BUSP 3220 - Introduction to Political Philosophy

3 hours

Prerequisites: POLI 1100, PHIL 2200. This course examines major texts and thinkers of the Western political tradition and the questions they raise about the political and social order. The course will focus on four broad themes that are central to understanding political life: the polis experience (Plato, Aristotle), the sovereign state (Machiavelli, Hobbes), constitutional government (Locke), and democracy (Rousseau, Tocqueville). Particular attention will focus on the way in which different political philosophies have given expression to various forms of political institutions and our ways of life.