Philosophy 102
Introduction to Political Philosophy
Spring Semester 1996
Instructor: Maurice L. Wade
Office: McCook 318
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays 2:00 - 3:30 and by
appointment
Campus Phone: x2417
A central aim of this course is to provide a survey of some of
the most important political philosophizing in the Western
tradition. Since that tradition spans around 2,000 years, even
focusing upon its most important works leaves us with far more
than can be comprehensively covered within a semester in an
introductory course. Hence, our survey will of necessity be
limited to rather short selections from the works of the major
political philosophers of the Western tradition.
A contemporary criticism of political philosophy in the Western
tradition, indeed of Western philosophy as a whole, is that it
has often relegated women to second class status and/or rendered
them altogether invisible. Gaining some acquaintance with this
feminist appraisal is another aim of the course but one that is
meant to assist our aim of understanding as fully as we can some
of most important views of the major thinkers in Western
political philosophy.
Similarly, we will, from time to time, look to the ethical and
political views of non Western thinkers. Here too, our concern is
thereby to better understand Western political philosophy.
Course Requirements
1. Attendance--This is one of those courses where your presence
in the classroom is required. The lectures in this course are not
regarded as an optional element of it. So attendance will be
taken at each class and poor attendance will severely affect your
final grade in the course.
2. Each member of the class will be required to complete four
take-home exams. These exams will consist of questions and/or
other intellectual tasks designed to give you the opportunity to
demonstrate your understanding of the readings and lectures.
Since these will be take-home exams, they will be graded somewhat
more stringently than in-class exams would be. Since in
completing these exams, you will not be relying on memory, your
answers will be expected to be accurate, not superficial, well
written, and clear. The questions or task(s) comprising each exam
will be given to you in class a week to ten days prior to the
date at which the completed exam must be returned in class. The
design of the exams and the limited time give for their
completion means that you are well advised to stay up to date on
the reading assignments. You will find it unlikely that you can
wait to do the reading when the exam is handed out and
nonetheless do a good job. Except in cases of genuine,
documented, and dire emergencies, late exams will not be accepted
and will be awarded a failing grade.
Textbook
Only one text has been ordered for this class, Social and
Political Philosophy: Classical Western Texts in Feminist and
Multicultural Perspectives, edited by James Sterba. This text
should be available at the campus bookstore in the Mather Campus
Center. The essays comprising this anthology are genuine
philosophical works for the most part. Although this is an
introductory course, these essays were not written for the
purpose of introducing students to philosophy. They were written
as attempts to add to our understanding of and insight into the
topics that comprise political philosophy. They are not easy
readings because the topics they tackle are not easy topics.
Compared to most philosophy courses, you will find that the
number of pages of reading assigned is not enormous. But given
the difficulty of many of these essays, you are advised to read
them carefully and more than once.
Schedule of Assignments
The first take-home exam will be given out in class on 2/1 and
due in class on 2/8.
The second take-home exam will be given out in class on 2/29 and
will be due in class on 3/7.
The third take-home exam will be given out in class on 4/2 and
due in class on 4/9.
The final take-home exam will be available after 1:00 p.m. at my
office on 4/26 and will be due by 4:00 p.m. at my office on 5/6.
Our projected pace of readings will be one of the 13 sections of
our textbook per week. Accordingly, for the week of 1/16, we will
read the Plato section, pp. 5 - 38. For the week of 1/23, we will
read the Aristotle and Musonius Rufus section, pp. 39 - 76. For
the week of 1/30, we will read the Aquinas section, pp. 77 - 113.
Further reading assignments will be made later in the term.
This schedule may change over the course of the semester. Any
such alterations will be announced in class and provided in
written form. You are, of course, responsible for being aware of
any changes.