Susan E. Gallagher, Associate Professor, Political Science Department, UMass Lowell
By surveying landmark texts in the history of Western political thought, this course provides an overview of some of the central ideas that have shaped present-day approaches to politics and government. During the first two thirds of the course, we will read selections from Plato, Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, J.J. Rousseau, John Locke, Adam Smith, the Federalists, Karl Marx, Henry D. Thoreau, W.E.B. DuBois, J.S. Mill, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, and John Rawls. Then, after exploring ways in which the principles and ideas advanced by these theorists relate to ongoing political developments and debates, students will make presentations on topics chosen from a list of possibilities such as Aristotle's legacy to scientific inquiry, Smith's role in the making of modern economics, Thoreau's contributions to environmental philosophy, and what DuBois can teach us about race relations in the twenty-first-century.1. Introduction: The Foundations of Western Political Thought
Plato (c. 428-347 B.C.E): The Politics of Idealism
Required Reading: Plato, "The Allegory of the Cave," from The Republic, Book VII (380 B.C.E.).
Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.E.): Empiricism, Politics, and Government
Required Reading: Aristotle, selections from The Politics (350 B.C.E.).
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527): Politics as a Craft
Required Reading: Machiavelli, excerpts from The Prince (1532).
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): Avoiding the War of All Against All
Required Reading: Thomas Hobbes, excerpts from The Leviathan (1651).
3. Politics, Government, and the Rise of Capitalism
John Locke (1632-1704): Property & Political Power
Required Reading: John Locke, selections from John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1689).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788): Nature, Law, and Government
Required Reading: selections from J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762).
Adam Smith (1723-1790): Society as a Self-Regulating Machine
Required Reading: selections from Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776).
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) & James Madison (1751-1836): A Government Suited to Commercial Society"
Required Reading: James Madison, Federalist #10 (1788).
Karl Marx (1818-1883): Capitalism, Revolution, and the End of Government
Required Reading: Marx, The Communist Manifesto (1848).
Philip Gasper, "Marxist Classics: The German Ideology," International Socialist Review, 33, Jan–Feb 2004.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862): Liberty, Slavery, and American Democracy
Required Reading: Thoreau, "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854) (pdf) (html).
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): The Tyranny of the Majority in Industrial Society
Required Reading: selections from J.S. Mill, On Liberty (1859.
5. The Politics of Inequality in the 20th Century
W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963): The Color Line
Required Reading: selections from The Souls of Black Folk (1903).
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986): Woman as 'Other'
Required Reading: selections from The Second Sex (1949).
6. Theorizing Politics After Modernity
Michel Foucault (1926–1984): Problematizing Political Thought
Required Reading: selections from Michel Foucault, The Archeology of Knowledge (excerpts), trans. A. M. Sheridan-Smith, 1972).
John Rawls (1921-2002): Imagining a Legitimate State
Required Reading: Dr. Jan Garrett, "Rawls' Mature Theory of Social Justice: An Introduction for Students."
