MW
9:30 to
Dr.
Michael
Ault
Email: mault@csub.edu
Office Hours: MW
and by appointment
Website:
www.csub.edu/~mault/classes.htm
The contents of
this document will affect your performance in this class and ultimately your
academic career. To ensure that you understand the classroom policies, the
course requirements, and my professional expectations, please read the entire
document carefully. You are responsible for any changes that may occur during
the course of the quarter and you will be held responsible for all announcements
that are made in class.
Course
Description
In
this course, we will learn to read the works of political and social
philosophy, both ancient and modern.
Course Objectives
To read closely and actively
with a pen, a dictionary, and a critical but open mind;
To understand the questions political philosophy raises;
To understand philosophers’ answers to these questions and issues;
To understand how these answers provide a beginning point for new inquiries rather than answers that halt inquiry;
To explore the proposition that political philosophy provides an opportunity to assess one’s self and one’s political association;
To identify current political and social issues within an analysis of justice;
Specifically, in this course we will explore the following questions:
What issues does political philosophy address?
How is political philosophy different and similar to the study of political science and philosophy?
Why is philosophy necessary?
How can philosophy address the fundamental problems of human association?
Why have books been considered dangerous?
What is a social contract?
What is a racial or gender contract?
How do contracts reflect an underlying power relationship?
What is liberalism?
What are the arguments against liberalism?
What are the alternatives to liberalism?
Why does it matter how “power relationships” are organized?
How does living in the present era affect our experience of the world and reality?
Required Texts
Classics of Moral and Political Philosophy. Steven M. Cahn.
Mandragola. Niccolo Machiavelli, translated by Mera
Flaumenhaft. Waveland Press. 1981. ISBN 0917974573. Buy it here.
The Bhagavad Gita. Available online here.
Buy it here.
Recommended Texts
M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers. The
Extended course bibliography: Click here.
Mid-term Exam 30%: The test format is short answer and essay,
and will cover both the course readings and classroom lectures. If you have an
excused absence for the midterm, a makeup exam will take place on the last day
of class. If you have an unexcused absence for your midterm, you will receive a
0 for that test -- this means you will fail the course.
Final Exam 30%: Your final exam will be comprehensive and
will count for 30% of your total grade. The test format is short answer and
essay, and will cover both the course readings and classroom lectures. If you
have an unexcused absence for your final exam, you will receive a 0 for that
test -- this means you will fail the course.
Unannounced
Quizzes and
Reading Reflection
(click here).
Class Participation 10%: I expect all students to
come to class prepared to engage in discussion and critique of the assigned material.
I consider this to be a critical part of the educational journey - learning
requires that you become actively engaged in your own educational development.
This means when reading the material, you should take notes and you should come
to class each day with at least two questions concerning the readings.
Academic Expectations and Attendance: I expect that every
student is taking this class because s/he is interested in pursuing the study
of important ideas and the analysis of our social and historical
conditions. Until proven otherwise, I’ll assume that every student in the
class will receive an “A”. Failure to complete any of the assignments, or
assignments that in the estimation of the instructor represent minimal effort
on the part of the student, will lead to deductions from that grade, as will a
failure to attend class regularly and participate in class discussion. It
is impossible for you to do well in this class without attending regularly and
your participation is required.
Personal Conferences: I have office hours and I
encourage you to take advantage of them to come and discuss any problems you
may be having with this course or with University life in general. If you
cannot see me during my scheduled office hours, please feel free to come by my
office or schedule an appointment.
Additional Information
The following points are intended to enhance the
classroom environment. Some of them are pre-existing regulations
determined by the university, and others describe the basic expectations for
anyone prepared to embark on an educational journey.
I have office hours and I strongly encourage you to take
advantage of them to come and discuss any problems you may be having with this
course or with University life in general. If you cannot see me during my
scheduled office hours, please drop by my office any time, or call to see if I
am there. If not, leave a message and I’ll be back with you shortly to
arrange a time to meet. You may contact me through email, as well.
Students with demonstrated disabilities are
encouraged to speak with me as soon as possible in order to identify any ways
in which your disability may be accommodated.
Introduction – 9/14, 9/16
The Apology of Socrates – Plato 9/21 (Text is located here)
Topic
Two: What is ancient political philosophy?
**No Class 9/23**
The Republic – Plato 9/28, 9/30, 10/5 (**Republic Outline**)(Text is located here)
Recommended Readings:
The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of
The
La Mandragola – Machiavelli 10/7, 10/12, 10/14 (all)
**MIDTERM 10/19**
**No Class 10/21**
The Prince – Machiavelli 10/26, 10/28 (all)
Leviathan – Hobbes 11/2 (Introduction to Chapter 14)
Second Treatise Concerning Government – Locke 11/4 (Chapter 1-12 and
Chapter 19)
Discourse on the Origin of Equality – Rousseau 11/9 (all)
Recommended Readings:
Thoughts on Machiavelli. Leo Strauss. University of Chicago Press. 1995.
Politics and the Arts. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. Edited and translated by Allan Bloom. Cornell University Press. 1991.
The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Literature. M.C. Howatson and Ian
Chilvers. Oxford University Press. 1993.
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 – Marx 11/16 (all)
The Bhagavad Gita – 11/16 (Chapters 1-11 and 14)
Recommended
The Sutras of Patanjali. Translation and commentary by Sri Swami
Satchidananda. Integral Publications. 1978.
The Upanishads. Penguin Classics. 1965.
The Marx-Engels Reader. Edited by Robert Tucker. W.W. Norton and
Company.
Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Freidrich
Neitzsche. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. Vintage Books.
The Revolution of Everyday Life. Raoul Vaneigem.
The Theory of Communicative Action, Two Volumes. Jurgen Habermas. Beacon
Press. 1984.
Empire. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.
Addresses the assignment
thoughtfully and analytically, setting a challenging task.
Displays awareness of and
purpose in communicating to an audience.
Establishes a clearly
focused controlling idea.
Demonstrates coherent and
rhetorically sophisticated organization; makes effective connections between
ideas.
Provides clear
generalizations with specific detail, compelling support, and cogent analysis.
Cites relevant sources and
evaluates their validity, effectively integrating them into text when
appropriate.
Displays superior,
consistent control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of
Standard English.
Addresses the assignment
clearly and analytically, setting a meaningful task.
Addresses audience needs and
expectations.
Establishes a clearly
focused controlling idea.
Demonstrates clear and
coherent organization.
Provides clear
generalizations and effective support and analysis.
Cites relevant sources,
effectively integrating them into text when appropriate.
Displays consistent control
of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.
Addresses the assignment
with some analysis.
Addresses most audience
needs and expectations.
Establishes a controlling
idea.
Demonstrates adequate
organization.
Provides support for and
some analysis of generalizations.
Cites appropriate sources,
adequately integrating them into text.
Displays adequate control of
syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English;
errors do not slow the reader, impede understanding, or seriously undermine the
authority of the writer.
Addresses the assignment
inadequately.
Shows insufficient audience
awareness.
Strays from the controlling
idea, or the idea is unclear.
Displays formulaic, random,
or confusing organization.
Lacks generalizations, or
provides generalizations with inadequate support or analysis.
Fails to cite sources or
cites and/or integrates them inappropriately.
Shows deficient control of
syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English;
errors impede understanding.
Fails to address assignment.
Demonstrates a lack of
audience awareness.
Lacks a controlling idea.
Lacks organization or
organizes illogically.
Displays inability to
generalize, analyze, or support ideas.
Fails to use outside sources
or misuses the texts of others.
Shows inadequate control of
syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.