political theory

PLSC 300B: Fascism
Professor Mayer
M 4:15pm / LSC

Responsible for the bloodiest war in human history, fascism stands discredited as an ideology and is now mostly forgotten. Everyone assumes its path must lead to Auschwitz. But in this seminar we seek to recover the philosophy of fascism through a critical analysis of some of its most important texts. As we shall discover, fascism from the start was as much a personal ethic as a political program. It represented an existential attitude, a philosophy of struggle. Whether this intellectual current in its many variants is hopelessly racist and genocidal, or has anything valuable to say to us a hundred years after its birth, are the key questions we will try to answer during the course of the semester. Writings by Nietzsche, Marinetti, Gentile, Mussolini, Hitler, Spengler, and Jünger will be examined.

PLSC 304: Ancient Political Thought
Professor Danford
MWF 1:40pm / LSC

The ancient Greeks were the first people to investigate rationally what is today called "multi-culturalism"--the multiplicity and variety of the "ways" of human life.  In Greece we discover the beginnings of an enterprise which came to be known as "political philosophy," which can be defined as the investigation into the various ways of life, with an eye toward determining the best way of life for human beings.  The best or most appropriate way of life for human beings is the way most in accordance with human nature, and with the nature of the world. Political philosophy is associated above all with one man, its founder, Socrates.  We will be concerned chiefly with him, through an intensive study of Plato’s Republic.  But we will also consider two classical alternatives to (or variants on) the Socratic enterprise portrayed by Plato:  Thucydides, a historian, and Aristotle, a student of Plato and the man usually regarded as the founder of political science properly understood.  Both have much to teach about the deepest issues of concern to human beings, then or now. We will also consider a play about communism by Aristophanes, Socrates’ contemporary.

PLSC 306: Modern Political Thought
Professor Katz
T 4:15pm / LSC

The centuries from the Renaissance to the French Revolution witnessed the emergence of the modern world -- the disintegration of feudalism and the Christian Church, and the rise of capitalism, the sovereign state and modern natural science.  In this course we examine some of the most significant political theorists responsibl e for articulating the founding principles of modernity:  Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

PLSC 308: Contemporary Political Theory
Dr. Yoksas
MWF 12:35pm / LSC

The dawn of the Twentieth Century was marked by an increase in skepticism at the prospect of "modern progress."  Modern political institutions, though rational and scientific, were increasingly viewed as places devoid of any lasting human meaning or purpose.  Though modern societies could boast an increase in individual freedom as one of their stated objectives, the members themselves started to exhibit traits of universal conformity and a lack of individual volition.  This notion of a "mass society" devoid of any individual distinctions was not only seen as an ultimately unfulfilling condition, but was also dangerously susceptible to the manipulations of those in positions of authority. What resulted is a political truth that in its most extreme cases led to the rise of the dictatorial state: a new type of regime that rested on the powerful new tools of science, mass communication, and the general apathy inherent in a modern apolitical population.