| Course Type | Course Code | No. Of Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Elective | SLG1LP102 | 4 |
Semester and Year Offered: 2nd Semester (Winter semester 2019)
Course Coordinator and Team: Dr. Javed Iqbal Wani
Email of course coordinator: javed[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in
Pre-requisites: None
Aim:
The course is an introduction to the development of Western political philosophy from Plato to Marx. It is concerned with an examination of some of the most important ideas and theories concerning the relationship between humans, state and society in the political thought of the Ancient Greeks, Machiavelli and then will move towards discussing the social contractarians and conclude with discussions on Marx. The course is designed to specifically focus on the form and nature of political community. As a result, political obligation plays an important role towards the formation of such a community. This course will attempt to discuss how there is a convergence of law and politics though the question of political obligation. The course is text based. It is expected that students will become familiar with the key texts of political thought. Topics covered will be selected from the following: the nature of political society and of political activity; the relationship between moral, religious and political ideas; the nature of the state, government and authority; justice, liberty and equality; human nature and politics; law and politics; political argument and political deliberation.
Course Outcomes:
The student should be able to demonstrate;
Brief description of modules/ Main modules:
The Course will comprise of four modules:
Module 1- Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle: political community as organic
This first module deals with the origins of Western thinking on the polis, which is the Greek word for city-state. The module focusses on Ancient Greece as the site of the birth of political thought and some of the earliest reflections on the nature of political community primarily through the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Plato's view of political and social life holds that the city-state should be governed by a ruler with philosophical training capable of comprehending the true nature of reality, justice, and wisdom, and where one's place in society is determined by one's natural abilities. By contrast, Plato's student Aristotle, while incorporating and responding to many aspects of Platonic thought, develops a decidedly organic, or this-worldly, system of ethics and a corresponding structure for the polis. Aristotle's famous claim that "man is by nature a political animal" captures his belief that a natural order between the individual and the community exists as both a power struggle and a distribution of resources, which has as its own end the good held both individually and in common. Such ideal notions of the city-state, whether Platonic or Aristotelian, and the particulars therein, have been a point of departure for political philosophers since the time of Plato's Athens to the present day.
Module II- Political Realism and early modern state (Machiavelli)
This module will discuss ideas of Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli on early 16th century Europe ruled by absolute monarchies. Machiavelli is credited with the distinctly modern notion of an artificial (rather than natural) state in which the leader should rule swiftly, effectively, and in a calculated manner. Many have associated his theories with the use of deceit and cunning in politics, however after Machiavelli, in the realist paradigm politics came to be identified as an art in which the best rulers governed shrewdly, carefully calculating about enemies, populations, and the timing of certain actions. Credited for laying down the governing principles of the early modern state as an organized force over a consolidated territory, ruled by the sovereign lawgiver, one that separated the domain of political from religious, Machiavellian thoughts of 16th century resonate with the contemporary.
Module III: State as contract: Liberal Individualism (Thomas Hobbes and John Locke)
This module will focus on the idea of social contract and the transformation it brought in the modern political imagination by altering the relationship between state and the individual. Writing against the background of the English Civil war in the 17th century, the liberal philosophers- Hobbes and Locke- offered the methodological tool to think of state as a human creation. The individual was placed at the centre of political thought and the political society existed to protect the propriety of individuals over themselves. This module through a discussion on the philosophy of individualism as the new basis for the legitimacy of state, will focus on concepts such as political obligation, consent and particularly the new established right to private property, of which the state was the guarantor.
Module IV: Egalitarianism and collectivist political community (Rousseau and Marx)
An alternate understanding of social contract was proposed in the works of Jean Jacque Rousseau, often termed as the forerunner of Marx, where the contract was premised upon the natural equality among men to render obedience to themselves creating a sovereign political community of people. The corrupting effect of the institution of private property on men made Rousseau call for a radical restructuring of the existing 18th century European societies inspiring the revolutionaries in France. His idea of a collectivist political order based on direct democracy channelized however didn’t call for the abolition of private property. A rejection of all exiting notions of egalitarianism in liberal capitalist societies emerged in the thoughts of Karl Marx in the 19th century Europe. His conception of a communist society where state as a form of political institution withers away with the abolition of class and the institution of private property, transformed the political imaginings of human collective so far inescapably linked with the idea state in the modern world.
Reading List:
Module 1
Week 1: General lectures
Essential Readings:
Week 2 & 3: Plato
Additional Readings:
Week 4 and 5: Aristotle
Essential Readings:
Additional Readings:
Module II
Week 6: Machiavelli
Statecraft: nature of political authority and means and ends of politics
Essential Readings:
Module III
Week 7, 8 and 9: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke
Readings:
Hobbes:
Locke:
Additional readings:
Module IV
Week 10, 11 and 12: Rousseau and Marx
Readings:
Rousseau:
Marx:
Assessment Details with weights:
Assessment will be based on a combination of mid-term class tests, take home assignment, class presentation and an end-semester examination.
Reading List:
Provided above with the module descriptions .
