AFST 30604 - Modern Political Thought

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

Africana Studies

Description:

In this course, students will study the focal ideas and arguments that helped shape the development of Western modernity--and its notions of freedom, equality, citizenship, rights, democracy, nationality, justice, and cosmopolitanism--through close readings of classic texts of European and American political thought. Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise of Government, Rousseau's First Discourse, Second Discourse, and Social Contract, plus several historical and political essays by Kant will offer students the opportunity to understand the evolution of the vastly influential "social contract" tradition and the variants of democracy that have sprung from it. In addition, we will read contemporary works of political theory by John Rawls, Anthony Appiah, and Martha Nussbaum that both build on and move beyond the early modern social contract tradition in order to engage pressing issues of global justice that are inflected by race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sex, and gender. Students will participate in an on-campus conference on "Cosmopolitanism: Gender, Race, Class and the Quest for Global Justice," which will feature Appiah and Nussbaum as keynote speakers.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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