He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. John Stuart Mill
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY II
Political Science 352 (4 credits)
Lake Superior State University
Spring, 2003
Instructor:
Telephone:
Dr. Gary Johnson
Office:
635-2763
Home:
635-9415
Office:
Hours:
Class:
Library 221
MTWR 11-12, W 1-2, and by appt
TR, 3:00-4:40; Crawford 109
Course Objectives
Political Science 352 is an overview of Western political philosophy from the seventeenth century to the twentieth
century. The most obvious goal of the course is to familiarize you with the principal ideas of the principal political
philosophers of the period. This is our most obvious goal, but it is not necessarily the most important goal. Since few of
you, if any, will become historians of political philosophy, our most important objectives in this course lie elsewhere.
The ideas of the great political philosophers will actually be our tools for exploring a broad range of important issues
that are as relevant today as they were in the seventeenth century. In forcing you to struggle with these issues—and to
learn about the answers provided by the great political philosophers of the period—the course has five additional
objectives.
First, the course should significantly sharpen your analytical abilities. Your efforts to understand the ideas of the great
minds of the period should enhance your ability to analyze complex issues in an intellectually sophisticated way.
Second, and relatedly, the course should sharpen your critical thinking skills. Third, since you will be exposed to
divergent perspectives—and in many cases forced to defend those perspectives—the course should broaden your
intellectual perspective. Fourth, because you will do a considerable amount of writing in this course, your writing skills
should improve. Fifth, and finally, since you will be required to speak regularly in class, this course should help
improve your oral communications skills.
Readings
The required texts for the course are John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (Bobbs-Merrill); Jean Jacques
Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Pocket Books); Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels, The Communist Manifesto. All are or will be available at the university bookstore. All other required readings
will be on reserve in the library or will be handed out in class.
Examinations
There will be three two-hour exams for the course. The exams will be predominantly essay, and must be written in blue
books and with pen. The final exam will not be comprehensive, but you will nevertheless have to make comparisons
with material covered earlier. Preview questions will be handed out prior to the exams—there will be no surprise
questions. When spelling or writing are unacceptable, you will be required to make corrections before full credit is
granted.
Participation
We will typically use a dialectical method in class. You should therefore be prepared for every class to explain our
theorist’s position, to criticize or defend it (as called upon), and to discuss important issues related to the reading. You
will receive a participation grade for each class. On a few days we may have a debate or other special activity that will
require extra participation. On these days you will receive double or triple participation scores. Your lowest two daily
participation grades will be dropped before the average is calculated. Unexcused absences from class will earn a “0” for
daily participation (I will assume your absence is unexcused unless you speak to me before or immediately after the
class or classes you miss). On days when you are present, but I am unable to assign you a participation grade (e.g., on
Participation (cont.)
the day of a lecture), your presence will be recorded, but no numerical grade will be assigned. Only the numerical
grades will be used in calculating your overall grade. Please note that the most important criterion in assigning
participation grades will be quality, not quantity.
Journal
In place of a paper, you will keep a class-by-class philosophical journal. You will have one entry for every regular class
meeting after the first class. In your journal you will record your thoughts about the assigned question(s) for that day, as
well as your reflections on issues from the readings or class. Each entry should include your name, the issue number,
and the issue (see below). It would be best to prepare your journal entries on a computer, but typewritten or neat
handwritten entries are acceptable. Your entries should be maintained in a hard-sided notebook like the one I show you
in class. You should normally read the day’s assignment before recording your entry. This will help you understand the
intent and significance of the question.
Your journal will be graded on the basis of your insight and understanding of the issues, originality and creativity,
organization, and quality of explanation. I expect to collect and grade your journal once during the semester, as well as
at the end of the semester. These collections will be random and unannounced. You will also be asked occasionally to
read your journal entry in class. Such readings will affect your participation grade for that class. Spelling errors and
other writing problems will be marked when possible for your benefit, but you should not let a concern about writing
make you timid or hesitant. Your journal is a philosophical diary in which you record your struggles and musings on an
issue of importance. This is therefore a piece of informal writing about which you do not need to be self-conscious.
Class Preparation
In reading and preparing for class, you should ask yourself seven questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What is (are) the principal issue(s)?
