PLSC 100: Political Theory
PLSC 100: Political Theory
Professor Thomas Engeman
MWF 9:20am / LSC
This course examines the theoretical and practical approaches to the politics in the ancient, Christian, modern, and contemporary periods. This course is an option in the "Philosophical Knowledge" section of the core curriculum.
PLSC 100: Political Theory
Professor Robert Mayer
MWF 10:25am / LSC
If you had to choose one value around which to construct a society, which would you pick -- order, equality, virtue, freedom, or happiness? In this introductory course we examine the competing visions of the good society that grow from these different values in the works of five famous political theoriests: Plato, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, and Mill. In each case our task will be to grasp the logic of the thinker's argument and to assess critically his vision of the good society. This course is an option in the "Philosophical Knowledge" section of the core curriculum.
PLSC 100: Political Theory
Ms. Sarah Skowronski
MWF 12:35pm / LSC
Assessments of public policy and government are inextricably bound to a vision of the public good. The goal of this course is to examine and make explicit our own visions of the public good. We will accomplish this through reading and discussing historical political theorists: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, and the American Founders, as well as some more recent authors. The goal in our discussions will be threefold: to understand, criticize, and apply the arguments of each theorist. This course is an option in the "Philosophical Knowledge" section of the core curriculum.
PLSC 100: Political Theory
Professor Claudio Katz
TTh 8:30am / LSC
This course explores two political problems. The first part examines the problem of “dirty hands,” of men and women who harm unjustly for the sake of justice. We will contrast the positions of Socrates (who chooses death rather than commit an injustice) and Machiavelli (who counsels injustice when necessity requires it.) The focus of the second part is the relationship between liberty and equality. We will compare two approaches to the problem: that of John Locke and that of John Rawls. This course is an option in the "Philosophical Knowledge" section of the core curriculum.
PLSC 100: Political Theory
Ms. Elizabeth Snyderwine
T 4:15pm / LSC
What is the basis of political authority? What is the purpose of forming a government? How does a state retain legitimacy? What role should we allow ambition in determining the above? In this introductory course we assess the basis of leadership, the meaning of virtue, the possibility of fairness, and the role of freedom in building a just society. Our context is the western tradition and competing views of the soul, reason, and political order as held by the Ancients and the Moderns. By the end of the course, we will differentiate between types of political systems and the justification for their formation. The goals of the course are to develop an ability to think critically and to demonstrate an understanding of the major approaches to the normative study of politics. This course is an option in the "Philosophical Knowledge" section of the core curriculum.