PSCI 203
Introduction to Political Theory Fall 2009 (also offered Spring 2010)
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Is politics war by other means? Is it merely a practical way to meet our needs? Or is it, rather, the activity through which citizens pursue justice and the good life? And what is justice? How can it be established and secured? What are the powers and obligations of citizenship? Who should rule? Who decides? On what basis? Political theory addresses questions such as these as it investigates the fundamental problems of how we can, do, and ought to live together. The questions have sparked controversy since the origins of political thinking; the answers remain controversial now. This course addresses the controversies, focusing on major works of ancient, modern, and contemporary theory by such authors as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Hegel, Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Arendt, Rawls, and Foucault. Themes may include authority, obligation, power, war, violence, freedom, justice, equality, democracy, liberalism, capitalism, community, and pluralism, though the emphasis will vary from semester to semester.