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Academic Year 2000/2001


The Moral Basis of Politics
GOVT 159 SP

An introduction to upper-division courses in political theory, the course considers the basic moral issues that hedge government and politics: Under what, if any, circumstances ought one to obey the laws and orders of those in power? Is there ever a duty to resist political authority? By what values and principles can we evaluate political arrangements? What are the meanings of terms like freedom, justice, equality, law, community, interest and rights? How is our vision of the good society to be related to our strategies of political action? What is the role of organization, leadership, violence, etc., in bringing about social change? Readings will be from among political philosophers, utopian works, novels, contemporary social criticism and modern social science.

MAJOR READINGS

Plato, CRITO and APOLOGY
Sophocles, ANTIGONE
Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"
Marx, "Communist Manifesto"
Locke, ESSAY [ON] CIVIL GOVERNMENT
Rousseau, SOCIAL CONTRACT and "Discourse on Inequality"
Machiavelli, THE PRINCE
Dostoevsky, "The Grand Inquisitor"
Weber,"Politics As A Vocation"
Burke, PHILOSOPHY OF EDMUND BURKE
Bondurant, CONQUEST OF VIOLENCE
Walzer, JUST AND UNJUST WARS
Arendt, EICHMANN IN JER USALE

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Bi-weekly short essays; mid-term paper and a final exam.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS GOVT    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001


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