Prerequisites
None.
Intended learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will gain:
Knowledge of the main positions of classical thinkers in the history of political thought;
Understanding of their historical contexts;
Ability to read classics with care, precision, and insight;
Ability to analyze critically (and draw conclusions about) opposing positions and arguments;
Ability to situate different arguments within the main traditions of Western political thought.
Among the soft skills, the course will foster the students' ability to communicate, verbally and in writing, reasoned views on theoretical/political positions.
Course Contents
The course offers an introduction to the history of Western political thought. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the principal schools of thought in the history of political theory, will be able to grasp their differences and affinities, and will be acquainted with the most significant answers that have been offered, throughout history, to the great questions posed by political life. Why do human beings live in society? What rules make such coexistence possible? What is meant by "politics"? Why are the great words of politics (liberty, justice, rights) always ambiguous? What is the modern State, and how does it differ from other forms of coexistence? What is the role of imagination in politics? What is the role of custom, usage, and habit? The course will be organized around a series of sessions devoted to the examination of major authors (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, More, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Hume, Smith, Rousseau) and their principal works. The history of events will serve as a point of reference, providing the proper historical contextualization for the history of ideas.
Reference Books
During the course, excerpts from some of the principal works in the history of Western political thought will be examined. The excerpts will be made available to students online before the lectures.
The course also includes the reading of a number of narrative texts, as a complement to the works of political thought properly speaking.
For exam preparation, Italian speaking non-attending students are recommended to read L.M. Bassani and Alberto Mingardi, Dalla polis allo Stato. Introduzione alla storia del pensiero politico, Turin, Giappichelli, 2022.
Teaching Methods
The course will be articulated in frontal lectures. The material to be discussed in class will be posted online before the lectures, in the hope that students will make themselves familiar with it. Active participation will be appreciated, and rewarded with an extra point in the final grade, for all those who already reached 18/30. The course will feature two debates between students' teams (on the differences between Plato and Aristotle on private property, and on Utopia/prudence in political theorizing).
Assessment Method
The final grade will be expressed out of 30. The midterm exam will count for 35% of the grade, and the final examination for 65%. The midterm will be a one-hour written exam. Students will be allowed three hours for the final examination.
Students who do not sit the final exam in the summer session may keep their midterm grade through the winter exam period.
Both exams will involve open questions requiring philosophical reasoning. Students will have some choice as to which questions they answer.
Knowledge of the material discussed in class, precision in presenting it, and proper historical contextualization of the different authors will all contribute to the evaluation. Active class participation will be taken into account, to the extent of one extra point for those who already scored above 18/30.
Non-attending students will take an oral exam. For the oral exam, together with the course material, non-attending students should prepare to discuss with the examiner one additional text, chosen among: Alexis de Tocqueville, Memoir on Pauperism (1835); Thomas Babington Macaulay, Of the Civil Disabilities of the Jews (1831); Karl Marx, The Civil War in France (1871).
Thesis assignment criteria
The interested students may contact Professor Mingardi directly, amingardi@luiss.it.
Week 1
Introduction to the course. After an introduction to the course (method, materials, assessment), the lecture will discuss the nature of political theory and how knowledge of the history of political thought can help resolve some of the ambiguities of political vocabulary. The proper use of historical knowledge for the purposes of political reflection will be discussed.
The specific features of political modernity will be examined.
The fundamental features of politics in the Greek poleis, and their lasting importance for the modern world, will be examined.
Reference texts:
Jacob Burckhardt, The Greek and Greek Civilization, 1898, chap. 3 "The Polis"
Friedrich Schiller, The Legislation of Lycurgus and Solon, 1790
Week 2
Plato and Justice. Plato's political thought will be presented in its fundamental features. His philosophy will be set against the background of the dualism between the sensible world — changeable and imperfect — and the world of the Forms: eternal and unchanging entities (the good, beauty, justice, unity) of which sensible things are imperfect copies. In the Republic, this metaphysics becomes political theory through the analogy between soul and city. In the later dialogues, Plato develops a theory of the rule of law, which will be interpreted as a founding moment in the history of the rule of law in the Western world.
Reference texts:
Plato, Republic, Book VII, 514a-520a — the Allegory of the Cave (c. 375 BC)
Plato, Republic, Book V, 457c-466d, 473c-e (c. 375 BC)
Plato, Laws, Book IV, 714b-715d (c. 360 BC)
Week 3
Aristotle and Political Science. Aristotle will be presented as a political thinker, in comparison with Plato. The lectures will present Aristotle's reflection on the nature of the polis and of citizenship, and his classification of political regimes. The fundamental features of the Aristotelian doctrine of mixed government will be identified.
In the third session of the week, a classroom debate will identify the differences between Aristotle's and Plato's approaches to the good life and to private property, exploring with students their lasting influence on the contemporary world.
Reference texts:
Herodotus, Histories, Book III, 80-84 (c. 430 BC)
Aristotle, Politics, Book III, chap. I-XIV (c. 330 BC)
Aristotle, Politics, Book IV, chap. XI-XII (c. 330 BC)
Week 4
Law. The fundamental elements of Epicurean and Sceptical doctrines will be presented, in order to underline their relevance for the elaboration of the concept of natural law. The role of natural law in Christianity will be discussed, reflecting on its political implications in the medieval (Christian) world and in the modern age (from natural law to natural rights: the Valladolid debate).
Reference texts:
Epicurus, Principal Doctrines, 31-40 (c. 300 BC)
Cicero, De re publica, III, 22 (51 BC)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 94, a. 2 (c. 1270)
Bartolomé de Las Casas, Debate on the Subjugation of Indians (Council of Valladolid, 1550-1551): excerpts on the natural freedom and rights of indigenous peoples.
