The course offers a close examination of the most important works
and themes in classical political thought. We shall read a
combination of literary, historical, and philosophical works
including selections from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponesian
War, Sophocles’ Antigone, Xenophon’s Hiero, Plato’s Apology &
Republic, Aristotle’s Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, Cicero’s On
Duties, St. Augustine’s City of God, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Bruni.
We shall end with the book that marked a radical departure from the
politics of the ancients: Machiavelli’s The Prince. At the same
time, in order to highlight better the relevance of these classical
works to our contemporary debates, we shall read short passages from
the works of modern authors (Rousseau, The Federalist, Constant,
Schumpeter) whose writing addressed or reformulated the topics first
raised by ancient authors. The course will examine the political
thought of the ancients by focusing on key topics such as morality
and political power, the role of laws and constitutions, civic
virtue, democracy, justice, freedom, and equality. Special attention
will be paid to examining the context in which these authors wrote
their works, the main concepts they used, and the implications of
their ideas for our contemporary debates.
	The class will use a combination of lecture and discussion;
hence, class participation and regular attendance will be very
important. There will be two exams (a mid-term and a final) which
will contain a number of short questions that will draw on the
assigned readings and ideas raised in class. There will be also
three quiz questions that will be part of your grade for class
participation. Students are strongly encouraged to bring additional
materials to class (such as relevant newspaper or magazine articles,
websites, additional bibliography) and thus make the course relevant
to their concerns. Those who will do that will earn extra credit.
Each student will be required to keep a reading log (journal)
containing entries for each assigned reading (definition of key
concepts, summary of the readings, a selection of important phrases,
and the like).