CLIT 3027: From States of Nature to States of the World: Political Theory as World. Lit

CLIT 3027: From States of Nature to States of the World

Spring 2024

CLIT 3027: States of Nature, State of the World: Political Theory, World Theory

Dr. Daniel Vukovich

Venue: CRT- 946, Mondays, 2:30-5:20 *No separate tutorials.

Phone: 3917- 7934

Office: 934 RR Shaw Arts Bldg, Centennial Campus

Office Hours: Mondays, 1.30-2.30 and by appointment, in person or via zoom

Email: vukovich@hku.hk

Description:

This course surveys classic texts that offer ‘big picture’ analyses of human nature, morality, and the creation of human society and political order out of some primitive ‘state of nature’ prior to modernity and socially, politically organized life. Our texts are influential or otherwise important accounts of this process, and are worthy of being called literary and imaginative masterpieces in their own right. Taken together, they offer us a great conversation and memorable story-tellings about what we humans are like ‘by nature,’ and how we evolved (or devolved) out of a distant past into the modern world of states and societies and communities and capitalism. Texts range from Confucius to Carl Schmitt (a German intellectual who once served the Nazi regime), with many others in between. We will ponder the classics of early modern political thought (Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) and then up-end this “liberal” tradition by reading the feminist scholar Carole Pateman. We will then end with three long-dead but still very timely, and deeply imaginative thinkers, namely Marx, Freud, and Schmitt.

This is a Great Books yet discussion-intensive capstone class focused not only on understanding this deep conversation but about you joining that conversation, in class and in writing. These ideas about what we human beings are really like by our nature, how we evolved into societies with governments, and what makes a good or bad, or just or unjust social order are just as important today as when they were written, be this one hundred or more than one thousand years ago. They still inform our thinking about the ‘real world’ and politics.

We will begin at the beginning, in antiquity and the European Enlightenment, because the oldest voices are sometimes the wisest. And also because it is crucial to understand the transition from “feudalism” or the aristocratic orders to ‘modernity.’ We then move through the modern 19th and 20th centuries of developed, global capitalism, when everything was thought to have changed for the better, or for the worse. We will move far and wide, from ancient Rome and China through modern Europe (and its colonies) and into our contemporary global conjuncture.

Learning Outcomes:

· The course will develop your skills in historical, textual, contextual, and cross-cultural analysis.

· The immersion in classic texts and debates will develop your knowledge of intellectual, political, and cultural history.

· The course will develop your awareness of alternative viewpoints about the nature of humans and the systems and societies they form.

· You should be better able to articulate and argue your own such views in English and in writing as well as speech

Texts:

1. All readings will be uploaded or found here: https://sites.google.com/view/classwebprofvukovichhku/clit-3027-from-states-of-nature-to-states-of-the-world-political-theory-as-world-lit

Many are selections from the 5th edition of Michael L. Morgan's anthology Classics of Moral and Political Theory (2011, Hackett Publishing USA). Other texts/pdfs/links will be here as well. You will be responsible for printing and reading them. If you can’t find them on the site, let me know.

Grading:

100% Continuous Assessment:

*Instructions and a prompt for each essay will be given in class 1-2 weeks before the due date. They will range from 1k to 2+k per paper. * To do well in this class you simply must read and re-read the texts, and pout some thought into them before class and when you complete your essays. I can pretty easily tell when folks are working hard versus hardly working on the course…. Do that and you will likely ace this capstone.

20 % Participation

80 % Written Essays (3 in total). Format and prompts are t.b.a. I’ll provide a detailed handout for each one, 1-2 weeks in advance.

20% Paper 1. Due Date: Wednesday March 6.

20% Paper 2. Due Date: April 5 (or after reading week)

40% Paper Three. Due Date: May, Finals week. Date, details handed out in last class.

Late Work Policy:

1. Late work is NOT accepted, except under verified medical or other emergencies. If you need a brief extension for a particular assignment, you must see me one week in advance and commit to a new due date.

2. You must complete ALL major assignments to pass the course. Don’t skip a paper.

Plagiarism:

A writer who presents the ideas or words of another as if they were the writer’s own commits plagiarism. This is a disciplinary offense that can result in failure or expulsion. Consult http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism. Do not offer quotes or paraphrases of others’ work without providing proper citation. If you have any question, see me before you hand your paper in. We use the MLA format because its easiest.

SCHEDULE (Mondays)

1. Subject to change. If you miss class it is your responsibility to find out what you missed, or if there is new work. Contact me or a classmate. The website will be updated weekly, on avg.

2. Our stuff is online at https://sites.google.com/view/classwebprofvukovichhku/clit-3027-from-states-of-nature-to-states-of-the-world-political-theory-as-world-lit

3. Read the headnotes and Intro’s to all our authors whenever available.

Week 1, Jan 15: Syllabus Review. Some Keywords & Questions.

