History of Political Theory-POLS 381

Bartky-Fall 2008/Office: CM 213

email: bartky@ipfw.edu

Hours: T, Th 12:00‑1:15 & by appointment

I wish that strife would vanish away from among gods and mortals, and gall, which makes a man grow angry for all his great mind, the gall of anger that swarms like smoke inside of a man’s heart, and becomes a thing to him sweeter than honey.

Homer, Iliad, 18.107

Give us no fights with Titans, no nor Giants nor Centaurs-the forgeries of our fathers- nor civil brawls, in which no advantage is. But always be mindful of the gods is good.

Xenophanes, DK 21B1

No man has seen nor will anyone know the truth about the gods and all the things I speak of. For even if a person should in fact say what is absolutely the case, nevertheless he himself does not know, but belief is fashioned over all things (or, in the case of all persons).

Xenophanes, DK 21B34

Human nature has no insight, but divine nature has it.

Heraclitus, DK 22B78

Heraclitus blames the poet who wrote “may strife perish from among gods and men.”

Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics 1235a25

War is the father of all and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free.

Heraclitus, DK 22B53

Those who speak with understanding must rely firmly on what is common to all as a city must rely on law, or much more firmly. For all human laws are nourished by one divine law, the divine law; for it has as much power as it wishes and is sufficient for all and is still left over.

Heraclitus, DK 22B114

Come now, I will tell thee-and do thou harken to my saying and carry it away- the only two ways of search that can be thought of. The first, namely, that It is, and that it is impossible for it not to be, is the way of belief, for truth is its companion. The other, namely, that it Is not, and that it must needs not be,- that, I tell the, is a path that none can learn of at all. For thou canst not know what is not- that is impossible- nor utter it; for it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be.

Parmenides, The Way of Truth 4,5

Concerning the gods I am unable to know either that they are or that they are not, or what their appearance is like. For many are the things that hinder knowledge: the obscurity of the matter and the shortness of human life

Protagoras, DK 80B4

Man is the measure of all things.

Protagoras, DK 80B20

I think Pindar is right when he says, “Custom is king of all.”

Herodotus, History 3.38

You know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is in question only between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

Thucydides, Peloponnesian War Bk 5.89

History of Political Theory-2

Socrates on the other hand was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and set her in the cities of men and bring her also into their homes and compel her to ask questions about life and morality and things good and evil.

Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.10

Well then if you try to become pregnant, Theaetetus, with different things after this, and you do become so, you’ll be full of better things on account of the present review. And if you’re empty, you’ll be less hard on your associates and tamer, believing in a moderate way that you don’t know what you don’t know. My art is only capable of only so much and no more, and I don’t know anything at all which everyone else does, all those who are and have been great and amazing men. But my mother and I have obtained from a god as our lot this midwifery, she of women, and I of the young and noble and all the beautiful. Now, however, I have to go to the porch of the king and meet the indictment of Meletus which he’s drawn up against me. But at dawn, Theodorus, let’s come back here to meet.

Plato, Theaetetus 210 c

For we took the goal of political science to be the best good; and most of its attention is devoted to the character of the citizens, to make them good people who do fine actions...

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1099b30

Faith, hope, and charity make is citizens in that republic. As long as we journey far from it, we endure- if we are not able to correct- those who want the republic that the first Romans founded and enlarged by means of their virtues to stand firm by permitting vices to go unpunished. Even if they did not have that true piety toward the true G-d that could lead them into the eternal city through a specific salvific religion, those first Romans preserved a sort of uprightness that could suffice for founding, enlarging, and preserving the earthly city. G-d thus showed in the most wealthy and illustrious Roman empire how great the power of civil virtues without true religion is, so that it might be understood that when true religion is added human beings are made citizens of another city, a city whose king is truth, whose law is charity, whose boundary is eternity...

Augustine, Letter 138, To Marcellinus

Now the rule and measure of human acts is the reason, which is the first principle of human acts...Consequently it follows that law is something pertaining to reason (Quest. 90, art.1).Laws framed by men are either just or unjust. If they be just, they have the power of binding in conscience, from the eternal law whence they are derived...(Quest. 96, art.4)

Aquinas, Summa Theologica

A Prince should therefore have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his study, but war and its organization and discipline, for that is the only art that is necessary to one who commands, and it is of such virtue that it not only maintains those who are born princes, but often enables men of private fortune to attain to that rank.

Machiavelli, The Prince

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Declaration of Independence

The science of politics, however, like most other sciences, has received great improvement. The efficacy of various principle is now well understood, which were either unknown at all, or imperfectly known to the ancients.

The Federalist, 9

To recognize untruth as a condition of life; that, to be sure, means to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion; and a philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, by that act alone, beyond good and evil.

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil Part I.4

Course Texts

Plato                                        Republic

Aristotle                                  Politics

Cicero                                      On the Commonwealth

Lerner, ed.                               Medieval Political Philosophy (MPP)

A copy of Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Scriptures is required.

In addition, it is recommended that you obtain Strauss/Cropsey, History of Political Philosophy

Course Description

No issue is more significant or controversial than the role of politics in mediating the relationship between the human and the divine.  This is no less true for contemporary affairs than it has been for the past. The course provides us with an opportunity to read a number of the most significant texts in classical and medieval political philosophy dealing with the role of politics in mediating the relationship between human and divine affairs. We shall pay close attention both to the structure of the texts and to the substantive arguments of the authors.

Course Requirements

Attendance

Regular attendance is required. Since a large share of the midterm and final exams are based on class lectures you must attend class in order to do well on the exams. If you are absent from class more than three periods you should expect that your grade will be lowered by at least one letter. 

Reading Assignm

You are expected to be prepared to summarize and discuss the reading assignment for each class period. A respectable performance in the course requires regular attendance and participation in class discussions. More than three absences will likely jeopardize your grade.

Exams

EXAMS ARE                                Exams

EXAMS ARE TO BE TAKEN AT SCHEDULED TIMES. No make‑up exams will be given unless first cleared with me prior to the scheduled exam.

Midterm-10/9-25% of grade.              Final Exam-25% of grade.

Papers

Two 8-10 page papers. Each paper will count for 20% of the final grade.

Participation

Participation will count for 10% of your grade.

The exams, papers, and course participation provide the basis for evaluating your performance in this course. The midterm and final exams will consist of essay and other questions that will allow you to demonstrate your knowledge of.

Course Reading Schedule

1. Introductory Lecture: What is Political Philosophy? 8/26

2. Plato’s Republic     Bk. 1                            8/28

Bk. 2                           9/2

Bk. 3                           9/4

Bk. 4                           9/9

Bk. 5                           9/11

Bk. 6-7                        9/16

                                    Bk. 7-8                        9/18

Bk. 9                           9/23

Bk. 10                         9/25, 30

Aristotle’s Politics       Bk. 1-2                        10/2

Bk. 3-4                        10/7, 9

Bk. 5-6                        10/16, 21

Bk. 7-8                        10/23

Cicero’ On the Commonwealth                      10/28, 30

Midterm 11/4

Political Philosophy in Judaism                      11/6, 11, 13

                                    Part Two: MPP

                                    Selections

Political Philosophy in Christianity                 11/18, 20, 25, 12/2

                                    Augustine                   

                                    Part Three: MPP

                                    Selections

Political Philosophy in Islam                           12/4, 9, 11

                                    Part One: MPP           

                                    Selections