00983 - History of Political Doctrines (O-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student: 1) knows the fundamental authors and moments of Western political thought, from the ancient Greeks down to the 20th century; 2) knows the forms of political communication and understands the problematic relationship and the mutual influence of ideas and events; 3) knows the most important political theories and knows how to interpret and contextualize them correctly; 4) is able to read the most important political and institutional changes of Western history.

Course contents

In our study of the history of Western political thought we will adopt the perspective of the history of ideas and of constitutional history, as they have been developed by such authors as Quentin Skinner and Reinhart Koselleck. We will examine the main concepts in the vocabulary of politics, such as State, sovereignty, liberty, equality, power and so on. We will, moreover, examine the most important authors in the history of Western political thought, from Plato to John Rawls.

Readings/Bibliography

One MANDATORY text for ATTENDING and NON-ATTENDING students:

R. Gherardi (ed), La politica e gli Stati. Problemi e figure del pensiero occidentale, 3° edition, Rome, Carocci, 2022.

II) NON-ATTENDING students, will add one book:

P. Cartledge, Democracy. A Life, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, selected chapters: Prologue, chapters 18-20 and Epilogue.

Teaching methods

30 classes of 2 hours each for a total of 60 hours.

The course is offered in the second semester and will begin on 20 February 2023.

Assessment methods

Students who attend the classes will have an intermediate written exam on the first part of the course and a final written exam on the second part of the course as well as on the thematic part which will be illustrated in the classes.

Students who do not attend the classes will take the total exam in one day, consisting in a written test and an oral part. The test will be on the general part of the course (see R. Gherardi (ed.). La politica e gli Stati, Rome, Carocci, 2022. The oral exam will cover both the required reading and the additional mandatory reading.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Giorgini

See the website of Andrea Guidi