Q's: How did we get here, together? Why? For whose benefit? Did we/do we agree to be ruled? Should we? What are we like by nature? What is a fair or just social/political order?

A's: Human Nature. The State of Nature. The State. Morality. Society. Civilization. Politics. Modernity. The Unconscious. Universalism vs Relativism. Harmony vs Antagonism.

Week 2, Jan 22: Confucius and Legalism

Readings: find the PDF, linked at the bottom of our googlesites page.

1. Chapt 3, “Confucius’ Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society and Other Topics” (45-63) in Lee Dian Rainey, Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). PAGES 45-62

2. Rainey, “Mencius and Xunzi.” PAGES 87-118

Recommended: (not required)

a. Read Section V and the 1.1 section of VI in the pdf of The Doctrine of the Mean.

b. Section/Book 7 of The Analects, esp. 子曰三人行必有我师

c. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/confucius/#ConPol

Week 3, Jan 29: Machiavelli

Readings: “The Prince” in Morgan book. Read all of it, including the headnote. If you see unfamiliar names and references, look some up and skip the rest. It will make sense later.

2. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2013/machiavelli-the-prince-still-relevant-after-all-these-years/

Week 4, Feb 5: Hobbes

Readings:

Read the following chapters, after you read the headnote by Morgan. Within these assigned chapters, I think you can read the first few pages of each very carefully, then skim the middle if it proves too difficult at first, and then read their final paragraphs closely again. Hobbes is very systematic and summarizes himself as he goes along.

Readings:

1. Hobbes’ own “Introduction,” then Chapters: 13-15;

2. Chapters 17-19

3. 21 and 29.

b. https://www.openculture.com/2021/09/hobbes-locke-rousseau-an-animated-introduction-to-their-political-theories.html

c. https://iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/#SH2a * This one is longer, just fyi.

Week 5, Feb 12: Lunar NY Holiday

Week 6, Feb 19: Locke

Readings: Locke’s Second Treatise. In Morgan’s book.

1. Selections: Read the whole thing if you can but if not then: Headnote (Morgan), chapts 1-9, 14-15, and 18-19.

b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZiWZJgJT7I

Week 7, Feb 26: Catch-up Class: social contracts and the power of belief.

Readings: t.b.a.

ESSAY 1 DUE Wednesday March 6, by 4 pm. Details t.b.a

Week 8, March 4: Reading Week. No Class.

Paper 1 due Wednesday the 6th

· Read ahead: lots of Rousseau next week.

Week 9, March 11: Rousseau

Readings: Extracts from The Social Contract & The Discourse on Inequality.

1. Read the Headnote (Morgan), within the Discourse, read 851-866; 876-881.

2. Within The Social Contract, read: 886-894; then 908 (chapter 4); 913 (Chapt 7); 916-23; and then Book IV: 924-928 and 935

Week 10, March 18: Pateman

Readings: The Sexual Contract, selections:

1. “Preface,” "Chapt. 1: Contracting In"

2. Chapt. 4: Genesis, Fathers, and the Political Liberty of Sons."

Recommended: Chapt 7: "What's Wrong With Prostitution?"

Week 11, March 25: Marx [capitalism; labor; power; classes]

Readings:

1. “Alienated Labor” & “On The Jewish Question,” read pages 1160-1182

2. The Communist Manifesto, pages 1185-1196, 1201-1202. *co-author: F. Engels.

3. “The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society." *pdf on our googlesite

Week 12, April 1: April Fool’s Day, No Class [also Easter Monday holiday]

Paper 2 Due April 5 or April 8 if you need extra time.

Week 13, April 8: Marx II, To be Continued....

Readings:

1. from Ernst Fischer: Marx in his Own Words. *pdf on googlesites. pp 1-66 and 74-88, 132-39.

This is a lot but you might skim first and see what is useful in these pages or elsewhere in the book/anthology.

2. We will also continue from the previous week's readings...

Week 14, April 15: : Freud

Readings: Civilization & Its Discontents (read entire book) . Pdf available at our googlesite

Week 15, April 22: Freud & Carl Schmitt: Groups, Friends, Enemies, Peoples

Readings:

1. Emily Zakin, "The Image of the People: Freud and Schmitt’s Political Anti-Progressivism."

2. Finish/re-read Freud's "Civ and Diss" book from above.

Recommended:

1. Freud, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.

2. . Recommended / References for Carl Schmitt:

1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Schmitt#ref1248476

2. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schmitt/

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk8gN68crMU

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdMbVH4tHYk

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am4Wwcnkt10&t=408s << this is a longish podcast but an excellent one>>

Final essay due during Finals Week. Details t.b.a.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse