This is a course on modernity; specifically, it is a survey of the
main philosophical and political issues that have been generated by
the enlightenment and the emergence of the modern nation-state.
Authors within the modern Western philosophical tradition have raised
a variety normative and empirical questions regarding the nature of
the individual and social relations as well as the nature of the
state and of political relations, many of which still resonate with
the political issues that we encounter today.
	We will start by looking at the (social contract) theories of
Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, and the ways in which their writings
have set the intellectual agenda for much of the modern period as
well as influenced/inspired such important political movements as the
American and French revolutions.  Next we will take a brief interlude
and focus on the issue of rights:  on what they are based, to whom
they extend, how far they extend, how they are to be protected, and
what consequences individual rights have on the social whole.  We
will next look at the political thought of Marx, both as a humanist
critique of modern society and as a critique of capitalist economics,
after which, we will re-examine revolutions in light of Marx.  We
will wrap up the course by focusing on two specialized topics within
modern political thought:  the state’s role in maintaining the
economy, and the Weberian conception of the rational-legal society;
the course will conclude with some general thoughts about the limits
and unintended consequences of modernity, and how they re-emerge in
contemporary political thought.
The following texts will be required for this course:
Steven Cahn.  Classics of Modern Political Theory.  Oxford UP, 1997.
Alexis de Tocqueville.  Democracy in America.  George Lawrence,
trans.   Harper, 1966.