What is our theorist’s position on the issue?
What is right about our theorist’s position?
What is wrong about our theorist’s position?
What alternative would you propose to this position?
What objections may be anticipated to your alternative?
What answers would you provide to those objections?
Grades
The three exams, the journal, and class participation will each be worth 100 points, for a total of 500 points for the
semester. The grading scale for all class components, as well as your final average, will be as follows: A, 90-100; B,
80-89; C, 70-79; D, 60-69; F, 0-59.
Course Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Adam Smith
The U.S. Founding Fathers
David Hume
Modern Conservatism
Edmund Burke
Modern Liberalism
Jeremy Bentham
John Stuart Mill
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Hegel
Communism
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Non-Marxian Socialism
Anarchism
Michael Bakunin
Peter Kropotkin
Friedrich Nietzsche
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
William James
Political Philosophy II
PS 352; Spring, 2003
Assignments and Exams
Date
Topic
Assignment
1/14
Organization
First class. No assignment.
1/16
Hobbes
Leviathan. Selections in William Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers, Fourth
Edition, 362-378.
Issue 1: Are humans by nature selfish creatures? If so, how much? How do you
know?
1/21
Hobbes
Leviathan. Selections in William Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers, Fourth
Edition, 378-389.
Issue 2: Is it possible for an act to be “wrong” if it is not defined as such by a
recognized authority? If so, how? What can make something “wrong” if no
authority (human or divine) has declared it wrong? How do you know this?
1/23
Hobbes
Leviathan. Reread selections in William Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers,
Fourth Edition, 372-389.
Issue 3: From what or whom do you get your conscience? If your obligations as a
citizen are in conflict with your conscience, what should you do? Why?
1/28
Locke
The Second Treatise of Government, Intro, vii-xxii; Chaps. 1-5, pp. 3-30.
Issue 5: Locke says there exists a right to private property. Is his justification of
this right adequate? Why or why not? Is there such a right?
1/30
Locke
The Second Treatise of Government, Chaps. 7-12, pp. 44-84.
Issue 6: What is the origin of government? Take Locke’s answer into account,
explaining why you agree or disagree.
2/04
Locke
The Second Treatise of Government, Chaps. 13-15, 19, pp. 84-99, 119-139.
Issue 7: Do citizens possess an inherent right to revolt? If so, why, and would
such a right not threaten social stability? If not, why not, and is this denial a
guarantee of oppression?
2/06
Rousseau
The Social Contract, Intro (vii-xxiv), Book I (5-26); Book II, Chapters 1-4 (2736).
Issue 8: What is freedom? How is freedom achieved?
2/11
Rousseau
The Social Contract, Book II, Chapters 5-10 (36-54); Book III, Chapters 1 & 15
(59-64, 98-101); Book IV, Chapters 1-2 (109-114); Chapters 7-9 (134-147).
Issue 9: Is there such a thing as the “general will”? If there is, explain what it is
and how one can know it. If there isn’t, what criteria should be employed in
formulating legislation?
2/13
Exam 1
Prepare for exam using preview sheet. No journal entry.
2/18
Adam Smith
Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers, Chap. 3, “The Wonderful World of
Adam Smith.”
Issue 10: Specifically with regard to the economy, is that government best that
governs least?
Date
Topic
Assignment
2/20
Hume
Mulford Sibley, Political Ideas and Ideologies, Chap. 23, 413-418; David Hume,
“Of the Origin of Justice and Property,” in David Hume’s Political Essays
(Bobbs-Merrill), 28-38.
Issue 11: Why does the concept of justice exist?
2/25
Hume
Mulford Sibley, Chap. 23, 418-425. David Hume, “Of the Original Contract,” in
David Hume’s Political Essays, 46-61.
Issue 12: Why does government exist?
2/27
Madison/Hamilton
Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition, Chap. 1; The Federalist
Papers, #’s 15, 10, 51. Selections in Alpheus Thomas Mason, Free Government
in the Making, Third Edition, 287-289, 293-297, 305-308.
Issue 13: If Madison’s analysis of human nature and the origin of government is
correct, how could an ideal government be established, if at all?
3/4,6
Spring Break
Have a good time!! Come back safely.
