Course Descriptions

The implications of the form in which the seminal book in Western political philosophy is written are considered; the political and philosophic alternatives rejected by Socratic-Platonic teaching are also discussed.

The ethical basis of political life is investigated through a study of the Nicomachean Ethics.

The thought of this seminal thinker of modernity is investigated through a reading of the Discourses on Livy. Other works, especially The Prince, are consulted to establish the broader context of Machiavelli’s political teaching. 

The founding of modern political science was accomplished by Hobbes. The Leviathan and On the Citizen are read. Attention to the connection between modern science and political science.

The political philosophy of John Locke, including the Two Treatises of Government and the Essays on the Law of Nature are studied. Locke’s criticism and reinterpretation of traditional natural law and the importance of his teaching for understanding modern liberal regimes, are examined.

The first thoroughgoing critique of modernity was made by Rousseau, giving a new direction to philosophical thought. Texts: the Emile, the First and Second Discourses and The Social Contact.

Special programs of inquiry are set forth by mutual consent of student and professor with the approval of the Program Director.

The Memorabilia Oeconomicus, the Hiero and Cyropaedia are studied. The work of Xenophon is essential for the understanding of Socrates’ teaching.

To be selected by the instructor

Study of Aristotle’s Politics as an introduction to the classical understanding of man and society. Emphasis is on the dialogical or tentative character of Aristotelian teaching.

The confrontation of Greek Philosophy with the revealed religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) posed the need for a new expression of the classical teaching. Authors: Thomas Aquinas, Avicenna, Maimonides and Alfarabi. 

Study the principles and structure of the American political order.

Nietzsche’s mature thought is studied through a reading of Beyond Good and Evil and the third part of Genealogy of Morals. Nietzsche’s relation to his historicist precursors and existentialist successors is emphasized.

Study the political writings of Spinoza, including the Theologico-Political Treatise and the Political Treatise. The relation of politics and religion is discussed, as well as the grounds for the first philosophic recommendation of free speech and democracy.

Study Shakespeare’s understanding of politics and the question of the relationship between poetry, philosophy and political thought. Does Shakespeare present a history of Western civilization from Athens to England?