Woodrow Wilson
Department of Politics
GFPT 700
G. Klosko
Introduction to Political Theory
Cabell 248B; 4-3092
Fall 2003
gk@virginia.edu
Material for the course is available in
three forms. I have ordered the books
listed below
at the University bookstore. If you have other editions, they should be
fine, although it will
be more difficult to follow discussion of
specific passages in class. Books are
also on
reserve in Clemons Library.
Additional material is on
reserve. Almost all of this is on the
course's toolkit page:
http://toolkit.itc.virginia.edu/cgi-local/tk/UVa_CLAS_2003_Fall_PLPT700-1
If you have problems printing and would like a
hard copy to copy from, please let me know.
Longer readings that I could not put on the
toolkit page are on reserve in Clemons.
These are
marked ** in
the list, below.
T. Kuhn, The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, Second Edition (Chicago, paperback)
Plato, Republic, G.M.A.
Grube, trans. (Hackett, paperback)
T. Hobbes, Leviathan (Cambridge, paperback)
C.B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive
Individualism (Oxford, paperback)
J. Locke,
Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge, paperback)
J. Rawls, A
Theory of Justice, 2nd. ed. (Harvard, paperback)
R. Tucker, ed., The
Marx‑Engels Reader, Second Edition (Norton, paperback)
M. Foucault, Discipline and
Punish (Vintage, paperback)
F.
Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals
and Ecce Homo, W. Kaufmann, ed. (Vintage,
paperback).
F. Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols, R. J.
Hollingdale, ed. (Penguin, paperback)
I Paradigms
1. Kuhn, The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions.
II
The History of Political Theory
2. Plato, Republic,
G.M.A. Grube, tr. (Hackett, paperback).
3. Strauss
L. Strauss, "On Plato's Republic,"
The City and Man
Strauss, "Persecution and the Art of
Writing," in Persecution and the Art of Writing.
"On a Forgotten Kind of
Writing," in What is Political Philosophy?
"Exoteric Teaching," in The
Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism, T. Pangle ed.
Recommended:
G. Klosko, "The 'Straussian'
Interpretation of Plato's Republic," History of
Political Thought, 7 (1986),
4. T. Hobbes, Leviathan (Cambridge, paperback):
Chaps. 1-18, 20-21, 26, 28-30,
Review and
Conclusion
5-6. Interpretations of Hobbes and
Strategies of Interpretation
Q. Skinner, Meaning & Context, J. Tully, ed.,
Chaps. 2,3 **
J.
Plamenatz, Man and Society, "Introduction."
A.E.Taylor, The Ethical Doctrine of
Hobbes, in Hobbes Studies, S. Brown, ed.
Skinner, "The Context of Hobbes's
Theory of Obligation," in Hobbes and Rousseau: A
Collection of Critical
Essays, M. Cranston and R. S.
Peters, eds.
Skinner, "History and Ideology in
the English Revolution," Historical Journal, 8 (1965), pp.
166-78.
Skinner, "The Ideological Context of
Hobbes's Political Thought," Historical Journal, 9
(1966), pp. 313-17
Macpherson,
The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, Chaps. 1, 2.
Recommended:
R. Ashcraft, Revolutionary Politics
& Locke's Two Treatises of Government,
Introduction.
Recommended: J. G. A. Pocock, "The State of the Art," in
Virtue, Commerce, and History.
Recommended:
J.G.A. Pocock, Politics, Language, and Time, Chap. 1.
Recommended:
J. Gunnell, "The Myth of the Tradition," American Political
Science Review, 72
(1978).
7. J. Locke, The Second Treatise on Civil
Government, in Two Treatises of
Government (Cambridge, paperback)
8. Interpretation of Locke
Macpherson,
The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, Chap. 5
J.
Dunn, The Political Thought of John Locke, Preface, Chap. 1**
Recommended: Chaps. 5-14
Richard
Ashcraft, "Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two Treatises of
Government,"
Political Theory, 8 (1980).
A.
J. Simmons, The Lockean Theory of Rights, Introduction.
J.
Waldron, "Locke: Toleration and the Rationality of Persecution," in John
Locke, A Letter
Concerning Toleration in Focus,
J. Horton and S. Mendus, eds.
Recommended:
Strauss, "Locke," in Natural Right and History.
III Political Theory as
Ideology
9. R.
Tucker, ed., The Marx‑Engels Reader, Second Edition
(Norton, paperback): pages (to be read in
this order): 3‑6, 681‑2, 469‑500, 146‑200,
143‑145, 203‑217, 294‑302,
361‑76, 419‑442, 760‑68
IV Normative Issues
10. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice, 2nd. ed.
(Harvard, paperback): Chaps. I‑III; IV: Secs.
33‑35, 38‑40; VI; VII: Secs. 66‑67; VIII: Sec. 77;
IX: Secs. 78‑79, 82, 85‑7. (Oct. 30)
11. Values and Political Theory
M. Weber,
"Objectivity in the Social Science," in The Methodology of the
Social
Sciences**
E.
Nagel, The Structure of Science, 485‑502.
Strauss,
"What is Political Philosophy?" in An Introduction to Political
Philosophy, pp.12-24.
Recommended: D.
Easton, The Political System, Ch. 9
Recommended:
A. J.. Ayer,
Language, Truth and Logic, pp.
102‑20
V Postmodern Critique
12. M. Foucault, Discipline
and Punish.
E.
Midelfort, Madness and Civilization in Early Modern Europe: A Reappraisal of
Michel
Foucault," in After the Reformation, B.
Malament, ed.
G.
Gutting, "Foucault and the History of Madness," in The Cambridge
Companion to Foucault,
Gutting, ed.
13. F. Nietzsche, The
Genealogy of Morals, in W. Kaufmann, ed., The Genealogy of
Morals and Ecce
Homo.
The Twilight of the Idols, R. J. Hollingdale, ed.
Requirements:
Aside from doing the reading and discussing it, there
are three formal requirements.
1. Paper of 12-15 pages, assessing specific readings
or a more general approach
discussed in the course. (If you prefer, you can
substitute two shorter papers, 6-7 pages each.)
2. Regular, in class presentations; the number of
these depends on enrollment in the course.
3. Take-home final exam.
Basic Secondary Sources on the History of Political Thought (on
reserve)
G.
H. Sabine, The History of Political Theory.
J.
Plamenatz, Man and Society, two vols. (Machiavelli through Marx)
C.
H. McIlwain, The Growth of Political Theory in the West. (Ancient and
Medieval)
M.
Forsyth and M. Keens-Soper, eds., A Guide to the Political Classics: Plato
to
Rousseau (Oxford, 1988)
M.
Forsyth, M. Keens-Soper, and J. Hoffman, eds., The Political Classics:
Hamilton to Mill
(Oxford, 1993)
M.
Forsyth and M. Keens-Soper, eds., The Political Classics: Green to Dworkin (Oxford,
1996)
I.
Hampsher-Monk, A History of Modern Political Thought.
A useful source on contemporary
political theory is:
W.
Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, Second edition (Oxford,
2002).