6 credits | Prof. Daniel ELAM
This course surveys classic and modern texts that offer ‘big picture’ analyses of humanity, human nature, the creation of society or political society specifically, and, in sum, the state of the world. Texts can range from Plato (The Republic) and Confucius (Analects) to Machiavelli’s Prince, Marx’s Manifesto, and Mao’s “Peasant Movement in Hunan”, but also the early modern trinity of Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke (The Second Treatise), and Rousseau (The Social Contract), as well as texts from after World War II and up to the present age of “globalization”. We will examine them as important sources of political thought and human imagination, and also as instances of great writing and thinking. We may also examine select fiction, film, or other secondary texts to help illustrate the classic ones. Think of this as a “Great Books” class focused on political and social visions of how our world came to be.
Assessment: 100% coursework.