Keegan Callanan

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)

Left, Right, and Center
In this course, we shall examine liberalism, conservatism, socialism and their competing conceptions of freedom, equality, the individual, and community. We shall consider the origins of these ideologies in early modern political theory and shall afford special attention to the connection between thought and politics. Authors may include John Locke, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott, and Friedrich Hayek. 3 hrs. lect. (Political Theory)

Religion & Politics: Ancient & Modern
What role should religion play in politics? And what is the proper role of the state in regulating religion? Is religious conviction a precondition of or threat to healthy civic life? Why should regimes prefer religious toleration to religious uniformity? In this course we will examine these and other questions at the intersection of religion and politics in the western political tradition, affording special attention to early modern debates over the separation of church and state, toleration, and civil religion. Authors will include Plato, Emperor Julian, Augustine, Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Bayle, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Lessing, and Tocqueville. (Political Theory)/

Might and Right Among Nations
What role does justice play in international politics? What role should it play? Does it pay to act justly in the conduct of foreign affairs? In this course, we will examine the place of ethical considerations in international politics. Drawing upon major works of political theory, we will pay special attention to the relationship between justice and necessity, the ethics of war and deception, and plans for perpetual peace. Authors will include Thucydides, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Kant, Weber, Woodrow Wilson, and Michael Walzer. 3 hrs. lect. (Political Theory)/

Statesmanship and Modern Liberty: Montesquieu and Tocqueville
Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws and Tocqueville's Democracy in America offer profound treatments of modern representative government, its promise, and its perils. In this course we will focus on each author's understanding of the often neglected role of statesmanship in shaping political and cultural conditions favorable to the emergence and preservation of human liberty in the modern world. We will consider key themes such as the relationship between liberty and equality, the role of the passions in politics, the meaning of despotism, the relationship between culture and politics, and the promise and dangers of modern commerce for liberal democracy. (Political Theory)/