Teaching Philosophy of the Political Theory Project
The pedagogical mission of the Political Theory Project is to enliven and enrich political debate by fostering responsible ideology. Responsible ideology means putting in the hard work to be justified in holding one’s political views.
This requires a synthesis of philosophical and social scientific, normative and positive methods. Perhaps philosophy alone could tell us what are the best imaginable social and political arrangements. Yet, we also need history, sociology, and economics to determine what are the best achievable social arrangements. We need to know whether our values are the right ones to realize through politics. We also need to know how social institutions work in practice to discover what best realizes our values.
Philosopher John Stuart Mill suggested that one is not in a good position to hold one’s views until one knows what it would be like to hold contrary views. We want to help students take those differing perspectives. Responsible ideology means confronting contrary views with an open and active mind.
Numerous studies show that people tend to converge on political beliefs they find pleasing rather than for which they have good evidence. Much political inquiry threatens to be little more than rationalizing views people would hold anyways. We try to create intellectual discomfort. Our master method is Socratic: to question everything. We do this not to inspire skepticism but to invigorate political thought. We search for problems for our favored views and of challenging our presuppositions. We ask ourselves the hard questions. Better yet, we find a way to turn the easy questions into hard questions. Responsible ideology means taking seriously the possibility that the things that seem most obvious are not obvious at all.
We encourage respectful confrontation. That means holding up each idea for inspection as if it were new. We promote intellectual freedom in the sense of helping break students out of the chains of their own dogmatism.
To help achieve these ends, Political Theory Project courses have the following features:
1. They cover topics of fundamental and enduring significance.
2. They challenge students to think rigorously about these topics and drive them to challenge their deepest assumptions.
3. They tend to cover both classic and contemporary texts on the topic.
4. They are writing and discussion intensive.
5. They are interdisciplinary or at last open to being interdisciplinary, focusing not merely on normative political philosophy but also using the tools of the social sciences.
6. They are conducted in a "open learning environment", that is, an environment of mutual respect in which students feel not only comfortable, but excited, about sharing their ideas, regardless of how unpopular their ideas are.
Courses Already Developed
Freedom: What is freedom, how valuable is it, and what institutions best realize it?
Capitalism, For and Against: Do markets help realize or impede important goals of social justice and prosperity?
Possible Courses We Would Like to See Developed
Many of these courses could be taught from the perspective of different disciplines. Where suggested readings are included, they are just a suggestion.
Democracy and Its Critics: Does democracy help realize or impede important goals of social justice and prosperity? How much democracy do we really want? Readings might include: Rousseau, Joshua Cohen, Diana Mutz, Bryan Caplan.
Ideas and Institutions of Early America: What was the goal of the American experiment? How did ideas shape politics and how did politics shape ideas? How well did early America live up to its own ideals? Readings might include: Gordon Wood, Joyce Applebee, James Madison, Tocqueville.
Federalism vs. Anti-Federalism: Is the American Constitution instrumental to maintaining liberty, or a threat to it? What were the different views before it was ratified? What should we think now? Readings might include: The Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, Saul Cornell, Jeffrey Rogers Hummell.
Liberalism and Religion: To what extend is liberalism a natural outgrowth of Christianity, and in particular, Protestantism? Does liberal politics require a Christian or post-Christian secular society? Readings might include: Max Weber, James Butterfield.
Separation of Church and State: What is the role of religion and politics, and what should it be? Readings might include: Perez Zagorin, Martin Luther, John Rawls, Philip Hamburger.
Classics of Political Economy: How did modern economics develop? What problems was it trying to solve, and what problems did it encounter in trying to solve them? Readings might include: the Physiocrats, Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Keynes, Friedman, Becker, Samuelson.
Law and Economics: What, if anything, can economics teach us about the effects of various legal rules, and what, if anything, should that tells us about their value? Readings might include: Ronald Coase, Richard Posner, Duncan Kennedy, Warren Samuels.
Economic Analysis of Political Behavior: What insights, if any, can economics give us into determining why citizens, legislators, judges, and other political agents behave? Readings might include: Public choice theory (Buchanan, Tullock), Arrow, Marx.
New Institutional Economics: How do various institutions function, and what good and bad do they do for people? Readings might include: North, De Soto, Coase, Greif, Williamson.
State Sovereignty and International Law: How should international law affect domestic politics and authority? Readings might include: Bodin, Grotius, Pufendorf, David Held, Bruce Broomehall.
Undergraduate Courses
Political Theory Project Courses
Fall 2008
FRESHMEN SEMINARS
POLS0820D: Freedom (Landemore)
What is freedom? Why is it important? How important is it compared to competing values (such as equality, justice, solidarity, or love)? Can individuals be free as citizens? What kind of rights and duties, if any, does freedom entail? We will examine different conceptions of liberty --liberal egalitarian, classical liberal, Marxist, and fascist views. We will determine how the various aspects of freedom--psychological and moral but also social, political, and economic--are complementary and determine what sorts of institutions promote or undermine these aspects.
