86.01 Multiculturalism
This course explores the topic of multiculturalism in the context of contemporary debates in political theory. Students will examine the arguments of authors advocating special political and legal treatment for cultural groups, integrated with responses from liberal, conservative, and feminist critics of multiculturalism. The course is designed to provide students with an understanding of central issues in multicultural debates; but its principal aim is to inspire students to think deeply about the principles, values, and institutions that democratic societies might affirm. Among the questions students consider will be the following: Is a multicultural society desirable or workable? Should government provide minority cultures with special recognition, legal exemptions, or group rights? Is multiculturalism bad for women or harmful otherwise? Could any form of multiculturalism adequately emphasize the values of personal autonomy, equality, and fairness? Prerequisite: one course in political theory or political philosophy. Dist: SOC, WCult: CI
86.03 Contemporary Political Theory
Students in this course examine important ideas and trends in contemporary political theory. The course focuses on the works of such theorists as Friedrich Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and recent advocates of related positions. This course has two aims: first, its object is to foster an understanding of the different writers' conceptions of, inter alia, freedom, persons, power, and action. Second, and more importantly, the course invites students to assess the viability and relevance of the various views considered, with regard to contemporary politics, institutions, and society. Prerequisite: one course in political theory or political philosophy. Dist: PHR / TMV.
86.08 International Relations in Political Theory
Like all branches of political science, the study of international relations began with political philosophy: the first theorists of international relations were the classic political philosophers, Thucydides, Aristotle, Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Kant. Even today, the different schools of international relations, such as realism, liberalism, and constructivism stem from different philosophical traditions. Indeed, the main concepts of international relations theory— such as sovereignty, law, self-interest, power, order, war and peace— all find their origin and meaning from the work of the great political philosophers. Yet the teaching of international relations in political theory has been stymied by the fact that theories of international relations usually embedded in the larger treatises of the classic political philosophers. But now Chris Brown, Terry Nardin, and Nicholas Rengger have performed an invaluable pedagogical service by creating an anthology of the classic theories of international relations. This anthology combines a rich array of classic texts, each introduced with a discussion of its historical and theoretical context. Dist: PHR or INT, TMV WCult: EU and W
86.10 Order and Justice: Greek Perspectives
Greek playwrights, historians and philosophers thought deeply about the nature of justice and order, and the relationship between the two. Only tyrannies -- which Plato and Aristotle described as the shortest lived of all regimes -- did not appeal to some concept of justice. Other regimes had to live up to their principles to some degree, or convince their citizens that they did or would. Greek understandings of justice were varied, but for the most part rest on the principle of ontological equality;: recognition of the inherent equality of all citizens, if not all human beings. In practice, justice was more often framed around the principle of fairness, defined as those set of institutions and practices that served the interest of the community as a whole, and all of its members. Equality in practice was expected to govern relations within a given status, less than it was across them. We will explore Greek conceptions of order and justice through the writings of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle, and examine their motives in writing about these questions, the similarities and differences between them, and the tensions and contradictions present in their conceptions.
Ancient perspectives on order and justice offer an interesting vantage point to assess modern conceptions of justice founded largely on equality and related understandings of the nature of order. I intend to teach a follow-on seminar on contemporary understandings of these problems. In the course paper, students can write about either ancient or modern thought (the latter as understood through ancient conceptions). Dist: PHR/TMV.
86.11 American Political Thought
In this course, we explore American political thought since the Founding, tracing the ways in which liberal democratic theories have been challenged, abandoned, defended, or refined over the years. first, we will explore tensions among the divergent influences and ideas in circulation in early America:? Puritanism and religious freedom, natural aristocracy and radical democracy, federalism and states, rights. then, through topics such as slavery, racial and economic inequality, and education, we examine ways in which American political thinkers have decried (or advocated for) illiberal elements in an ostensibly liberal system. Dist:PHR/TMV, WCult: NA/W.
86.12 Political Violence: Theory and Practice
Genocidal wars, firebombed cities, nuclear explosions, concentration camps, institutionalised torture: the 20th century has seen more than its share of planned and unplanned violence, with prospects of still more to come. This course attempts to come to terms with the meaning and justification of violence. After exploring a number of philosophical questions about violence (can the concept of violence be defined? Is all violence necessarily intentional? Do omissions count as acts of violence? Can violence be justified?), the course will switch to a detailed analysis of different types of violence, including revolutions, civil disobedience and terrorism. Students will be expected to give an oral presentation based on their research on an aspect of violence. Dist: PHR/TMV.
86.14 Wittgenstein and Political Philosophy
This seminar focuses on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and its use in contemporary political thinking. There are two goals of the seminar. The first is to read and discuss Wittgenstein’s philosophy as it evolved from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to the Philosophical Investigations. The second goal is to explore how Wittgenstein has been put to use by contemporary political theorists. We will read James Tully, Strange Multiplicity and Cressida Heyes, The Grammar of Politics: Wittgenstein and Political Philosophy. Students will write a series of weekly 1-2 page short papers and a longer 20-page philosophy paper due at the end of the exam period. This seminar involves a lot of difficult reading and students are expected to have some familiarity with twentieth century philosophical thought. Students are expected to have read Ray Monk’s The Duty of Genius before the start of the seminar.
86.15 Tocqueville and His Critics
How should resources be distributed within a society and between societies? This course will examine contemporary theories of distributive justice, focusing on egalitarianism, libertarianism and utilitarianism. Readings by John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Peter Singer and others. Dist: PHR, TMV WCult: NA or EU, W
86.16 Contemporary Aboriginal Politics in Canada
In this seminar we will examine contemporary Aboriginal politics in Canada. The seminar will be broken up into three sections. In the first part we will explore the history of the Aboriginal-European newcomer relationship. Once we have a better understanding of how Canada became a state we will be in a better position in the second part to investigate the meaning and content of Aboriginal rights as it has evolved since confederation in 1867. We will focus particularly on the evolving debate over the meaning of Aboriginal title. Finally, we will focus on pressing contemporary issues affecting communities themselves such as: economic development, education, health, women, and youth. Dist: SOC WCult: CI and NA
86.18 Contemporary Readings on Justice
This seminar analyzes various philosophical and legal issues through the lens of race. The first part of the seminar will explore the law's treatment of the five main ethnic groups in the United States: African Americans, American Indians, Latinos/as, Asian Americans, and Whites. The second half will interrogate contemporary questions of equality, intimacy, free speech, criminal law, critical theory, and representation. Active, sustained, and insightful participation is required. Dist: SOC, WCult: NA and W
86.20 Ideology and Intellectuals
What is ideology? Who, if anyone, is responsible for creating it? And can we live without it? Beginning with its origins in Enlightenment science, this course will trace the development of the concept of "ideology" through the 19th and 20th centuries, paying special attention to the role that intellectuals have been said to play in the formation, dissemination, maintenance, criticism, and dissolution of ideological systems. Authors will include Marx, Gramsci, Mannheim, Kuhn, Skinner, Bell, Althusser, Habermas, and Foucault. Dist; SOC; WCult; W
86.22 Rousseau
86.23 The Bible as Political Theory
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