Mr. Wilson
Office: Rice 209
Phone: 8494

Note: This course meets Mondays and Wednesdays at 1.30 to 2.20 p.m. Each student must also attend one Friday afternoon section---1.30, 2.30, or 3.30 p.m.

This course introduces you to some continuing issues and problems in political theory. No previous experience in studying political theory is necessary: only a desire to learn, to take some risks, and to explore unfamiliar ideas.

We shall give special attention to the following problems:

Justice: What constitutes a just society? Does justice require equality among men and women in all respects, or can it permit---or require---inequality in some respects? How does the ideal of universal justice square with the realities of cultural and social difference?

Community: Can there be a political order whose members truly share a common life? Would that be worth achieving? What can community be based on; i.e. what should be shared in common?

Freedom or Liberty: How can a member of a political society be said to be "free," and what are the main obstacles to freedom?

Democracy: Who should rule? Should "the many" rule, or share widely in power? Is it possible or desirable for citizens to govern themselves in complex modern societies? Although the course is organized around these broad themes, they are so interdependent that we will consider each of them at various times during the semester. In fact, we shall explore a fairly wide range of problems in political theory, many of which bear directly upon contemporary political issues.
Class format is lecture with discussion. Regular attendance is expected. The class will be divided on Fridays to provide an opportunity for smaller discussions. Each student must attend either the 1.30, 2.30, or 3.30 meeting on Fridays. Please read the assigned material by the appropriate class meeting.
Written assignments include three short (6-8 pp.) analytical papers and a take-home final examination. Due dates are on the schedule below. More information about assignments will be given in class. You may find that the type of paper you write in this course to be different from previous papers. You should improve your ability to write essays during the semester. If possible the instructor will arrange for a tutor for this course. Grading will be based on the four written assignments and, to a lesser extent, on class attendance and participation.

Students should purchase the following paperbound books:
Grube and Reeve, eds., The Republic of Plato
J. Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government
J. S. Mill, On Liberty
Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader
R. Dahl, Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy
I. M. Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference
J. B. Elshtain, Democracy on Trial

A limited number of the following books have also been ordered at the Co-op:
M. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
E. Fromm, Escape from Freedom
B. Barber, Strong Democracy

We will also read short selections from other books, all of which have been placed on reserve:
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Plato, "Crito" and "Apology" (in, e.g., Tredennick ed., The Last Days of Socrates)
J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
M. L. King, Jr. in Washington, J., A Testament of Hope E. From, Escape from Freedom
H. Marcuse, in Wolff, ed., Critique of Pure Tolerance
I. Berlin, "Two Concepts of Liberty"
J. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
C. West, Race Matters

Note on sources: This course emphasizes the reading and critical analysis of primary source materials. Although there are significant differences among editions and translations of writers such as Plato, you may use any edition. Assignments in the classical Greek texts are given by standard passage-number applicable to all editions.
A large secondary literature exists on some of the theorists read in this course (e.g. Plato, Locke, Mill, Marx) and on the topics or themes (i.e. community, justice, freedom, democracy) by which the course is organized. A few of these secondary sources are cited below, at the end of the required reading list. If you wish to explore either specific writers or topics further, the instructor will be happy to make suggestions for additional reading or to make available bibliographies used in intermediate- and advanced-level political theory courses.
Some sources, particularly the older texts (Plato, Locke, Marx, Mill), are available on-line. Instructions will not be offered here as to how to access these texts. Many, perhaps most, students will naturally prefer the old-fashioned book.

