<< >> ^

PLM4390/5390

Grand theories of politics

Michael Janover

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Synopsis This subject introduces honours and/or graduate students to a strand of selected topics in the history of political thought. These topics include the nature of epic or grand theories of politics and the relation of political theories to other (moral, religious, scientific, technical, metaphysical) forms of thinking. The subject has two principal aims. Firstly, it will provide a survey of the ideas of Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau and Nietzsche on themes such as knowledge and power, political change and cultural identity, social structure and political institutions, ethics and politics. Secondly, the subject explores the functions of the intellectual history of political thought within the wider ambit of political science and social theory.

Assessment Essay (6000 words): 50%
* Examination (3 hours): 50%

Recommended texts

Bloom Z Legislators and interpreters Polity, 1987

Detwiler B Nietzsche and the politics of aristocratic radicalism U Chicago P, 1990

Euben J P The tragedy of political theory Princeton U P, 1990

Wolin S Politics and vision Little Brown, 1960


<< >> ^
Handbook Contents | Faculty Handbooks | Monash University
Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168
Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution
Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996