PHIL222

Description

Section information text: In Political Philosophy, we consider political power, authority, legitimacy, community, and political agency, in relation to purposes such as prosperity, community, harmony with nature, and the securing of human rights to freedom, well-being, and justice. We probe standard and nonstandard concepts and projects, their presuppositions and possibilities. Focusing 20th and 21st century thinkers, we examine the range of justifiable political forms, the nature and limits of democracy, the state and other political structures, political reason and public dialogue, problems of nationalism and fundamentalism, domination and oppression, the challenges of militarism and imperialism. We read conservatives, liberals, libertarians, anarchists, Marxists, and others - including the likes of Strauss, Oakeshott, Simon, Hayek, Scruton, Schmitt, Arendt, MacIntyre, Rawls, Dewey, Gewirth, Habermas, Walzer, Gramsci, Magdoff, Kristeva, Young, Jagger, Foucault, and Deleuze.