Elements of Political Theory

0 or 3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course introduces students to the history of Western political thought from the sixteenth century through the twentieth century. Throughout the course, we will grapple with questions about the secularization of political life, the changing relationship between the individual and society, the rise of the modern economy, the development and critiques of liberalism, the hidden structures of modern power, the ethics of violent and nonviolent resistance, and contending views of freedom and equality. Some (but not all) the thinkers we read include: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Max Weber, Michel Foucault, Milton Friedman, and Hannah Arendt. No prior knowledge of political theory or the history of political thought is required. The goal of this course is to provide students with an essential toolkit of intellectual and practical skills for thinking about modern politics. That toolkit includes foundational knowledge of the major thinkers, concepts, and frameworks that have shaped Western political thought, but it also includes a set of skills and dispositions: of reading closely and carefully; of engaging in dialogue charitably and respectfully; of being open to seeing things differently; of developing clear, principled arguments.