Credit

3.00   (L-T-P:   3-0-0)

Department / Center / School / Unit

Philosophy

Course Objectives

Students taking this course will critically engage with key texts in political philosophy from a variety of philosophical traditions. The aim will be to engage with these texts as part of a living tradition of thinking about politics, and to mine them for insights about the contemporary world. Specific topics and texts may vary from semester to semester.

Course Contents

This course will introduce students to key concepts and theories in political philosophy,
such as justice, democracy, citizenship, secularism, sovereignty, equality, rights, and freedom. The approach will sometimes be historical, involving an intense engagement with the work of a particular thinker or philosophical tradition; at other times is will be thematic, taking up a particular notion such as secularism and addressing it from many different points of view. The emphasis will be on a close and rigorous reading of these texts, while also addressing questions about their contemporary relevance. The lecture outline is for ONE possible course on key texts in the Western liberal tradition.