3/11
Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Selections in William Ebenstein, Great
Political Thinkers, Fourth Edition, 473-493.
Issue 14: How important should tradition be in evaluating public policy?
3/13
Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France. Selections in William Ebenstein, Great
Political Thinkers, Fourth Edition, 493-504.
Issue 15: Burke criticizes the notion of abstract rights. Are there any such
abstract rights—human rights, for example? Why or why not?
3/18
Bentham
An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Selections in
William Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers, Fourth Edition, 505-531. Read
editor’s intro carefully. 515-519—read #’s 1-14 carefully, ignore footnotes. 519522—read quickly, but look to understand the “principle of asceticism” and the
“principle of sympathy and antipathy.” 522-526—read #’s 10-16 and footnote 6
(523-525) carefully. 526-531—read very quickly.
Issue 16: Is the criterion of public utility an adequate guide in the formulation of
public policy? Why or why not?
3/20
J. S. Mill
On Liberty. Selections in Carl Cohen, Communism, Fascism, and Democracy,
Second Edition, 450-467.
Issue 17: What limits, if any, should society place on freedom of expression?
Why?
3/25
Second Exam
Prepare for exam using preview sheet. No journal entry.
3/27
No class
Arrowhead Model United Nations will be taking place on campus. Several of us
will be involved. No class. No assignment. No journal entry.
4/01
Hegel
Mulford Sibley, Political Ideas and Ideologies, Chap. 24, pp. 435-461. Read 435452 carefully, 452-455 quickly, 456-461 moderately carefully.
Issue 18: Is it possible to reconcile duty and freedom, or are they naturally always
in tension? Why?
Date
Topic
Assignment
4/03
Marx
James L. Wiser, Political Philosophy, Chap. 16, 351-358; Marx and Engels, The
Communist Manifesto, 8-31, 43-44.
Issue 19: Is the government of a capitalist society merely a tool by which the
dominant class protects its interests? Why or why not?
4/08
Marx
James L. Wiser, Political Philosophy, Chap. 16, 358-377.
Issue 20: Do capitalist employers exploit their employees by, in effect, stealing
value that the employees have created through their own labor? Why or why not?
4/10
Utopian Socialism
Robert Owen, The Book of the New Moral World. Selections in Carl Cohen,
Communism, Fascism, and Democracy, Second Edition, 22-32.
Issue 21: Can human character be fundamentally transformed through education?
Why or why not?
4/15
Democratic Socialism
Clement R. Attlee, The Labour Party in Perspective. Selections in William
Ebenstein, Great Political Thinkers, Fourth Edition, 780-798.
Issue 22: Would public ownership of all large-scale industries and enterprises,
farmland, and natural resources make the United States a more democratic and just
society, assuming that employee pay, promotion, and other rewards were based on
merit?
4/17
Anarchism
Michael Bakunin, God and the State. Selections in Arthur Lehning, Michael
Bakunin: Selected Writings, 111-135.
Issue 23: Is the idea of God a force for domination, inequality, and injustice?
Why or why not?
4/22
Anarchism
Peter Kropotkin, “Law and Authority.” in Emile Capouya and Keitha Tompkins,
The Essential Kropotkin, 27-43.
Issue 24: Kropotkin says that rather than respecting the law, we should “despise
law and all its attributes.” Being careful not to set up a straw man, evaluate this
proposition. Is Kropotkin right or wrong, or in what senses is he right and in what
senses wrong?
4/24
Nietzsche
Werner J. Dannhauser, “Friedrich Nietzsche,” in Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey,
History of Political Philosophy, Second Edition, 782-803; Friedrich Nietzsche,
Beyond Good and Evil. Selections in Carl Cohen, Communism, Fascism, and
Democracy, Second Edition, 308-313.
Issue 25: Is all of life a will to power? If it is, how did it get this way? If it is not,
what is the driving force of human activity, and why?
4/29
Final Exam, 5:30-7:30
Use preview sheet to prepare.
Issue 26: Reflecting back on your experience over the year (or semester), what are
the most important lessons you have learned in this sequence (or course)? Do not
evaluate the instructor or course—you will do that on the student evaluation form.
Instead, evaluate your own experience and what you have gained from it.