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Courses For Programme B.A. (Hons) Political Science

This document outlines a course on Modern Political Philosophy. The course aims to expose students to how political questions have been posed and related to larger questions of thought and society. Students will learn about philosophers from different traditions and be able to answer fundamental questions about political communities, government forms, human nature, and resisting rulers. The course covers topics like modernity, Romantic thinkers like Rousseau and Wollstonecraft, liberal socialists like Mill, and radicals like Hegel and Marx. Students will be assessed through group discussions, presentations, and assignments covering the units.

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Krishangi Kathotia
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84 views

Courses For Programme B.A. (Hons) Political Science

This document outlines a course on Modern Political Philosophy. The course aims to expose students to how political questions have been posed and related to larger questions of thought and society. Students will learn about philosophers from different traditions and be able to answer fundamental questions about political communities, government forms, human nature, and resisting rulers. The course covers topics like modernity, Romantic thinkers like Rousseau and Wollstonecraft, liberal socialists like Mill, and radicals like Hegel and Marx. Students will be assessed through group discussions, presentations, and assignments covering the units.

Uploaded by

Krishangi Kathotia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Courses for Programme B.A.

(Hons) Political Science

Paper XIII - Modern Political Philosophy (6.1)


Core Course - (CC) Credit:6

Course Objective
This course aims to expose the students to the manner in which the questions of politics have
been posed in terms that have implications for larger questions of thought and existence in
society and is being solved. By introducing the philosophers from different traditions students
will be able to answer few fundamental political questions: Why do we live in political
communities? What is the ‘best’ form of government? How human nature influences political
decision making? How and in what circumstances we need to resist bad rulers?

Course Learning Outcomes


By the end of the course students would be able to:
• Understand the idea of modernity and establish a connection between societal changes
posed through modernity and its prescribed political suggestions.
• Identify various tendencies in political philosophical discourse and manage to answer
various fundamental questions through problem-solving aptitude.

Unit 1
Modernity and its discourses (1 week)
Kant on Modernity, Faith on Reason, Understanding Nature’s nature.

Unit 2
Romantics (2 weeks)
a. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1 week)
Critique of Modernity; State of Nature (evolution of Nobel savage, what corrupts the
society?), Origin of inequality, General Will; direct democracy; self-government;
b. Mary Wollstonecraft (1 week)
Women and paternalism; critique of Rousseau’s idea of education and proposed
educational reforms; legal rights and representation

Unit 3
Liberal socialist (2 weeks)
John Stuart Mill
Mill’s hedonistic principle of utility; difference with other utilitarian, Liberty, suffrage
and change in democracy; rights of minorities; subjection of women

4
Unit 4
Radicals (2 Weeks)
a. Hegel
Ethical life: family, civil society and state
b. Karl Marx
Difference with other kinds of materialism; Concepts of values; critique of Capitalism;
inevitability of class struggle; establishment of utopian society

References
I. Modernity and its discourses
Kant. (1784) ‘What is Enlightenment?’ available at http://theliterarylink.com/kant.html,
Accessed: 19.04.2013
S. Hall (1992) ‘Introduction’, in Formations of Modernity UK: Polity Press pages 1-16
B. Nelson, (2008) Western Political Thought. New York: Pearson Longman, pp. 221-255.
Rawls, J. Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, Lectures on Rousseau, Harvard
University Press, London pp: 191-229.
II. Romantics
M. Keens-Soper, (2003) ‘Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract’, in M. Forsyth and M.
Keens-Soper (eds) A Guide to the Political Classics: Plato to Rousseau. New York: Oxford
University Press, pp. 171-202.
C. Jones, (2002) ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindications and their Political Tradition’ in C. Johnson
(ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 42-58.
III. Liberal socialist
Ramaswamy, Shushila (2018), Women in Political Thought: the Quest for Gender Equality and
Beyond, New Delhi: Orient Black Swan, pp.128-178.
Mill, J.S. ‘On Liberty’ and other writings, Chapters 1, 3, and 4
Mill, J.S. Utilitarianism, Indiamapolis: Hickett Publishing, 2001, Chapters 1, 2, and 4
Rawls, J. Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, Lectures on Mill, Harvard University
Press, London, pp. 251-314
Action, H.B (1972), John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, Liberty and Representative Government,
David Campbell Publishers Ltd.
H. Magid (1987) ‘John Stuart Mill’, in L. Strauss and J. Cropsey, (eds), History of Political
Philosophy, 2nd edition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 784-801.
P. Kelly (2003) ‘J.S. Mill on Liberty’, in D. Boucher, and P. Kelly, (eds.) Political Thinkers:
From Socrates to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 324-359.
IV. Radicals
Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/pr/philosophy-of-right.pdf

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J. Cropsey, (1987) ‘Karl Marx’, in L. Strauss and J. Cropsey (eds) History of Political
Philosophy, 2nd Edition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 802-828.
L. Wilde, (2003) ‘Early Marx’, in D. Boucher and P. Kelly, P. (eds) Political Thinkers: From
Socrates to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 404-435.

Additional Resources:
A. Bloom (1987) ‘Jean-Jacques Rousseau’, in Strauss, L. and Cropsey, J. (eds.) History
of Political Philosophy, 2nd edition. Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 559-580.
A. Skoble and T. Machan (2007) Political Philosophy: Essential Selections, New Delhi: Pearson
Education, pp. 328-354.
B. Ollman (1991) Marxism: An Uncommon Introduction, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers.
G. Blakely and V. Bryson (2005) Marx and Other Four Letter Words, London: Pluto
A. Skoble, and T. Machan (2007) Political Philosophy: Essential Selections, New Delhi: Pearson
Education, pp. 286-327.
H. Arendt (1958), The Origins of Totalitarianism, New York: The World Publishing Company.
Readings in Hindi
सी. एल. वेपर (1954), राज दर्शन का स्वाध्ययन, इलाहबाद: ककताब महल.

जे. पी. सद
ू (1969), पाश्चात्य राजनीततक चचिंतन , जय प्रकार् नाथ और किंपनी.

Teaching Learning Process


The teaching-learning process for this course would involve class lectures, class discussion, class
presentation, debates on contemporary issues and relevant cases. Teaching would also involve
methods like power point and film screening.

Assessment Methods
Students will be assessed at different stages during the course learning process. After completing
every unit they will be asked to take part in group discussions on any one important event or
issue relevant for that unit. They will also do one presentation and one assignment.

Keywords
modernity, reason, state of nature, representation,

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