PLT1050

Nature, law and revolution: political ideas in context

Michael Janover

6 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives On successful completion of this subject students should be able to describe and compare ideas from several strands of Western political thought; recognise and evaluate the role of social and cultural contexts in the formation of political ideas and theories; and critically assess assumptions in arguments concerning nature and human nature, law and convention, order and revolution.

Synopsis This subject examines themes of nature and reason, law and will, revolution and history in selected political and philosophical writings. Central to the subject will be writings by Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Edmund Burke and Karl Marx. We will consider questions of the origins of political society, ways of organising power, connections (or gaps) between morals and politics. The subject emphasises both the cultural contexts which shape political ideas and ways ideas can move beyond the limits of their original contexts and expressions.

Assessment Tutorial presentation and participation: 10%
* Assignment (500 words): 15%
* Essay (2000 words): 35%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%

Recommended texts

Connolly W The terms of political discourse 2nd edn, Princeton U P, 1983
Gouldner A Enter Plato RKP, 1965
Tinder G Political thinking 3rd edn, Little Brown, 1979
Zeitlin I Rulers and ruled: Classical political theory Plato to federalists U Toronto P, 1996

Preliminary reading

Cranston M Political dialogues BBC, 1968
Dunn J Western political theory in the face of the future CUP, 1993
Williams R Keywords Fontana, 1988