[ Wesleyan Home Page ] [ WesMaps Home Page ] [ WesMaps Archive ] [ Course Search ] [ Course Search by CID ]
Academic Year 2002/2003

Virtue and Glory: Classical Political Theory
GOVT 337 SP
Clusters:

Christian Studies

This course is a survey of premodern political theories, with attention to their major theoretical innovations, historical contexts, and contemporary relevance. Major themes will include the nature of political community and its relation to the cultivation of virtue, the origins of the ideas of law and freedom, the relation between knowledge and power and between politics and salvation. Readings will include Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Moses Maimonides, St. Thomas Aquinas, Niccolo Machiavelli, and others. This course, together with GOVT338 and GOVT339, provides a survey of major Western political theories, and at least two of these courses are recommended for students concentrating in political theory.

MAJOR READINGS

Plato, REPUBLIC Aristotle, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS; POLITICS St. Augustine, CITY OF GOD (selections) St. Thomas Aquinas, SELECTED POLITICAL WRITINGS Lerner & Mahdi, eds., MEDIEVAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Machiavelli, THE PRINCE; DISCOURSES (selections)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One short essay; one quiz; one mid-term paper; final exam.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

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-18-2003

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email

Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459