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Modern Political Philosophy

Class at Faculty of Humanities |
YBAJ015

Syllabus

* Mandatory:

ARENDT, H., The Crises of the Republic. Harmondsworth: Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich, 1973.

BERLIN, I., „Two Concepts of Liberty,“ in Berlin, I., Four Essays on Liberty.

London - Oxford - New York: Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 118-172.

KYMLICKA, W., Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

MILL, J. S., “On Liberty,” in Mill, J. S., On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other

Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, p. 1-112.

RAWLS, J., A Theory of Justice, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University

Press, 1999. (selected chapters).

* Recommended (selection):

ARENDT, H., The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: World Publishing

Co., 2004.

ARENDT, H., On Revolution. New York: Penguin Group, 2006.

BEAUVOIR, S. de, The Second Sex, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2011.

FOUCAULT, M., The History of Sexuality I. The Will to Knowledge. New

York: Pantheon Books, 1978.

FOUCAULT, M., Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison. New York:

Vintage Books, 1995.

FULLER, L., The Morality of Law. New Haven:Yale University Press, 1977.

OKIN, S. M., Women in Western Political Thought, Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1979.

RANCIÈRE, J., Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis -

London: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

TAYLOR, C. (ed.), Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Annotation

The course provides students with the basic insight into the central issues of the modern political philosophy via reading and discussing selected texts. The seminar-form of classes enables students to discuss the selected texts thoroughly, link the abstract concepts with their particular experience and thus build up a solid and critical evaluation. Weekly schedule:

1) J. S. Mill On Liberty

2) Two Concepts of Liberty

3) Gender Equality (M. Wollstonecraft, J. S. Mill)

4) Gender Equality and the Second Wave of Feminism

5) Right to Resistance and Civil Disobedience (H. D. Thoreau, M. L. King, H. Arendt)

6) Right to Resistance and Civil Disobedience II (J. Rawls, J. Habermas)

7) Justice (J. Rawls)

8) Law and Morality (G. Radbruch, L. Fuller)

9) Human Rights in History

10) Human Rights in Contemporary Politics (N. Bobbio, M. Ignatieff)

11) Multiculturalism (C. Taylor, S. M. Okin)

12) Discourses on Power I (H. Arendt, J. Habermas)

13) Discourses on Power II (M. Foucault)