Introduction To Political Theory

This course examines major texts and thinkers in the Western history of political thought and the questions they raise about political order and authority. We will study many of the great texts of the Western tradition. These texts raise important questions about the nature of individual rights, the roots of government authority, the circumstances of legitimate revolution, the justification of religious tolerance, and the meaning of political ideals such as liberty, equality, and justice. We will study political thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Tocqueville. It considers the ways in which thinkers have responded to the particular political problems of their day, and the ways in which they contribute to a broader understanding about human goods and needs, justice, and democracy, and how they continue to shape, inform, and challenge the analysis of current political phenomena. The aim of this course is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of various thinkers and their philosophical approaches in order to gain a critical perspective on our own.