Reconstructing Political Modernity

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course will examine several interpretations of early modern philosophers by 20th century authors who are original political thinkers in their own right. These interpretations have involved as much reconstruction of early modern thought as faithful scholarly commentary. Indeed, they sometimes shed more light on the interpreter than the thinkers being interpreted. Thus, we shall critically analyze the radical transformations of early modern texts that were undertaken in order to make these works relevant to social and political questions centuries later. CROSSLISTED: EMSP 3440.03 FORMATS: Seminar