Tu–Th, 2–3:30pm, 106 Moffitt
Website: http://sophos.berkeley.edu/kolodny/S07Phil114.htm
Instructor:
Niko Kolodny, kolodny@berkeley.edu
Office hours: Wednesday, 2–4pm, 144 Moses Hall, or by
appointment
Graduate Student Instructor:
Sudha Sundaresan, ss146@cornell.edu
Catalog Description:
A survey of the major political philosophers, including some
or all of: Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Bentham, Mill, and
Marx.
Longer Description:
Political science seeks to describe, explain, and predict political phenomena. (Why did Italy and Germany unify when they did? What impact will demographic shifts have on the next presidential election?) These questions must be settled empirically: by consulting history, observing differences between countries, taking polls, and so on. Political philosophy asks different questions, which it is less clear that we can settle empirically. Some of these questions are conceptual. What makes a particular form of human interaction political? Other questions are normative. What sort of government should we have? How should we, as individuals, relate to it?
This course surveys the major works of political philosophy of the 17th–19th centuries, by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau (in the social contract tradition) and by Hume, Bentham, and Mill (in the utilitarian tradition). To provide context and contrast, briefer readings will be drawn from Aristotle; Filmer (a critic of Hobbes in turn criticized by Locke); and Whewell and De Tocqueville (contemporaries of Mill).
The course will be more interpretive than many philosophy classes. Although we may hope to learn something about the questions that interest us, we will be discussing, in the first instance, the questions that interested the authors. Furthermore, our interpretations will have a different focus from courses on the same texts in other departments. There will be greater emphasis on normative foundations than on institutional design, and greater emphasis on the internal logical structure of the arguments than on their author’s rhetoric or immediate political aims. For this reason, some experience with philosophical reasoning is essential.
Prerequisites:
One course offered by a philosophy department. Phil 2 or Phil 104, in particular, will be helpful. This course will complement Phil 115.
Readings:
Note: You do not need Kant, Practical Philosophy, Ed. Gregor, Cambridge, 0-521-65408-4.
Requirements:
Note: GSIs will not give extensive comments on the last paper and final exam. However, GSIs will be available to meet to discuss them in person.
Syllabus:
Part I: The Social Contract
The Aristotelian background: the concept of
nature, the good for man, the state as natural and prior, natural slavery
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Bk I, Ch. 2, 4–7, 13*
Aristotle, Politics, Book I, Ch. 1–6*
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Introduction (i.e., Hobbes’s introduction, not the editor’s), Ch. 6, 8, 10–11
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Ch. 13, 17
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Ch. 14–15, 20–21, 31 and 43
First paper assigned
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Ch. 16, 17 (review), 18–19, 20–21 (review)
First paper due
Sir Robert Filmer, Patriarcha, Ch. 1, 3 §§1, 4–7*
Sir Robert Filmer, Observations Concerning the Originall of Government, p. 187*
John Locke, First Treatise of Government, Ch. 1, Ch. 4 §§21–24, 29, 41–43, Ch. 6, Ch. 9
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 1
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 2–4, 6
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 7–9, 10–12, 14–19
The Declaration of
Independence*
Sir Robert Filmer, Observations Concerning the Originall of Government, p. 234*
John Locke, First Treatise of Government, Ch. 4 §§41–43 (review), Ch. 9 §§84–103 (review)
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Ch. 5, 13
Second paper assigned
No class Thursday, March 8
Second paper due
David Hume, “Of the Original Contract”*
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Bk. III, Pt ii, §§1–2*
No class Thursday, April 5
Part II: Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham, Introduction
to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Ch.
I–IV, XIII*
Jeremy Bentham, “Nonsense on Stilts, or Pandora’s Box Opened, or the French Declaration of Rights Prefixed to the Constitution of 1791 Laid Open and Exposed” (up through article 12)*
William Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England, pp. ix–xvii*
John Stuart Mill, “Whewell on Moral Philosophy,” pp. 187–191*
John Stuart Mill, “Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy”*
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism [Restrict]
Third paper assigned
Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Ch. 7*
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 1–4
No class Thursday, April 26
No class Tuesday, May 1
Third paper due
Course Policies:
Extensions:
Plan ahead. You
may request extensions from your GSI up until 72 hours before papers are due. After then, extensions will be granted only for
medical and family emergencies.
Submitting Work:
Papers must be submitted, on paper, by you, to your GSI,
in class, by 2:10am, before the lecture starts. Papers submitted later
will lose one step (e.g., B+ to
B) immediately and then an additional
step every 24 hours. If you cannot come to lecture on the
due date, you may request to make other arrangements with your GSI, so long as
you do so well before the deadline.
Whatever the circumstances, you are responsible for ensuring that your
GSI gets your paper. Forgotten or
unopenable attachments, bounced or lost emails, and so on, are your
responsibility.
“Re-grading”:
You are strongly encouraged to discuss grades and comments
on papers with your GSI or me.
However, grades on particular papers and exams will not be changed
under any circumstances. While there is no perfect system,
selective “re-grading” at students’ request only makes things worse. “Second” grades are likely to be less
accurate and less fair than “first” grades. This is because, among other things, the GSI does not have
access to other papers for purposes of comparison, the student will inevitably
supply additional input (clarifications, explanations, etc.) that the original
paper did not, and there are certain biases of self-selection.
The only exception, to which none of these concerns apply,
is a suspected arithmetical or recording error in your final course grade. Please do not hesitate to bring this to
your GSI’s or my attention.
Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism and cheating will result in an “F” in the course
as a whole and a report to Student Judicial Affairs.
“Any test, paper or report submitted by you and that bears
your name is presumed to be your own original work that has not previously been
submitted for credit in another course unless you obtain prior written approval
to do so from your instructor.
“In
all of your assignments, including your homework or drafts of papers, you may
use words or ideas written by other individuals in publications, web sites, or
other sources, but only with proper attribution. ‘Proper attribution’ means
that you have fully identified the original source and extent of your use of
the words or ideas of others that you reproduce in your work for this course,
usually in the form of a footnote or parenthesis.”
—Report of the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism
Subcommittee, June 18, 2004.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
If you have an official accommodation letter that is relevant to this course, please notify both me and your GSI at a reasonable time. We will do whatever we can to help.