POLS0820W: Capitalism and Political Theory (Nacol)
This course will focus on fundamental readings in social and political theory that take capitalism seriously, beginning with 18th-century reflections on commerce and continuing to 21st-century accounts of global political economy. The aim of the course is to illuminate the major implications of capitalism for politics. What kind of political order does capitalism make possible or foreclose? What impact does capitalism have on sociability and culture? What are the implications of capitalism for justice and equality, human freedom and agency? Authors to be read include Rousseau, Smith, Marx, Weber, Schumpeter, Hayek, Marcuse and Harvey.
Spring 2008
FRESHMEN SEMINARS
POLS0820O: Political Theory of Capitalism (Rasmussen/Tomasi)
Are capitalist societies just or are they full of inequality and exploitation? Do they give people freedom or oppress them in one way or another? Do they encourage virtue or vice, excellence or mediocrity, happiness or misery? Are there other types of society that would be preferable? What might be done to improve capitalist societies? This course will investigate these questions through a study of some of the seminal philosophical arguments for and against capitalism, focusing especially on the works of Locke, Smith, Rousseau, and Marx.
POLS0820N: Political Thinking for a Global World (Jenco)
This course will consider how we should think, and act, in a world increasingly marked by global interconnectedness. We will devote our attention to the intellectual and epistemological issues raised by cross-cultural exchange, and survey how theorists in both "the West" and elsewhere have thought about and formulated responses to issues like citizenship, human rights, feminism, and cultural identity.
SENIOR SEMINARS
ECON: Cosmopolitanism, Economic Development, and Welfare Rights (Akhtar)
Cosmopolitanism is the view that all persons have equal moral standing regardless of their nationality. We will explore the ethical foundation of this view and its relationship to Human Rights. In particular we’ll explore the question of whether people should have not just human rights to life, liberty and security, but also to a basic level of economic subsistence. A right to some basic economic wellbeing is often called a Welfare Right.
POLS 1820R: Early Modern Orders (Nacol)
This course will approach problems of political, social and economic order from the perspective of early modern British political thought. Authors include Hobbes, Locke, Hume and Smith. We will explore the conceptions of political authority, power and subjecthood that emerge from their theoretical engagements with orders of all kinds and consider whether these persist in our contemporary understandings of politics.
PHIL 0570: Environmental Ethics (Brennan)
In the first half of the course, we will ask what sorts of things have value. Does the realm of moral consideration extend past human beings to include animals, plants, and nature itself? How does environmental concern figure into the worthwhile life? What role do consumer goods play in a good life? How do we know? Good intentions are not enough to make good policy. Thus, in the second half of the course, we will try to determine what sorts of policies actually help protect the environment. We will learn what economics and other social sciences tell us about human behavior and how to shape institutions. We will examine issues in wildlife management, human population, resource use, and more.
Fall 2007
FRESHMEN SEMINARS
ECON 0780S: Political Theory and Economic Analysis (Akhtar)
In this class, we will examine what role economics plays in the development of particular political systems. After understanding the difference between descriptive and prescriptive judgments, we will attempt to understand how politics and economics are related, and where they seem to come apart. We will do this both by examining historical political theories and views and by looking to real-world problems, such as globalization and economic development, where economics and politics seem especially integrated. For the
latter topic, we will explore some of the crucial assumptions of economic theory related to economic growth and development such as welfare, efficiency, and rationality, and the different political systems, with strong emphasis on democratic ones.
POLS0820D: Freedom (Brennan)
What is freedom? Is it important? How do we know? What should we do about it? We will analyze the different conceptions of liberty - liberal egalitarian, classical liberal, Marxist, and fascist views. We will determine how the various aspects of freedom political, personal, psychological, economic, and moral are complementary, and determine what sorts of institutions promote or undermine these aspects.
POLS0820M: Medieval and Renaissance Political Thought (Nacol)
This course focuses on two schools of thought---scholasticism and humanism. Its major theme will be the development of the idea of political community, but we will consider other "conversations" about the relationship between being human and living and acting in an increasingly political world- ones about citizenship, rule, law, and rights. Authors include Aquinas, Dante, More, and Machiavelli.
LECTURE
POLS0110: Introduction to Political Thought (Tomasi)
Why do laws made by other people have authority for me? Can it be fair for one person to be wealthier than another? How free should society be? Is sexism like racism? Such questions are explored through a careful reading of some classic texts in political philosophy, from the fourth century B.C.E. to the present.