Schedule of Reading and Class Lectures/Discussions

I. Justice and Community
Wednesday, 2-4   Introduction
Friday, 2-6   Thucydides, "Pericles' Funeral Oration" and "Melian Dialogue" from History of the Peloponnesian War Plato, "Apology"
Monday, 2-9 Plato, "Crito"
Plato, Republic, pp. 1-31, Grube-Reeve ed. (327-354)
Wednesday, 2-11 Plato, pp. 32-60, 91-121 (357-383, 413-445)
Friday, 2-13 Plato, pp. 122-156 (445-480)
Monday, 2-16 Plato, pp. 157-193 (484-521)
Wednesday, 2-18 Plato, pp. 213-263 (543-592)
Friday, 2-20 Plato, further discussion
Monday, 2-23 Locke, John, Second Treatise, chs. 1-5
Wednesday, 2-25 Locke, chs. 7-13
Friday, 2-27 Locke, chs. 18-19
Monday, 3-2 Rawls, John, A Theory of Justice, pp. 1-22
Wednesday, 3-4 Rawls, pp. 60-67, 69-75, 78-80, 83, 100-108.
Friday, 3-6 General discussion

Monday, 3-9 First Paper Due

II. Freedom and Liberation
Wednesday, 3-11 Mill, J.S., On Liberty, chs. 1-3
Friday, 3-13 Mill, chs. 4-5
Monday, 3-16 Thoreau, Henry David, "Civil Disobedience"
King, Martin Luther, "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience" (in James Washington, A Testament of Hope, pp. 43-53)
Wednesday, 3-18 Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, pp. 1-35, 161-176, 290-202
Friday, 3-20 General discussion

Spring Break

Monday, 3-30 Marx, "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," in Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 70-105
Wednesday, 4-1 Marx and Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," in Tucker, ed., pp. 471-500
Friday, 4-3 Marx, further discussion
Monday, 4-6 Fromm, E. Escape from Freedom, chs. 1, 2, 7
Wednesday, 4-8 Marcuse, Herbert, "Repressive Tolerance," in R.P. Wolff, ed., Critique of Pure Tolerance, pp. 81-119
Friday, 4-10 Berlin, Isaiah, "Two Concepts of Liberty," in Four Essays on Liberty, pp. 118-172
Monday, 4-13 Berlin; General discussion
Wednesday, 4-15 Second paper due

III. Democracy and Justice
Friday, 4-17 Schumpeter, Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 3^rd ed., pp. 250-283
Monday, 4-20 Dahl, Robert, Dilemmas of Pluralist Democracy, chs. 1-3, 5-6
Wednesday, 4-22 Dahl, chs. 7-8
Friday, 4-24 Barber, Benjamin, Strong Democracy, chs. 1, 5
Monday, 4-27 Barber, chs. 6, 10
Wednesday, 4-29 Young, I. M., Justice and the Politics of Difference, chs. 1-2
Friday, 5-1 Young, chs. 6 C. West, Race Matters, pp. 3-13, 93-99
Monday, 5-4 Elshtain, Jean, Democracy on Trial, pp. 1-63
Wednesday, 5-6 Elshtain, pp. 65-138
Friday, 5-8 General discussion

Take-home exam distributed
TBA Take-home exam due

Selected additional readings

Political theory in general

Wolin, Sheldon S., Politics and Vision, is an excellent set of commentaries on Western political theory.

Gunnell, John, Political Theory: Tradition and Interpretation reviews critically several approaches to the study of political theory.

Okin, Susan M., Women in Western Political Thought is a feminist approach to the subject.

1. Justice and Community

Bowra, C.M., The Greek Experience, is a romanticized account of the Greek polis.

Euben, Peter, Greek Tragedy and Political Theory, shows the political content of Greek Tragedy and its continuing importance in classical thought.

Ober, Josiah, Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens, is an excellent detailed account of what Athenian democracy was really like, according to the best historical evidence.

Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is an excellent read.

Plato: additional dialogues you might explore include Gorgias, Protagoras, Statesman, Symposium

Nettleship, R.M., Lectures on the Republic of Plato, is actually an eloquent 19th century defense of Plato.

Stone, I.F., The Trial of Socrates, looks at that event as it might have appeared to the democrats of Athens.

Strauss, Leo, Natural Right and History, defends a Platonic and Aristotelian approach to political philosophy against modernity. Some of Strauss' disciples have become very influential in conservative intellectual and political circles.

Daniels, Norman,, ed., Reading Rawls, is a collection of commentaries on Rawls, some more critical than others.

