University College Roosevelt Academy Middelburg - Social Science

SSC 151 Introduction to Political Theory

Content

This course introduces the student to the discipline of political philosophy by providing an
introduction to the normative aspects of organizing the public domain and the state in particular.
Who should rule? To what extent should citizens have a say in government? On which
foundation does political authority rest? How to avoid the abuse of political powers? To what
extent should the state interfere with the lives of its residents? Is there any circumstance under
which it is legitimate to challenge the ‘powers that be’ and disobey the state? These are enduring
themes that have been debated and discussed throughout the ages and will be so forever. In fact
every political debate is an exercise in political philosophy, in the sense that politicians defend
certain values on how society should be organized.
This course introduces a range of core themes in political philosophy through a
chronological review of the major works of Western political philosophy: from Plato’s
prescription to invest a philosopher-king with political authority to John Rawls’ conception of
justice as fairness. In the course of doing this students familiarize themselves with a range of core
themes and concepts in political philosophy, such as freedom, justice, democracy, virtue, order,
and natural law. What are the relationships between these concepts and how are tensions between
these concepts reconciled?
Course outline SSC 151 Introduction to Political Theory 2010-I p. 2
Classes are organized as follows. Each philosopher is matched to a core theme in political philosophy (see schedule). First every ‘new’ philosopher is introduced through a scheduled presentation by one student who gives an outline of his works and the historical context in which they were written. Subsequently his work will be further analyzed through a combination of lecturing, in class assignments and group exercises.