This class invites students to critically engage with foundational texts that have shaped ideas of power, liberty, equality, and progress from the early modern period to the 20th century. Through close reading and discussion, we will examine how thinkers such as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, Marx, Du Bois, and Beauvoir grappled with the issues of freedom, rulership, and the promises and failures of democracy. Students will develop analytical skills through writing and dialogue, and reflect on how political thought informs their own civic and intellectual commitments.
This class should allow you to:
1. Understand the philosophical foundations of modern politics and their ongoing influence.
2. Articulate the central theses of the readings, both in writing and in speech.
3. Apply these ideas to contemporary debates.
This class should allow you to:
1. Understand the philosophical foundations of modern politics and their ongoing influence.
2. Articulate the central theses of the readings, both in writing and in speech.
3. Apply these ideas to contemporary debates.
- Teacher: Yi-Hsuan Huang