Love and Friendship
We will start with Plato's Phaedrus, to learn about love (eros) and its relationship to speaking and writing, followed by Plato’s Symposium, also on love. Next, we read Aristotle's Ethics to consider friendship in relation to politics and philosophy. Then we will read: a Shakespeare Sonnet; Montaigne's essay, "Of Friendship"; Bacon’s essay “Of Friendship,”; Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It; Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park; and George Eliot’s Middlemarch. We will also study parts of The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, by Sister Miriam Joseph. 3 hrs. sem. CW EUR LIT

Spring 2018

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Introduction to Political Philosophy
What is politics and how should it be studied? Is there a best regime? A best way of life? How are these two things related, if at all? Can we gain knowledge of such topics? We will examine these questions through a study of the some or all of the following texts: Plato, Apology of Socrates, Republic; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics; Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War; St. Augustine, Confessions; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Summa Contra Gentiles; Machiavelli, The Prince; Hobbes, Leviathan; Locke, Second Treatise on Government; Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men; Marx, The Communist Manifesto, The German Ideology, Capital; and Weber, “Science as a Vocation.” 4 hrs. lect./disc. (Political Theory) EUR PHL SOC

Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020

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The American Political Regime
This is a course in American political and constitutional thought. The theme, taken from de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, is the problem of freedom. The first half covers the American founding up through the Civil War and the "refounding." This includes de Tocqueville, Madison's Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention, the Federalist-Anti-Federalist ratification debate, Supreme Court decisions (Marbury, McCulloch), writings of Jefferson, Calhoun, and Lincoln. The second half considers basic problems in American politics, such as race, gender, foreign policy, and education. Readings include a novel, de Tocqueville, and Supreme Court decisions (Brown, Frontiero, Roe, Casey, Grutter, Lawrence). 4 hrs. lect./disc. (American Politics)/ AMR NOR SOC

Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020

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On Tyranny
What is Tyranny? Is it, as has been said, “a danger coeval with political life”? To help us consider these questions, we will read works of political philosophy, literature, and political commentary: Plato, Apology of Socrates, Republic VIII-IX and Charmides; Xenophon, Hiero, or On Tyranny; Machiavelli, Prince; Shakespeare, Macbeth and Julius Caesar; Hegel on master and slave; Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political; Leo Strauss on Xenophon, Alexander Kojeve’s Commentary and Strauss’s Restatement; Heidegger, Question Concerning Technology; Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition or Origins of Totalitarianism; Frederick Douglass, Narrative; Robert Penn Warren, All The King’s Men; and Ta Nahisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power). (not open to students who have taken PSCI 1158) 3 hrs. lect. (Political Theory)/ EUR PHL

Spring 2020

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American Constitutional Law: The Federal System
This course examines the development of American constitutionalism through study of Supreme Court decisions. Every major topic but the bill of rights (see PSCI 0306) is covered. Using the Sullivan and Gunther Constitutional Law casebook, we begin with judicial review and then study the development of legal doctrines surrounding the commerce clause, the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment, and the separation of powers. Recent cases focus on affirmative action and federal protection of civil rights. Interpretive books and essays are considered, as time permits. A mock court exercise is anticipated. (Juniors and seniors with PSCI 0102 or PSCI 0104 or PSCI 0306) 3 hrs. lect./disc. (American Politics)/ AMR NOR

Fall 2017, Fall 2019

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American Constitutional Law: The First Amendment
This course focuses on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the first amendment freedoms of speech, press, and religion. After starting with the philosophic foundations of these first amendment freedoms (Mill, Locke), students will read the major Supreme Court decisions concerning these rights. Class assignments in the form of oral arguments and briefs and/or options will enable students to take the part of lawyers and judges. (Sophomores, juniors and seniors with PSCI 0102 or 0104 or 0205 or 0206 or 0305 or waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc. (American Politics)/ AMR NOR PHL

Fall 2018, Fall 2020

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Ancient and Medieval Political Philosophy
We will study some classic works in ancient and medieval political philosophy: Plato (Laws, RepublicApology, Republic, Gorgias, Protagoras, Meno); Aristotle (Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric); Cicero (Republic, Laws), Maimonides (Guide to the Perplexed), Aquinas (Summa Theologica, Summa Contra Gentiles), Alfarabi (The Political Regime). (PSCI 0101 or PSCI 0107 or by waiver) 4 hrs. lect./disc. (Political Theory)/ PHL SOC

Fall 2018

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Modern Political Philosophy
In this course. we will study: Machiavelli (Prince, Discourses); Bacon
(Advancement of Learning); Hobbes (Leviathan); Locke (Second Treatise);
Spinoza (Theological-Political Treatise); Montesquieu (Spirit of the Laws);
Rousseau (Social Contract); Burke (Reflections); Kant (Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Perpetual Peace); Hegel (Introduction to Philosophy of History); Marx (Communist Manifesto, German Ideology, Capital); Nietzsche
(Beyond Good and Evil); Heidegger (Question Concerning Technology).
We will examine modernity's rejection of ancient thought, its later replacement of nature by history as the standard for right, and its subsequent rejection of any standard of right. Other topics include religion, freedom ofspeech, and the separation of powers. (PSCI 0101 or PSCI 0107 or PSCI 0317, or PSCI 0333, or waiver) 4.5 hrs. lect./disc. (Political Theory)/ EUR PHL SOC

Spring 2019

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Independent Projects
A program of independent work designed to meet the individual needs of advanced students. (Approval required)

Fall 2017, Winter 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Winter 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021

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Honors Thesis
(Approval required)

Fall 2017, Winter 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Winter 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021

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On Tyranny
In this course we will study tyranny, which has been called “a danger coeval with political life” (Leo Strauss). To understand that statement and how technology and ideology have changed tyranny, we will read classic works from political philosophy and literature (Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Republic VIII-IX and Charmides; Xenophon’s Hiero, or On Tyranny; Machiavelli’s Prince; and Shakespeare’s Macbeth) and modern works (Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political; Leo Strauss on Xenophon, followed by Alexander Kojeve’s Commentary and Strauss’s Restatement; Heidegger, “Question Concerning Technology”; Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism, vol. 3; and writing by one tyrant). EUR PHL WTR

Winter 2018

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Reading Herodotus
“Herodotus of Halicarnassus here displays his inquiry, so that human achievements may not become forgotten in time, and great and marvelous deeds—some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians—may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two peoples fought with each other.” So begins Herodotus’ “Inquiries,” aka “Histories.” Herodotus’ accounts of Egypt, Scythia, Lydia, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Libya (books I-IV) lay the foundation for his account of the Persian Wars (V-IX). The relation between Greekness and human freedom emerges as the theme of that war. EUR HIS LIT WTR

Winter 2020

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