before submitting work. Once a paper is submitted, I will presume that the student understands the academic integrity policy and what counts as a violation of it. Let me stress this again: please consult me before work is submitted. It is best for all of us if possible violations of the academic integrity policy are caught before they occur.
OUTLINE
i) Introduction
Jan 29; Feb. 1, 5 What is political theory? What is political philosophy?
Feb. 8 What is modernity?
ii) Early Modern Thought
Feb. 12, 15, 19, 22, 26; Mar. 1 Locke
Reading: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government.
Mar. 5, 8, 12, 15, 19 Rousseau
Reading: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract.
Mar. 22 *** Midterm Exam ***
Mar. 26, 29 Kant
Reading: Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
iii) 19th Century Thought
Apr. 2, 5, 11, 23, 26 Marx
Reading: Karl Marx, “Estranged Labour”, in The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts
of 1844.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto.
*** Please note: due to Spring Break, there will be no class on April 9, 12 or 16 ***
Apr. 5 *** Thought Paper Assigned ***
iv) 20th Century Thought
Apr. 30; May 3 Gandhi
Reading: M. K. Gandhi, selections from Non-Violent Resistance, (Schocken).
Apr. 30 *** Thought Paper Due ***
May 7, 10 Arendt
Reading: Hannah Arendt, “What is Freedom?”, in Between Past and Future, (Penguin),
pp. 143-171.
v) Conclusion