Nozick, Robert, Anarchy, State and Utopia, contains a libertarian critique of Rawls.

II. Freedom and Liberation

Hobbes, Leviathan, especially Parts I and II, is perhaps the greatest work in the tradition of contract theory.

Locke, "Letter Concerning Toleration," is worth comparing to Mill, who wrote almost two centuries later.

Macpherson, C.B., Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, is a Marxoid reading of Locke.

Ashcraft, Richard, Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two Treatises of Government, puts Locke in historical context.

J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism, sets forth his basic philosophical approach, on which On Liberty more or less depends. See also his Considerations on Representative Government.

Jefferson should be compared to Mill for his defense of freedom of speech, press, etc.; see The Portable Thomas Jefferson, edited by Peterson, or any other compilation.

The assignment in Marx is only a small sample of his writing. The instructor can suggest additional readings from his large corpus.

Hundreds of books on Marx and Marxism exist. Many of them are intended to argue for a "correct" or politically useful interpretation of Marx and Marxism. One of the better scholarly sources is David McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought. George Lichtheim and Leszek Kolakowski present nuanced, useful histories of Marxist thought---the three- volume Kolakowski work is not without its own political agenda. See also T.B. Bottomore, A Dictionary of Marxist Thought.

Robert Nozick, cited above, provides a philosophical defense of the kind of libertarian politics Friedman defends in economic terms. (Nozick, unlike Friedman, has since questioned his own work)

Hayek, Friedrich von, The Road to Serfdom, written in the early 40's, is a classic source of libertarian thought.

Waligorski, Conrad, The Political Theory of Conservative Economists, has a well-developed critique of Friedman. There are many others.

Marcuse, Herbert, One-Dimensional Man, is his wholesale critique of American politics and culture, written in the sixties.

Robinson, Paul, The Freudian Left, is an accessible discussion of both Fromm and Marcuse. There are many others.

In addition to the Fromm and Marcuse essays, two classic sources of "positive freedom" are the English writers T.H. Green, Principles of Political Obligation, and L.T. Hobhouse, Liberalism.

In addition to "Two Concepts of Liberty," see Berlin's essay in Four Essays entitled "John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Life."

III. Democracy and Justice

Rousseau, The Social Contract, is perhaps the classic source of modern democratic (as distinct from liberal) theory.

Tocqueville, Democracy in America, written in the 1830's, is a classic source, and great political theory in its own right.

Purcell, Edward, The Crisis of Democratic Theory, gives a useful history of the 20th century revisions in the meaning of democracy.

Held, David, Models of Democracy, discusses various theories of of democracy, from populist to elitist.

Robert Dahl, perhaps the leading American theorist of democracy, has written many books, and since the early 50's has changed his views somewhat. See his A Preface to Democratic Theory (1956); A Preface to Economic Democracy (1985), as well as his magnum opus, Democracy and its Critics.

Lindblom, Charles, Politics and Markets, argues that corporate capitalism does not fit with democratic values.

Macpherson, C.B., The Real World of Democracy and Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval develops the above theme, except more sharply.

Barber, in Jihad vs. McWorld, criticizes both religious fundamentalism and global capitalism, which he thinks reinforce each other, from a perspective of strong democracy.

Bellah, Robert, Habits of the Heart, and its sequel, The Good Society, argue that Americans can sustain civic commitments but too often fail to do so. See also Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites, for some suggestions as to why this might be so.

Gutmann, Amy, Democratic Education, asks how far democratic values can be applied to public education and to various issues in the schools.

Hartsock, Nancy, Money, Sex and Power, is one of many discussions of democratic theory from a socialist-feminist perspective.

West, Keeping Faith, is a particularly interesting series of essays on race and American democracy by the African- American theorist/theologian.

Various works of bell hooks contain perspectives comparable (though not identical) to Iris Young's; see her Feminist Theory from Margin to Center.

Taylor, Charles, Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition, is an elegant essay by a distinguished Canadian political theorist of democratic persuasion.

Enjoy !