B8518 - HISTORY OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide an orientation to the theoretical issues debated in Western philosophical-political reflection in modern and contemporary times. This also implies a clarification of the terms used in our everyday political vocabulary. At the end of the course, students will know: how the main traditions of philosophical-political thought were formed and their main conceptual and structural characteristics; they will have analytical tools to understand the connections that link the elaboration of philosophical-political doctrines to the historical development of social dynamics and national and international political institutions.

Course contents

The course will address from a historic-philosophical standpoint some key political concepts, doctrines and focus on their genesis and evolution across the centuries. Special reference will be devoted to the notions of "democracy", “war” and “peace”. At the end of the course, students are expected to (a) acquire knowledge of the milestone concepts and doctrines worked out in the field of political philosophy; (b) develop abilities to analytically read a text, by situating political concepts in the historical and linguistic context of different ages; (c) develop capacities to identify aspects of continuity and discontinuity between different political doctrines across the centuries.

Special attention will also be devoted to the following conceptual tools, which will be framed in different historic contexts: republicanism, liberalism, theories of respect, toleration and solidarity. These notions will be analysed in the light of an investigation of the substantive and procedural underpinnings of democracy, which will be explored in the light of some of its possible theoretical and normative articulations.

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (20 lectures/40 hours) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (5 seminars/10 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in 4 groups. Students attend a total of 40 hours of classes.

Each seminar will be devoted to the study of selected parts of philosophical works and authors that will not be treatead in the first part. Although attendance at all the 4 seminars is open to all students, registration is required for only one of them. Each seminar will be dedicated to the reading of selected passages from the works of a single author:

1) Plato

2) Carl Schmitt

3) Hannah Arendt

4) Liberalisms and Populisms (Mill, Tocqueville, Dewey and contemporary theories of populism)

Readings/Bibliography

Readings/Bibliography


Required for the first partial written exam:


Chapters selected from


A. Ryan, On Politics: A History of Political Thought from Herodotus to the Present, Penguin, 2013 (1-3-11-12-15-20)


A list of texts available for the paper (second exam) will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminar activities, which will be conducted with the help of powerpoint presentations.


Student participation in class discussions is actively encouraged, especially during seminar activities.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods

 

Attending students

1) One mid-term written exam (five questions)


2) A 4000-word paper on one of the topics addressed during the seminars.


Possibility of taking a final oral exam at the student's request.



Non attending students:


1) A written test (6 questions)


2) A 2000-word paper on a topic to be agreed with the teacher.


3) Oral exam: discussion of two texts, which the student will choose out of a book list (which will be presented at the beginning of the course).

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations.

 

Office hours

See the website of Elena Irrera