Davidson College
Department of Political Science
Political Science 208: Classical Political Theory
Fall 2002
Joe Carrig
Time: TR 1:00-2:15
Location: Chambers 215
Office: Chambers 214
Phone: 2247
e-mail: jocarrig@davidson.edu
Office Hours: TR 3:00-4:00; F 3:00-4:00 (and by appointment)
GOALS OF THE COURSE
The purpose of government, as we understand it today, is to protect the individual's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its only role is to provide the ordered and peaceful conditions that make it possible for people freely to satisfy their own interests. This familiar description of politics, which began to take hold in the 16th and 17th centuries, self-consciously rejected the classical view of government as, in some sense, responsible for the formation of virtuous citizens and the education of the soul. The practical consequence of this rejection has been that the higher aspirations of man, classically understood as at the same time a rational and a political animal, are given no direction; the result being that man is reduced to a materialist animal. The possibility that man might be something more than this can best be seen by returning to the work of those thinkers who first articulated the classical alternative to the modern view of politics, a view which we accept today for the most part without reflection.
This course will introduce students to some of the most important writings of classical political philosophy. Beginning with the dramatic work, Antigone, by Sophocles, we will consider in detail Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics, as well as the primary political writings of the Roman politician and orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero. We will conclude with Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which dramatizes the classical critique of the modern political option. The intent of the course is to analyze the central principles and themes of classical political philosophy — including justice, virtue, the human good and the human soul, and the relation between the active life of politics and the contemplative life of the philosopher. We will examine the ways in which classical thinkers both anticipated and offered a radical challenge to the modern and contemporary understanding of political life.
TEXTS
Sophocles, Antigone (Robert Fagles, tr.; Viking Penguin, 1984)
Plato, The Republic (Allan Bloom, tr.; Basic Books, 2000)
Aristotle, The Politics (R.F. Stalley, ed., Ernest Barker, tr.; Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1998)
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On the Commonwealth and on the Laws (Jonathan Powell, ed.; Cambridge University Press, 1998)
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (Viking Penguin, 2000)
REQUIRED WORK
1. Attendance and Participation. This course is a seminar-style course, requiring active participation in discussions. Students must be sure to keep up with the readings and be sure to come to class having read the day's assignment, and being prepared to ask questions and to participate in the discussions. Active contribution to discussion, making full use of the texts, is the basis for the participation portion of each student's grade.
Students’ grades will be affected by their attendance. Three excused absences are allowed. If a student is absent more than three times, he/she will lose two percentage points from his/her final grade for each day missed. After ten absences, the student automatically receives an F. For the purposes of this attendance policy, a student who is late to class by ten minutes or more will be considered absent.
2. Presentation of the Readings. Each class, one or two students will be chosen to make an initial presentation (in the form of a concise summary) of the reading material for the following class. These presentations will be graded primarily on the student's ability to identify and articulate clearly the central ideas of the reading assignment, as well as to raise questions designed to initiate discussion. Presentations should be between three to five minutes, and no outside material should be used.
In order to facilitate the contribution of all students to the discussion, others will be called upon at random to help clarify or to challenge the interpretation of the presenters.
3. Essays. There will be three five-page essays. Students may be allowed to choose from several different questions, which will be handed out one week before the assignment is due. Essays will be expected to refer directly to, and cite extensively from, the texts in order to answer these questions. Essays should give a brief statement of what the author(s) say about the particular issue involved, followed by the student's response to the question in light of that author's position. Outside sources should not be used. More details about the format of the essay will be available as the date of the assignment approaches.
All essays should be typed, double-spaced, with an 11- or 12-point font. The first two essays will be penalized one letter grade for each class day they are late. Final essays will be penalized one letter grade for each calendar day they are late.
For those who need writing assistance, Davidson College has a writing center. This center should be used by students who have questions about grammar or style. No outside help should be sought for questions having to do with the substance of the essay.
All provisions of the Davidson Honor Code are in effect, and all written work will be pledged in accordance with it.
The grades for the course will be calculated on the following basis: general participation (10%); presentations (15%); first essay (20%); second essay (25%); final essay (30%).
SCHEDULE OF READINGS
I. Introduction (August 27)
General Discussion
NO CLASS (August 29)
II. Sophocles (September 3 to September 5)
Antigone (all)
III. Plato (September 10 to October 10)
The Republic (all)
FIRST ESSAY DUE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8 (at the beginning of the class period)
FALL BREAK (October 15)
IV. Aristotle (October 17 to November 12)
The Politics (all)
SECOND ESSAY DUE: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 (at the beginning of the class period)
V. Cicero (November 14 to November 26)
On the Commonwealth (selections)
On the Laws (selections)
THANKSGIVING BREAK (November 28)
VI. Shakespeare (December 3 to December 5)
Coriolanus (all)
FINAL ESSAY DUE: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10 (in my mailbox by 12:00 noon)