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Professor Peter F. Cannavò Spring 2002
MWF 1-1:50 (Section 01) and 2-2:50 (Section 02) Morton Hall Room 39
Government 304: Survey of Political Philosophy
Modern Political Philosophy
Office: Office Hours:
Morton Hall Room 23 Thursdays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
221-3029 (or by appointment)
pfcann@wm.edu
Introduction
Government 304 is an introduction to the political thought of the Modern era. The course is also an introduction to the study, methods, and importance of political philosophy. Finally, it is an opportunity to read some great intellectual works that should be part of any educated person’s background.
The texts were all written before 1910. Yet they raise philosophical, moral, and political issues that are quite relevant today. On the other hand, they also bear the stamp of their time and articulate ideas that might seem bizarre or repugnant to contemporary readers. Note also that most of the authors are male and that all are writing in one particular philosophical tradition, the Western tradition. Part of our job is to consider both the timelessness and specificity of these texts and their authors. We need to be respectful and yet critical, recognizing these works as highly accomplished, if not brilliant, but, like any other human product, imperfect and shaped by the insights, limitations, and assumptions of their time, their intellectual heritage, and their authors.
At the same time, we will be using these works to critically engage contemporary ideas and politics. Do these texts and their authors provide constructive insights and criticisms for our own day? More generally, how should we use political philosophy to understand more practical political concerns? Can political philosophy provide a specific blueprint for politics, or are its particular insights more subtle and debatable? In addition, what are the biases and assumptions of political philosophy as a discipline? Are the insights of political philosophers universal for humankind as a whole or only relevant to specific times and places?
Requirements
Participation in the course. This is a lecture course, but often I will only lecture for part of the hour. My own presentation will be broken up by periods for student questions and discussion. This means that you are strongly encouraged to do the readings for each class ahead of time and come prepared to actively participate (though I will allow that some students will feel more comfortable reading the material after the relevant lecture).
You are also expected to attend the class meetings and must attend at least half of the lectures to pass the course. Class attendance and participation do not officially count as part of your grade, but can make a difference when your grade is borderline. In such cases, students who have attended regularly and have participated in class (either by asking questions or making comments) or have come to my office hours or discussion sections will be considered favorably. Those uncomfortable speaking up in class should discuss this with me at my office hours; I will work to make the classroom environment more hospitable. I strongly encourage all of you to attend office hours (anyone unable to make my hours can set up an appointment for another time). This will give me an opportunity to get to know you and to address any concerns you might have about the course.
Examinations and papers. There will be a midterm and a final examination. You will also be required to complete two short papers, the first 5-6 pages, and the second 6-8 pages. I will hand out a set of paper topics for each assignment.
Readings. The reading is fairly heavy, with roughly 110-145 pages per week. However, I will guide your reading with study questions and with recommendations on what to skim.
The course requirements break down as follows:
Midterm (in class on Wednesday, February 27th): 25%
Paper 1 (5-6 pages; due at 6 PM on February 11th): 15%
Paper 2 (6-8 pages; due at 6 PM on April 8th): 25%
Final examination: 35%
I grade on a 100-point scale:
94 and above: A; 90-93: A-; 87-89: B+; 83-86: B; 80-82: B-; 77-79: C+; 73-76: C; 70-72: C-; 67-69: D+; 63-66: D; 60-62: D-; 59 and below: F.
You must complete all assignments and attend at least half of the lectures in order to pass the course.
Weekly Discussion Section
There will be an optional discussion section each week (beginning January 28th), from 5-6 PM in Morton 39. This will be an entirely unstructured section. You may come with any questions you have about the reading material and the course. Extra review sessions will be held in conjunction with exams.
Texts
I have made a number of texts available for purchase. (I have included detailed publication information so that you may shop elsewhere or on-line, if you choose, and so that you purchase the correct edition). So that you don’t break the bank, I will also make as many of these texts as possible available through other means: the Government Department Copy and Reading rooms at Morton Hall, reserves at Swem Library, and the course’s Blackboard website. I will inform you of the avenues of availability for specific texts.
Howard Brotz, editor, African-American Social and Political Thought 1850-1920 (Transaction Publishers, 1991). ISBN #1560005637.
G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, T.M. Knox, translator (Oxford University Press, 1967). ISBN #0195002768
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (New York: Touchstone, 1997). ISBN #0684842955.
John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1990). ISBN# 091514560X.
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1990). ISBN #0915144867.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Discourses, Bernard Crick, editor (New York: Viking Press, 1985). ISBN #0140444289.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Harvey Mansfield, translator (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). ISBN #0226500438.
Karl Marx and Friederich Engels, The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert Tucker, editor (W.W. Norton & Company, 1978). ISBN #039309040X.
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays, John Gray, editor (Oxford University Press, 1998). ISBN #0192833847.
J.J. Rousseau, First and Second Discourses, Roger D. and Judith R. Masters, translators (New York: St. Martins Press, 1964). ISBN #0312694407.
J.J. Rousseau, On the Social Contract, Roger D. and Judith R. Masters, translators (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1978). ISBN #0312694466.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Resistance to Civil Government, William Rossi, editor (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992). ISBN #0393959058.
