printer friendly pagePOLISCI 231: High-Stakes Politics: Case Studies in Political Philosophy, Institutions, and Interests (CLASSICS 382, POLISCI 331)
Normative political theory combined with positive political theory to better explain how major texts may have responded to and influenced changes in formal and informal institutions. Emphasis is on historical periods in which catastrophic institutional failure was a recent memory or a realistic possibility. Case studies include Greek city-states in the classical period and the northern Atlantic community of the 17th and 18th centuries including upheavals in England and the American Revolutionary era.
Last offered: Winter 2023
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
POLISCI 231A: Democracy Ancient and Modern: From Politics to Political Theory (CLASSICS 149, CLASSICS 249, PHIL 176J, PHIL 276J, POLISCI 331A)
Modern political theorists, from Hobbes and Rousseau, to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl, have turned to the classical Greek theory and practice of politics, both for inspiration and as a critical target. The last 30 years has seen renewed interest in Athenian democracy among both historians and theorists, and closer interaction between empiricists concerned with 'what really happened, and why' and theorists concerned with the possibilities and limits of citizen self-government as a normatively favored approach to political organization. The course examines the current state of scholarship on the practice of politics in ancient city-states, including but not limited to democratic Athens; the relationship between practice and theory in antiquity (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and others); the uses to which ancient theory and practice have been and are being put by modern political theorists; and experiments in democratic practice (citizen assemblies, deli
more »
Modern political theorists, from Hobbes and Rousseau, to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, to Sheldon Wolin and Robert Dahl, have turned to the classical Greek theory and practice of politics, both for inspiration and as a critical target. The last 30 years has seen renewed interest in Athenian democracy among both historians and theorists, and closer interaction between empiricists concerned with 'what really happened, and why' and theorists concerned with the possibilities and limits of citizen self-government as a normatively favored approach to political organization. The course examines the current state of scholarship on the practice of politics in ancient city-states, including but not limited to democratic Athens; the relationship between practice and theory in antiquity (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and others); the uses to which ancient theory and practice have been and are being put by modern political theorists; and experiments in democratic practice (citizen assemblies, deliberative councils, lotteries) inspired by ancient precedents. Suggested Prerequisites: Origins of Political Thought OR The Greeks OR other coursework on ancient political theory or practice. (For undergraduate students: suggest but do not require that you have taken either Origins of Political Thought, or The Greeks, or some other course that gives you some introduction to Greek political history or thought. )
Last offered: Winter 2024
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
POLISCI 231R: The Politics of Nature
Long before the idea of nature comes to be associated with the vocabularies of environmentalism and climate change, the study of nature as a real and imaginary category has informed human self-understanding, molding the ways in which political ideals and institutions are designed and construed. While nature nurtures humans along with other beings, the numerous mysteries that it poses - some still unresolved - continue to destabilize politics' promise of orderliness and set limits to the emancipatory potential of social arrangements of various kinds. The endeavor to tame nature's whim and parse its inner logic - be it through science or art - proclaims to liberate us from the disillusionment with our own state of powerlessness without ever settling the tension between humans and their surroundings. The looming threat of the climate crisis and the global pandemic further reminds us of the persistent challenges brought to politics by our embeddedness in the physical world. How does the id
more »
Long before the idea of nature comes to be associated with the vocabularies of environmentalism and climate change, the study of nature as a real and imaginary category has informed human self-understanding, molding the ways in which political ideals and institutions are designed and construed. While nature nurtures humans along with other beings, the numerous mysteries that it poses - some still unresolved - continue to destabilize politics' promise of orderliness and set limits to the emancipatory potential of social arrangements of various kinds. The endeavor to tame nature's whim and parse its inner logic - be it through science or art - proclaims to liberate us from the disillusionment with our own state of powerlessness without ever settling the tension between humans and their surroundings. The looming threat of the climate crisis and the global pandemic further reminds us of the persistent challenges brought to politics by our embeddedness in the physical world. How does the idea of nature, along with the various methods deployed to examine it, give rise to key concepts in our political thinking, including law, state, and property? What aspirations can various accounts of nature bring to politics in terms of what the latter can hope to achieve with regard to freedom, equality, and happiness? How are human beings supposed to arrange their own societies vis-à-vis their neighbors - human and nonhuman - with whom they share the earthly realm? These are the questions that we ask and explore with inspirations from major political thinkers present and past.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
Instructors:
Tang, A. (PI)
Filter Results: