POL 302 Continental Political Thought
Fall 2009
Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-4:20pm
Location: Firestone 3-8-J
Anna Stilz
Asst. Professor, Politics
247 Corwin
astilz@princeton.edu
Office Hours: Wed. 10-11am
This course offers an overview of the development of Continental political thought
from the middle of the eighteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. Since that is
a broad period, I have chosen to focus especially on the Kantian, Hegelian, and
Marxist developments in this tradition. We will be considering the role played by
conceptions of freedom, human nature, and history within these thinkers’
philosophies. Some of the important questions we will consider during the
semester include: Can the autonomy of individuals be reconciled with the authority
of morality and of the political state? What are the proper limits to state power?
Does the state hinder individual freedom or make it possible? What is the role of
history in bringing about a more just moral and political world?
1. Reading
The readings for the class are very difficult ones, and they have to be read carefully
and actively if they are to be understood. Reading in this active way is a timeconsuming process. You should budget enough time to do all assigned reading
carefully before class. Doing the reading is the first and most important
requirement if you are to succeed in this course.
2. Attendance, Participation and Discussion Questions
A key element of the course is the active discussion of the reading with one another,
and therefore attendance and participation is mandatory. Absences will affect your
participation grade, and many unexcused absences over the course of the semester
will affect your grade severely.
On the Monday before lecture each week (starting with the second week of class) I
will post four discussion questions on the Blackboard website that will be discussed
in precept. All you have to do is to think about the question and to collect your
thoughts about that topic based on the reading in preparation for the discussion.
Your preparation for discussion will form part of your participation grade, a major
portion of your final mark in the course.
3. Papers
You will be required to write three essays, of approximately 1,500-2,000 words (7-8
pages). I will hand out the paper topics as the semester progresses, on the dates
noted in the schedule. The first paper will be due October 29; the second paper will
be due December 15; the third paper will due on Dean’s Date, January 12.
If you need an extension on a paper, please let me know in advance. I am generally
happy to provide a 1-2 day extension for a good reason. Otherwise, late papers will
be penalized one-third of a grade per calendar day they are late (including weekend
days).
3. Grading:
1.
2.
3.
4.
First Essay: 20%
Second Essay: 25%
Final Essay: 25%
Precepts/Participation/Discussion Assignments: 30%
4. Required Texts:
All required texts for this class have been ordered at Labyrinth Books.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Basic Political Writings, trans. Cress (Hackett)
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Gregor (Cambridge)
G.W.F. Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge)
G. W. F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (Hackett)
Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed. Simon, (Hackett)
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (Cambridge)
Those readings marked [Blackboard] on the schedule can be accessed by
downloading a PDF file from the course web page.
5. Tentative Schedule:
September 17: Introduction
September 22: Rousseau, A Discourse Concerning Inequality, Part One, (Basic Political
Writings pp. 24-60, including notes on pp, 83-109).
September 24: Rousseau, A Discourse Concerning Inequality, Part Two, (Basic
Political Writings pp. 60-81, including notes on pp. 83-109).
September 29: Rousseau, The Social Contract, Books I-II, Basic Political Writings,
139-172.
October 1: NO CLASS
October 6: Rousseau, The Social Contract, Books III-IV, Basic Political Writings, 173227.
October 8: Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Preface and Book I.
October 13: Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Book II.
October 15: Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Book III.
October 20: Kant’s Political Writings: “An answer to the question: What is
Enlightenment” and “On the Common saying: That May be Correct in Theory, but it
is of no use in practice” [Blackboard]
October 22: Kant’s Political Writings: “Toward Perpetual Peace” [Blackboard]
October 27: Kant on History: “Idea for a Universal History,” “Conjectures on the
Beginning of Human History” [Blackboard]
October 29: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Preface and Introduction, pp. 9-64. First
Essay due.
[Fall Break]
November 10: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Abstract Right, pp. 73-132.
November 12: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Morality, pp. 135-186.
November 17: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Ethical Life and Family, pp. 189-219.
November 19: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, Civil Society, pp. 189-274.
November 24: Hegel, Philosophy of Right, The State, pp. 275-380.
[Thanksgiving]
December 1: Hegel, Philosophy of History, pp. 3-98.
December 3: Marx, “On the Jewish Question” and “Toward a Critique of Hegel’s
Philosophy of Right,” Selected Writings, pp. 1-39.
December 8: Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” sections on
Alienated Labor and Private Property and Communism and “The German Ideology,”
Part 1, Selected Writings, pp. 58-79 and pp. 102-156.
December 10: Marx, “The Communist Manifesto” and “Preface to A Contribution to
the Critique of Political Economy,” Selected Writings, pp. 157-186 and pp. 209-213.
December 15: Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Essay 1. Second Essay due.
December 17: Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Essays 2 and 3
Third Essay due on Dean’s Date, January 12.