This course is a lecture and discussion course that meets twice per week, on Monday and Wednesday morning.
During our class meeting time, we will engage in some lecture along with group-work, small group discussion, and large group discussion, to break down and process the readings. It is very important to attend class meetings, as discussion and group activities are not the kind of thing that can be replicated by doing other kinds of work. If you foresee issues that will impact your attendance, please see me in office hours.
Before you attend class, you should plan on doing all assigned reading and completing all preparatory assignments. It will be difficult to contribute to discussions without having prepared through reading, note-taking, and collaborative annotation.
All class readings are available on Google Drive and are in Perusall as assignments.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
M 1/27: Introduction to the course
In Class: Introduction to course themes and questions
Overview of all course projects, procedures, and assessment
Addressing questions & clearing up sources of confusion
Review after class: Read over the course website, including the schedule, assignments, assessment model, and policies
Prepare after class: Take note of any questions or concerns you have, and come to class ready to ask them
W 1/29: What is politics? What is political theory?
Read: Sheldon Wolin, "Political Philosophy and Philosophy"; begin reading Plato's Republic
Prepare: Carefully read through example forum post and sample annotations
Reading Questions: What does Wolin mean by "politics" and "political"? How does he define "political philosophy" and its relationship to politics? What does he mean by "vision," and how is political philosophy related to imagination? As you read, note points of confusion or questions that the reading brings up for you. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
DUE: Early Semester Planning in Google Drive by Friday 1/31
M 2/3: Justice and Political Order
Read: Plato, Republic, Book 2 (entire) and Book 3 (409a-end)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #1 on reading due by 8am
W 2/5: Ruling Myths and the Just Order
Read: Republic, Book 4 (entire)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #2 on reading due by 8am
M 2/10: Political Knowledge and the Lessons of The Republic
Read: Book 5 (449a–464d, 471c–474d) and Book 7 (514a–521c, 540d–end)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #3 on reading due by 8am
W 2/12: Critical Commentaries: Producing Political Subjects
Read: Demetra Kasimis, "Plato's Open Secret" (excerpt) and Elizabeth Spelman, "Hairy Cobblers and Philosopher Queens"
Prepare: Perusall annotations #4 on reading due by 8am
DUE: Writing Assignment #1 in Google Drive by Friday 2/14
M 2/17: 2-Hour Delay Cancellation
W 2/19: Revisiting Nature & Order: Who Should Rule?
Read: Aristotle, Politics, Book 1 (entire), Book 2 (Chps. 1-4), Book 3 (Chps. 1-5, 7)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #5 on reading due by 8am
M 2/24: Political Regimes: The Life and Death of Constitutions
Read: Politics, Book 3 (Chps. 9-12), Book 4 (Chps. 4, 8-12), Book 5 (Chps. 1-7)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #6 on reading due by 8am
W 2/26: Critical Commentaries: Belonging and the Work of Politics
Read: Eve Browning Cole, "Women, Slaves, and Love of Toil in Aristotle's Philosophy," and Richard Boyd, "Boundaries, Birthright, and Belonging"
Prepare: Perusall annotations #7 on reading due by 8am
M 3/3: The Secrets of Securing (and Holding on to) Power
Read: Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Dedication & Chps. 1, 5-10, 12-14
Prepare: Perusall annotations #8 on reading due by 8am
W 3/5: The Virtues and Vices of Being a Prince
Read: The Prince, 15–21, 23–25
Prepare: Perusall annotations #9 on reading due by 8am
M 3/10: Critical Commentary: Whose Side is Machiavelli On?
Read: Mary Dietz, "Trapping the Prince" and Hanna Pitkin, Fortune is a Woman (excerpt)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #10 on reading due by 8am
W 3/12: Human Nature and the War of All Against All
Read: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Introduction and Part I: Chps. 13–14, 15–16 (selections)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #11 on reading due by 8am
DUE: Writing Assignment #2 in Google Drive Friday 3/14
M 3/17 & W 3/19: No Class (Spring Break)
DUE: Mid-semester self-assessment Sunday 3/23
M 3/24: Sovereignty and the Absolutist Contract
Read: Leviathan, Part II: Chps. 17–18
Prepare: Perusall annotations #12 on reading due by 8am
W 3/26: Rights, Property, and the Liberal Contract
Read: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chps. 2–9
Prepare: Perusall annotations #13 on reading due by 8am
M 3/31: The General Will and the Democratic Contract
Read: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract, Books I-II (entire)
Prepare: Perusall annotations #14 on readings due by 8am
W 4/2: The Fall of Liberal and Democratic Governments
Read: Excerpts from Locke's Second Treatise and Rousseau's Social Contract
Prepare: Perusall annotations #15 on reading due by 8am
M 4/7: Whose Contract? Critical Commentaries on the Social Contract Tradition
Read: Charles Mills, The Racial Contract, Introduction & Chapter 1, and Carole Pateman, "Women and Consent"
Prepare: Perusall annotations #16 on reading due by 8am
W 4/9: Alienation, Property, and Unfreedom
Read: Karl Marx, "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts," p. 66, 70-105
Prepare: Perusall annotations #17 on reading due by 8am
DUE: Writing Assignment #3 in Google Drive by Friday 4/11
M 4/14: Wage Labor, Capital, and Exploitation
Read: Marx, Capital Vol. 1, p. 302-313, 329-343, 431-438
Prepare: Perusall annotations #18 on reading due by 8am
W 4/16: Race, Knowledge, and Freedom: The Veil and Double Consciousness
Read: W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, Forethought, Chp. 1, 2, 5, 6
Prepare: Perusall annotations #19 on reading due by 8am
M 4/21: Race and Class Struggle: The Black Worker, The White Worker
Read: Du Bois, "The Black Worker" and "The White Worker" from Black Reconstruction in America
Prepare: Perusall annotations #20 on reading due by 8am
W 4/23: Sex, Gender, and Class Struggle
Read: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, excerpts
Prepare: Perusall annotations #21 on reading due by 8am
M 4/28: Women and Liberation
Read: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, excerpts
Prepare: Perusall annotations #22 on reading due by 8am
W 4/30: Race, Class, Gender: Coalition and Liberation across Difference
Read: Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider, excerpts
Prepare: Perusall annotations #23 on reading due by 8am
Optional: Complete your introductory paragraph (thesis and roadmap) for Assignment #4.
DUE (Optional): Assignment #4 preliminary materials in Google Drive by Wednesday 4/30
DUE: Final Revised Portfolios & Self-Assessments by Friday 5/9