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Miriam Brody, editor (Penguin Books, 1993). ISBN #0140433821
Course Outline
Unit I: The Rise of Modern Political Philosophy
Week 1 (W January 16 & F Jan. 18)
1/16: Introduction and Course Outline
1/18: Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (105 pages)
Week 2 (W Jan. 23)
No class on Monday: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
No class on Friday, as I will be out of town. We will make up Friday’s class at a time convenient to all or most of you.
1/23: Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Book I, Preface and Discourses 1-6 and 9-12, 16-18, 34, 46-49, 53 (first four paragraphs), 55, 58; Book II, Preface and Discourses 1-2; Book III, Discourse 1 (96 pages).
Unit II: A New Paradigm – The Scientific Revolution and the Rise of Liberal Individualism
Week 3 (M Jan. 28 – F February 1)
1/28: Francis Bacon, New Atlantis and The Great Instauration (53 pages total)
1/30 – 2/1: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapters 1-6 (pp.19-55) Chapters 9 (pp.69-71), 11 (pp.80-81 only), 13-15 (pp.98-124), 17-18 (pp.129-141), 21 (pp.159-168) (88 pages total).
Week 4 (M Feb. 4 – F Feb. 8)
2/4: Hobbes, Leviathan Chs. 24 (pp.185-190), 26 (pp.198-215) 29-30 (pp.237-260) 43 (pp. 424-436) (61 pages total)
2/6: John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (40 pages)
2/8: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. I-IV (pp.5-18)
Paper 1 due at 6 PM on February 11th.
Week 5 (M Feb. 11 & W Feb. 13)
2/11 – 2/13: Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. V-XI (pp.18-75) Ch. XIV (pp. 83-88), XIX (pp.107-124) (77 pages total)
Unit III: Rousseau’s Critique of the Enlightenment
Week 5 (continued) (F Feb. 15)
2/15 & 2/18: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, p.99-228
NOTE: For February 15, read pages 99-128 (top of page) and Rousseau’s notes, p.183-221 (approximately 70 pages, including the first part of Rousseau’s notes). For February 18, read pages 128-181 and Rousseau’s notes, p.221-228 (approximately 62 pages).
Week 6 (M Feb. 18 – F Feb. 22)
Optional review sessions for the midterm will be scheduled this week
2/18: Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality (continued)
2/20-2/25: Rousseau, On the Social Contract (115 pages)
Week 7 (M Feb. 25 & W Feb. 27)
2/25: Rousseau, On the Social Contract (continued)
2/27: Midterm
Unit IV: Kant’s Deontological Liberalism
Week 7 (continued) (F March 1)
3/1: Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? and On the Proverb: That May Be True in Theory, But Is of No Practical Use (40 pages) – to be continued after Spring Break
No class March 4-8 (Spring Break)
Week 8 (M March 11)
3/11: Kant (continued)
Unit V: Wollstonecraft and the Roots of Feminism
Week 8 (continued) (W March 13 & F March 15)
3/13 – 3/15: Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, p.77-99, 142-174, 279-328 (106 pages)
Unit VI: The Hegelian Tradition – Hegel and Marx
Week 9 (M March 18 – F March 22)
Note: We will not have class on Wednesday, March 20th, and Friday, March 22nd, as I will be out of town. We will make up the two missing classes at times that suit all or most of you.
3/18-3/25: G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Part III: “Ethical Life” (119 pages)
Week 10 (M March 25 – F March 29)
3/25-3/29: Karl Marx, fr. The Marx-Engels Reader (Tucker, ed.): “On the Jewish Question” (p.26-52); “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844” (p.70-105); Karl Marx and Friederich Engels, fr. The Marx-Engels Reader: “The German Ideology” (p.148-200) (106 pages)
Week 11 (M April 1)
4/1: Marx, fr. The Marx-Engels Reader: selection from Capital (p.344-361); Marx and Engels, fr. The Marx-Engels Reader: “Manifesto of the Communist Party” (p.469-500) (50 pages)
Unit VII: J.S. Mill – Utilitarian and Perfectionist Liberalism
Week 11 (continued) (W April 3 & F April 5)
4/3-4/5: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (63 pages)
Week 12 (April 8 – April 12)
4/8 – 4/12: Mill, On Liberty (113 pages)
Paper 2 due at 6 PM on April 8th.
Unit VIII: Politics, Progress, and the Environment – Mill and Thoreau
Week 13 (M April 15 – F April 19)
4/15: Mill, “Nature” (65 pages)
4/17-4/19: Henry David Thoreau, Walden, in William Rossi, editor, Walden and Resistance to Civil Government, pp.1-27, 35-44, 60-67, 78-83, 87-94, 104-116, 129-139 (79 pages)
Week 14 (M April 22)
4/22: Thoreau, Walden, pp.140-149, 199-223 (35 pages)
Unit IX: Race and Politics – Douglass and Du Bois
Week 14 (continued) (W April 24 & F April 26)
4/24-4/26: Frederick Douglass, “Speech on the Dred Scott Decision” (p.247-262), “The Present and Future of the Colored Race in America” (p.266-277), “Address Before the Tennessee Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association” (p.284-297) and W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Conservation of Races” (p.483-492), selection from “The Philadelphia Negro” (p.500-508), “The Evolution of the Race Problem” (p.539-549) (71 pages)