The Origins Of Modern Political Thought

This course will examine several key texts of early modern political thought. We will investigate how these texts laid the foundation for the development of a variety of modern concepts and ideas that continue to inform our understanding of political life and reality today. Through reading the work of theorists such as Niccolo Machiavelli, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas More, Jean Bodin, and Etienne de La Boetie, we will engage a variety of important contemporary issues, including the relation between the theological and the political, the political function of utopian thought, the nature of sovereignty, political realism, and voluntary servitude.