Professor Anita Chari

Department of Political Science

Office hours TBD

anitachari@gmail.com

PS 530: Ancient and Medieval Political Theory [Draft Syllabus as of 5/2011, subject to revision]

Course Description:

This course gives an introduction to the basic problems and concepts of political philosophy through an engagement with foundational texts in the history of western political thought. We will read works by Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and we will conclude with a transition to modernity through the works of Benjamin Constant and Jacques Ranciere. We will consider the following questions: What is justice? What makes a good political society? What is the role of the individual within the political community? What is the relationship between morality, religion and politics? What is the role of education in social and political organization? What is the best regime? And how are we to define “democracy”?

Course Requirements:

Midterm exam: 40%

Final exam: 40%

Participation in online discussion forum and in-class participation: 20%

Students may choose to substitute a 10-12 page paper for the final exam.

Texts:

· Aristotle, The Politics, trans. Carnes Lord (University of Chicago Press, 1984)

· Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality, and Politics, trans. & ed. William P. Baumgarth & Richard J. Regan, 2^nd ed. (Hackett, 2003)

· Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans. Ed. R.W. Dyson (Cambridge: 1998).

· Augustine, Confessions, trans. Gary Wills (Penguin Classics: 2008).

· Benjamin Constant, “The Liberty of the Ancients Compared to that of the Moderns,” (electronic reserve or course packet).

· Plato, The Republic, trans. Allan Bloom (Basic Books, 1991)

· Plato, Gorgias, trans. Donald J. Zeyl (Hackett, 1987)

· Jacques Ranciere, Disagreement, trans. Julie Rose (University of Minnesota Press, 2004)

Reading Schedule

Plato

1.1 Plato’s Republic, Book I (pp. 3-34); Weston, pp. 1-22; 37-47; 73-79.

1.2 Republic, Books II & III (pp. 35-96).

2.1 Republic, Book IV to Book V 471e (pp. 97-152).

2.2 Republic, Book V 471e to Book VII 531c (pp. 152-211).

3.1 Republic, Book VII 531d to Book IX 576b (pp. 211-256).

3.2 Republic, Book IX 576b-592b to end of Book X (pp. 256-303); Weston pp. 49-65; 81-86.

4.1 Plato’s Gorgias, pp. 1-50

4.2 Gorgias, pp. 51-113

Aristotle

5.1 Aristotle's Politics Book I, chaps. 1-7; Book II chaps. 1-2, 5.

5.2 Politics, Book III.

6.1 Politics, Book IV chapters 1-2, 4-9, 11-12; Book V chapters. 1, 8-9.

6.2 Politics, Book VII chapters 1-5, 7-10, 13-15; Book VIII chapter 1.

Augustine

7.1 Augustine, Confessions, Books VI-VII,

7.2 Augustine, Confessions, Book XIII

8.1 Augustine, City of God, Books X.1-3, 31-2; XII, XIII

8.2 Augustine, City of God, Book XIX; XXI.1-9, 23; XXII.22-4, 30

Aquinas

9.1 Aquinas (all selections are in On Law, Morality, and Politics) Summa Theologica I-II Questions

90-95 (pp. 10-59).

9.2: Aquinas, continued: Summa Theologica I-II Q. 96-Q. 97 (pp. 59-75); Q. 100 A. 1, 2, 8-9 (pp.

76-79, 81-86); Q. 105 A. 1 (pp. 93-96); II-II Q. 57 A. 2 (pp. 100-101); Q. 58 A. 2 (pp. 107-108);

Q. 40 A. 1 (pp. 164-67); Q. 104 A. 5-6 (pp. 182-85); Q. 42 A. 2 (pp. 188-89); Q. 10 A. 8, 11, Q.

11 A. 3, Commentary on the Sentences Distinctions 44, 37 (pp. 190-96); On Kingship I 6 (pp.

207-210).

From the Liberty of Ancients to the Liberty of the Moderns:

10.1 Benjamin Constant, “The Liberty of the Ancients Compared to that of the Moderns”

10.2 Jacques Ranciere, selections from Disagreement.