2nd Semester, 2011-2012 Professor Emeritus
Syllabus
Social Science II is a survey course of the most important ideas of the political philosophers listed in the departmental syllabus. You will learn more that. Knowing what these great thinkers said is not enough. We cannot fully appreciate the power of their ideas if taken out of historical context. A good dictionary supplies simple definitions of the terms they popularized; but even the best dictionary does not reconstruct the circumstances that gave rise to them and the nuances ascribed by later commentators, politicians and activists who appropriated their philosophers.
Political philosophies are considered “great” which influenced the thinking of a significant number of people and triggered some momentous events. In this class we shall study also their ideological and practical consequences. To grasp their continuing relevance, we shall, furthermore, reflect upon their use in contemporary political discourse.
Since it was included in the UP General Education Program, Social Science II discussed selected political thinkers one-by-one, in chronological order. In this class we shall focus, instead, on key issues in the history of political thought and see how they have been formulated, disputed, revised, and enriched.
Below is the list of issues we shall discuss and the political thinkers who contributed in the debates. Attached is a bibliography of the major works of these political philosophers. Since these works are acclaimed “classics”, they have been published in various editions and translations. For this reason, the bibliography only mentions the authors and titles (omitting their publishers, places of publication and dates of publication).
I do not prescribe a textbook. I will try to convince you to read the originals. If that is too much to ask in a one semester course, I recommend Michael Curtis’ compilations of excerpts from the original works: The Great Political Theories, volumes 1 and 2, and The Nature of Politics.
Issues in Political Theory
1. Democracy
a. Plato
b. Aristotle
c. Marx
d. Locke
2. Equality
a. Plato
b. Aristotle
c. Rousseau
d. Marx
3. The community
a. Aristotle
b. Rousseau
c. Engels
4. The nation-state
a. Bodin
b. Machiavelli
5. The empire
a. Cicero
b. Marx
c. Lenin
6. Church and state
a. Augustine
b. Aquinas
c. Bodin
d. Hobbes
e. Locke
7. Morality and raison détat
a. Augustine
b. Machiavelli
8. Authoritarianism
a. Hobbes
b. Lee Kuan Yew
c. Marcos
9. Political liberalism
a. Mill
b. Locke
10. Anarchism
a. Bakunin
b. Proudhon
c. Marx
11. Economic liberalism (laissez faire)
a. Smith
b. Friedman
12. The socialist challenge
a. Marx and Engels
b. Lenin
c. Stalin
d. Mao
e. Guevara
13. The Keynesian compromise
a. Keynes
b. Crossland
14. Globalization: the current debate between neo-liberals, Keynesians, and socialists
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