SENIOR SEMINARS
POLS1820O: Methodologies of Political Theory (Jenco)
Are there "perennial questions" of political life that transcend time and culture? How should we think about the texts of the political theory "canon"? This class will consider these questions by discussing and applying a variety of methods used to construct theories about politics, including: the "Cambridge school" approach; Straussianism; postmodernism; critical theory; postcolonialism; and comparative political theory.
POLS1820T: Rousseau (Rasmussen)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the deepest and most influential critics of the Enlightenment, and of the liberalism and capitalism that we have inherited from it. He is also one of the most complex thinkers of the modern age, standing at once on both the left and the right of the political spectrum, appealing to ancient thought and practice while at the same time paving the way toward postmodernism, and appearing to be both a profound champion of democracy and a precursor to totalitarianism. This course will examine this intriguing thinker through a study of the First and Second Discourses, The Social Contract, The Reveries of a Solitary Walker, and Emile.
Spring 2007
PS 82-15 Ancient and Modern Political Thought: Viguier
This course is a general study of significant political thinkers and ideas. The seminar covers the two great historical periods of Western political philosophy, ancient and modern. Representative thinkers and ideas from each period are used to illustrate important insights on the human experience and political predicament. Among the major political philosophers considered are Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.
PS 0105: Ethics and Public Policy: Frazer
This course is intended to help students think critically about the controversial ethical questions which are being so hotly debated in the formulation of public policy today. We will try to weigh both sides of current arguments over distributive justice and economic policy, the rights of women and racial minorities, the political status of the family, the regulation of the beginning and end of life, and the conduct of our foreign policy. Students will see that questions of morality arise in the formulation of public policy, not only with regard to so-called “values” issues, but with regard to virtually all areas of political life.
PS 104 Ancient Political Thought: Corbett
The Greeks and Romans stand at the beginning of the Western tradition of political philosophy, yet their thought is somehow foreign. What was the special perspective from which they viewed political life? Does that perspective vitalize or confuse our own thinking on justice, education, and the good life? This course examines these and other questions through a close reading of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero."
PS182-51 Modern Classical Liberalism: Tebble
This political philosophy senior seminar provides an in-depth exploration and critical appraisal of key texts in the modern Classical Liberal tradition. One of the most well known modern theories of Classical Liberal institutions – Friederich Hayek's epistemological defense of liberalism - will be our starting point. Subsequently we will examine contemporary currents in Classical Liberal thought; more specifically, Chandran Kukathas’s liberal tolerationist response to cultural diversity. Finally Milton Friedman’s arguments that seek to link economic freedom with political freedom and Robert Nozick's rights-based account of the minimal state will be examined in detail.
PL 99: Moral Metatheory: Brennan
Moral theory investigates morality, but moral metatheory investigates moral theory. Some problems we’ll consider include: Is moral theorizing worthwhile? What’s the point of moral theory? What should good theories do? Does widespread disagreement or the reliance on questionable intuitions invalidate moral theorizing? What exactly does the moral theorist know? What counts as good philosophical methodology, and how do we know?
Fall 2006
Intro/Freshmen seminars:
Tebble - PS 11 Introduction to Political Thought – C Hour
Why do laws made by other people have authority for me? Can it be fair for one person to be wealthier than another? How free should society be? Is sexism like racism? Such questions are explored through a careful reading of some classic texts in political philosophy, from the fourth century B.C.E. to the present. Enrollment limited to 250. Written permission required.
Brennan - PS 82-05 Freedom (Freshmen seminar) – P Hour
What is freedom? Is it important? How do we know? What should we do about it? We will analyze the different conceptions of liberty - liberal egalitarian, classical liberal, Marxist, and fascist views. We will determine how the various aspects of freedom political, personal, psychological, economic, and moral are complementary, and determine what sorts of institutions promote or undermine these aspects. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required. FYS
Corbett - PS 82-06 Philosophy of the American Founding (Freshmen seminar) – 8:30-9:50 W/F
In what theoretical context was the constitution created? What problems were the Founders attempting to address? A great deal of modern scholarship centers on the influence of philosopher John Lock. Some scholars argue that his was the primary influence. This seminar will examine these claims by comparing John Locke's thought with that of some of the more influential Founders. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required. FYS
Senior Seminars:
Vigueier - PS 182-44 Justice and the City – Wed 6:00-8:00pm
Examines selected problems in political thought against the backdrop of urban settlements, emphasizing dilemmas posed for liberal political theory by dramactic inequalities of wealth and life chances, and diverse identities and associations. Readings are drawn from a range of classic texts and recent studies in political theory, sociology, economics, and urban studies. Enrollment limited to 20.
Frazer - PS 182-58 German Moral and Political Thought – P Hour
In the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, German thinkers produced some of the most original and challenging work on ethics and politics ever written. This course will include close readings, in translation, of the writings of Kant, Herder, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, and Nietzsche. Themes discussed will include the foundations of morality and the proper relationship between ethics, politics, and economics. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required.