Democracy and Its Nineteenth Century Critics

What exactly is democracy, or 'the rule of the people'? Our unreflective support for democracy often blinds us to the fact that historically, democracy has not always been viewed favorably, but rather, with skepticism—particularly as it was rising to the forefront of political life in the United States and Western Europe in the 19th century. This course investigates claims about democracy through historical and philosophical readings. What exactly is democracy? How is it justified (or not)? How is democracy related to representation, gender, and class? We investigate these questions through Burke, Paine, Wollstonecraft, deTocqueville, Marx, Mill, Taylor, and Nietzsche.