PHIL 332. Modern Political Philosophy (5 credits)

Talbott

What is called "modern" philosophy is not very modern. It begins in the 16th century and extends to the 19th century. Before the modern period, government legitimacy was typically thought to depend on divine endorsement or historical precedent, but not on the consent of the governed. The idea that government legitimacy depends on some sort of actual or hypothetical consent is a "modern" idea. This new idea was part of a new conception of individuals as bearers of rights--rights even their rulers were morally bound to respect. In this course, we study those philosophers in the modern period who were most important in the gradual development of a rights-based political theory and those who were most persuasive in opposing it. Also typical of the modern period is a rationalist epistemology, in which knowledge is taken to be the infallible product of an individual mind that directly discerns the truth. We will see the beginnings a new epistemology for moral and political theory in which knowledge is taken to be the product of a social-historical process. We will read from the works of Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Rousseau, Smith, Kant, Burke, Tocqueville, Hegel, and Marx. There will be a Midterm and a Final Exam. In addition, each student will make a class presentation and write a 5-7 page paper. Also, there will be questions to be answered in writing in class. Prerequisites: At least one course in philosophy. No freshmen. Meets I&S Requirement.

Text: Steven M. Cahn, Classics of Modern Political Theory.