political theory
PLSC 300: Catholic Political Thought
Professor Robert Mayer
MWF 11:30am / LSC
If someone believes that Jesus is the Christ, what should that person's political commitments be? If another person's faith is different, will that fact alter her political commitments? To what extent and why? This course explores the answers to these questions offered by the Roman Catholic tradition of political thought. The problems to be discussed include religious pluralism, moral decay, natural law, distributive justice, political obligation, war, and peace. Both classical and contemporary texts will be examined. Students of every faith and no faith are encouraged to enroll.
PLSC 302: American Political Thought
Professor Thomas Engeman
MWF 10:25am / LSC
This course surveys some of the theoretical problems and issues of American politics from the founding to the present day. We will consider the thought of the Revolutionary and Founding periods; the democratization of the Jacksonian era; arguments for and against emancipation and secession; the period of post-war industrialization, social Darwinism and Progressivism; the New Deal era and the ensuing left-right debate.
PLSC 308: Contemporary Political Thought
Ms. Elizabeth Snyderwine
TTh 4:15pm / LSC
Why would a group, in order to achieve ‘justice’ or a more ‘ideal’ political order, legitimize the sacrifice of human rights or life itself? Compassion, tolerance, and protection of individual rights are casualties of tyrannical mass movements. The goals of the course are to compare the reflections of several contemporary philosophers on terrorism and genocide in order to evaluate the inherent moral challenges for democracies in countering terrorism.
PLSC 314: Liberalism
Professor Claudio Katz
TTh 10:00am / LSC
Liberals are not anarchists. Although liberals fear governments' threat to liberty, they also recognize that government is necessary to protect liberty. In this course, we explore how different liberal thinkers have drawn the line between the limits and powers of government in different areas of public policy: religion, speech, education, and the economy. We will examine both classical liberal writers (John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill) and contemporary authors (Milton Friedman, Cass Sunstein, Michael Walzer).