99677 - POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Learning outcomes

Political Philosophy is conceived as the application of philosophical investigation to politics and thus as a study of the contribution that philosophy may give to political practice. This implies both a clarification of the terms used in our everyday political vocabulary and an attempt at designing models of a just society. The course intends to provide the students with the following abilities: a) notions on methodology in historical investigation; b) ability to analytically read a text while at the same time situating it into the historical and linguistic context of the age; c) knowledge of the perennial tasks of political philosophy; d) an examination of a specific topic .

Course contents

The course will critically address some key political concepts, doctrines and focus on their genesis and evolution across the centuries. 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 dotrines across the centuries.

A special focus will be devoted to the following conceptual tools, which will be framed in different historic contexts: republicanism, rights, natural law, toleration, equality, political participation. These notions will be analysed in the light of the idea of "democracy".

As it is well known, democracy is an essentially contested concept, one which admits of a variety of definitions and connnotations. The course will try to suggest answers to the following questions:

What about its procedural underpinnings and implications? How do various liberal theories shape democratic procedures and inspiring ideals?

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 lectures/32 hours) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (7 seminars/14 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 3 groups. Students attend a total of 46 hours of classes.

 

The first part of the course (the one made of lectures) aims to introduce students to the acquisition of key basic conceptual and theoretical tools in political philosophy, from ancient to modern times.

The second part of the module, which will be organized in the form of seminars, will critically address the following thematic areas:

1) Democracy and Populism

2) Feminism and gender issues

3) Virtuous attitudes in Multicultural Societies (Toleration, Respect, Solidarity)

Readings/Bibliography

All the material will be supplied by the teacher and uploaded online:

Compulsory text for the oral exam:

A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Vol. I), edited by Robert E. Goodin, Philip Pettit and Thomas Pogge, Oxford, Blackwell, 2007 (only pp. 255-414, corresponding to chapters 10-17).

Bibliography for the first two partial exams (compulsory):

A. Ryan, On Politics: a History of Political Thought from Herodotus to the Present, Penguin, 2013, Chapters on Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau (3, 11, 12, 15).

The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy, edited by David Estlund: chapter 7 (Social Contract Approaches) on Rawls and Nozick,

Dudley Knowles, Political Philosophy, London, Routledge: Chapters 1-5: pp. 1-235, and chapter 7: 299-326).

Seminars:

Seminar Group n. 1: Democracy and Populism

Bibliography:

1. Corina Yturbe, On Norberto Bobbio’s Theory of Democracy, in «Political Theory», 1997 (25), pp. 377-400.
2. Passages from Piers Norris Turner and Gerald Gauys (eds.), Public Reason in Political Philosophy: Classic Sources and Contemporary Commentaries, 2017.
3. Melissa Schwartzberg, "Epistemic Democracy and Its Challenges", in Annual Review of Political Science 18(2015), pp. 187-203.
4. Passages from Timothy W. Burns, Leo Strauss on Democracy, Technology, and Liberal Education, Albany (NY), Suny Press, 2021.
5. Camila Vergara Law, Populism as Plebeian Politics: Inequality, Domination, and Popular Empowerment, in «The Journal of Political Philosophy», 2020 (28), pp. 222–246.
6. Nadia Urbinati, Political Theory of Populism, in «Annual Review of Political Science», 2019 (22), pp. 111-127.

Seminar Group n. 2: Feminism and Gender Issues

Bibliography

1) Selected Chapters from Margaret Walters, Feminism. A very short introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005.

2) Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattaqcharya, Nancy Frazer, Feminism for the 99 Percent: A Manifesto, Brooklyn (NY), Verso, 2019.

3) Martha C. Nussbaum, Public Philosophy and International Feminism, in «Ethics» 108, pp. 762-796.

4) Selected Passages from Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects (1792), John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women (1869), and Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of Their True and Greatest Interest (1694) and A Serious Proposal, Part II (1697).

Seminar Group n. 3: Virtuous attitudes in Multicultural Societies (Toleration, Respect, Solidarity).

Bibliography:

1. Passages from Anna Elisabetta Galeotti: Toleration as Recognition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002
2. Passages from Charles Taylor et. al, Multiculturalism. Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
3. Passages from Will Kymlicka, The Strains of Commitment. The Political Sources of Solidarity in Diverse Societies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017 (pp. 1-177).
4. Passages from Giovanni Giorgini and Elena Irrera (eds.), The Roots of Respect. A Historic-Philosophical Itinerary, Berlin, De Gruyter.

Teaching methods

The course is divided into two different parts: Lectures (frontal classes which will be followed by the entire class) and Seminars (in which the class will be divided into three different subgroups. Each subgroup will be devoted to specific issues).

Seminars will differ from traditional classes, inasmuch as they will be based on active participation and discussion among students. Students will be invited to discuss different ideas and arguments either orally or by means of written comments and observations (for which the teacher will make an online platform available).

Assessment methods

Attending students:

1) Two written tests (3 questions for each test. Time available. 1h: 30) on the institutional program).

2) A 2000-word paper on the issues discussed in the seminar part

 

Non-attending Students:

1) One written test (6 questions) on the institutional program (time available: 3 hours)

2) A 2000-word paper (topic to be decided with the teacher)

3) Two books (to be chosen from a list which will be supplied by the teacher at the beginning of the course)

Teaching tools

Powerpoint presentations and the bibliography material will be supplied online by the teacher.

 

In the second part of the course (seminars), students will be also encouraged to express their views and comments through the on line "Perusall" platform.

Office hours

See the website of Elena Irrera