Ahead of the class discussion, students are advised to watch the movies La Controverse de Valladolid, by Jean-Claude Carrière, and Mission, by Roland Joffé.
Week 5
Realism and Interest.
The features of political modernity, and of the modern State in particular, will be discussed. Through Machiavelli's The Prince, the course will address what a realist approach to politics implies. In this context, the interpretation of the role of interest and the separation between morality and politics — and, more generally, between the evaluation of intentions and the evaluation of effects — will be discussed. The role of interest and the passions in modern political doctrines will also be addressed, through Bernard de Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees.
Reference texts:
Jacob Burckhardt, The State as a Work of Art (from: The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1860)
Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola, excerpts (1524)
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, chapters VI, IX, XV, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXIV, XXV (1513)
Bernard de Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1714)
Week 6
Thomas Hobbes.
Thomas Hobbes's theses will be presented, starting from their context (the English Revolution) and from Hobbes's biography. Particular attention will be devoted to Hobbes's interpretation of the concept of the "state of nature" and to his version of the "social contract". Hobbes's approach to law and legislation will be presented in dialogue with that of Edward Coke.
Reference texts:
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, chap. XIII, "Of the Natural Condition of Mankind" and chap. XIV, "Of the First and Second Natural Laws, and of Contracts" (1651)
Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England, extracts (written c. 1666, published posthumously in 1681) (https://nlnrac.org/critics/legal-positivism/primary-source-documents/dialogue-between-a-philosopher-and-a-student.html)
Ahead of the class discussion, students are advised to watch the film Cromwell, by Ken Hughes.
Week 7
John Locke and Montesquieu.
In the first part of the week, two approaches radically alternative to Hobbes will be presented: John Locke's theory will be explored as a radical alternative to the Hobbesian option. Attention will be devoted to its American developments (Thomas Jefferson), and its possible more radical outcomes (Lysander Spooner) will be discussed.
In the third session, Montesquieu's response to Hobbes in The Spirit of the Laws will be presented. The work's key ideas (classification of forms of government, doux commerce, separation of powers) will be presented in light of the critique of despotism.
Reference texts:
John Locke, The Second Treatise on Government, chapter II (sect. 4-9), chapter III (sect. 21-23), chapter VI (sect. 87-89), chapter IX (sect. 123-131), chapter XI (sect. 134-140) (1689)
United States Declaration of Independence (1776)
Lysander Spooner, No Treason No. 1, sect. II (1867)
Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Book I, chap. 1 (1748)
D'Alembert, Eulogy for President Montesquieu (1755)
Week 8
Hume and Smith.
The political thought of David Hume and Adam Smith will be presented with an emphasis on the role of the unintended consequences of human action in the emergence of political institutions ("Darwinians before Darwin"). In particular, Hume's and Smith's approach to the emergence of the liberty of the moderns will be presented, situating it within the debate on luxury. The implications of their thought will be discussed.
Reference texts:
David Hume, Of Refinement in the Arts (1752)
David Hume, Of the Jealousy of Trade (1758)
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I chapters 1-2, Book III chapter 3 (1776)
Week 9
Rousseau and the Age of Revolutions.
Rousseau will be presented as a response diametrically opposed to Hume's approach to economics and political institutions. The role of the Rousseauian idea of the "social contract" in the French Revolution will be examined, together with the nature of that Revolution — a genuine watershed in European political history: a liberal revolt against privilege? An attempt to design new political institutions from scratch, against the traditions and customs of the past? Which political doctrines today remain deeply indebted to the events of 1789?
Reference texts:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1750)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book I chapters 6-8, Book II chapters 1-3 (1762)
Emmanuel Sieyès, What Is the Third Estate?, chapter 5 (1789)
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, selected passages (1790)
Anatole France, The Gods Are Athirst, chap. XXV (1912)
Week 10
Between Caesarism and Liberty.
The major problems that European countries began to face, as political systems inspired by liberal and democratic principles gradually took hold, will be explored: the role of public opinion, the tension between individual and collective (national) liberty, and the tendency of the majority either to override minorities or to entrust itself to leaders who in turn undermine the democratic system.
Reference texts:
Benjamin Constant, The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns (1819)
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. I, part II, chapter 7 (1835)
John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women, chapter I (1869)
Lord Acton, Nationality (1862)
Honoré de Balzac, The Country Doctor, chapter 3 (1833)
Week 11
Socialism.
The uses of the word "socialism" in the course of the nineteenth century, the so-called "utopian" doctrines, and the emergence of historical materialism will be discussed. Some twentieth-century, post-Marxian developments will also be presented, especially with reference to the Anglo-Saxon world, together with — if only in broad outline — the major theoretical critique of the concept of a planned economy.
Reference texts:
Friedrich Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880; Eng. trans. 1892)
G.D.H. Cole, Guild Socialism (1920)
Ludwig von Mises, Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth (1920; Eng. trans. 1935)
Week 12
Utopia, Rationality, Dystopia.
The concluding week will attempt to account for the great disillusionment with the role and power of rationality in politics that emerged between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the same time, the question of utopian thought, touched upon in the second week of the course, will be taken up again, recalling how the twentieth century — the century of realized utopias — produced dystopia, not utopia, as its preferred literary-political genre.
The third session, concluding the course, will take the form of a student debate on the importance of the utopian imagination versus prudence in politics.
Reference texts:
Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, Book II, chapters 2 and 3 (1895)
Thomas More, Utopia, conclusion of Book II, "Their True Commonwealth" (1516)
George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapters 3 and 10 (1945)