Introduction to Political Theory (2024/2025: Semester 1 – Fall)

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Course aim

After completing this course students are able to:
  • describe the problems of political theory, via a study of the classical and present-day political thinkers,
  • connect political philosophers’ ideas to the field of topical questions concerning the justice and stability of the political order,
  • propose ‘enduring questions’ discussing the core content of these ideas beyond merely situating political ideals in their time and socio-historical context,
  • construct a political argument and answer the question of how ‘other people’ are to be convinced of the acceptability of the normative standpoints which he or she has thus formulated.
Relationship between assessment and learning goals:

In this course, the final course grade is based on three elements:

1. Participation (10%) and weekly essays (30%). Participation is required, especially during those seminars in which fellow-students will defend their essays. This grade will also reflect your ability to express your ideas in spoken words. The peer-reviewed essay tests your ability to express the intricate thoughts of political philosophers in writing and accommodate feedback of fellow-students.
2. Mid-term essay (30%). This tests your basic knowledge of political philosophy up until modernity and your ability to compare classical and medieval political thought.
3. Final paper (30%). This tests (a) your overall knowledge of political philosophy from classical antiquity to contemporary perspectives; (b) your ability to compare classical, medieval and modern political thought; and (c) your ability to critically examine the philosophers discussed during this course.

Course content

Content
Politics is, in the first instance, about power and action, which are generally deemed necessary to the edification of individual and collective good life. Political theory broadly understood is an inquiry into the nature and major features of individual and collective good life. The nature and purpose of political theory are said to be best understood by an introductory examination of the ways in which political thinkers conceive of power relations and address the issue of the practical implications of the organization of power relations. This type of examination constitutes the core of the course. In particular, the course is primarily about a number of visions of politics, past and present, considered on their own merits. Some of these visions have had a significant impact on national and international politics, while others did not, or not directly. We study them in order to critically understand how the masters of political theory formulated their arguments, what is really at stake in their statements, and possibly whether, and to what extent, what they thought is relevant to us.

Format
The first session begins with expository and exegetical work for which the students have read a classical or contemporary text assigned for the session. The instructor draws attention to some of the key points in the text, difficulties of interpretation, historical circumstances of composition, subsequent influence on other thinkers, and so on. This is followed by a discussion with student participation. The emphasis here is on the knowledge of a particular political theory.
For the second session each student prepares a short response essay, roughly one page long, based on the same text, the Wednesday discussion, and their own reflections. The topic of each paper is announced in advance. Students are asked to read out their paper during the session and answer questions posed by the instructor or other students. The Friday sessions are designed to help students develop the insight and skills required to deal with normative problems of politics and to assess the merits of particular political theories. The format of the Friday sessions may vary; for instance, the presentations may be followed by a ‘Socratic debate’ focused on one or more particular papers, or one student may be asked to respond extensively to another student’s paper. What is important in this connection is that students learn to make a link between the theory under discussion and present-day social and political issues.

The use of digital devices is not permitted during the seminars, unless there is a serious learning impediment.

Instructional formats

UCU ssc 1 course

Examination

participation

Required | Weight 10% | ECTS 0.75

Weekly essays

Required | Weight 30% | ECTS 2.25

*midterm FEEDBACK*

Not required

mid-term exam

Required | Weight 30% | ECTS 2.25

final exam

Required | Weight 30% | ECTS 2.25

Entry requirements and preknowledge

Entry Requirements

No data about mandatory entry requirements is available.

Preknowledge

No data about preknowledge is available.

Languages

  • English

Competences

  • Debating / discourse analysis
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Critical reading
  • Listening

Course Iterations

Related studies

Exams

There is no timetable available of the exams

Required Materials

No information available on the required literature


Recommended Materials

No information available on the recommended literature

Remarks

Cross-Listed with HUM (Philosophy). Counts towards SSC or HUM major. Counts as SSC breadth requirement only, not HUM.

Coördinator

dr. G. Avci G.Avci@uu.nl

Lecturers

G. Zanco -

Enrolment

Attention: this course is not open to students from other faculties, so subsidiary students can't enroll for this course.

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