Political Thought – Classical and Medieval
Professor Melissa Schwartzberg
Spring 2011
Tuesday, 2:10-4
Office hours: Thursdays 2-4, and by appointment
4-6485
ms3125@columbia.edu
Though this course is intended as a survey of ancient political thought, each
semester I choose a theme to anchor our discussions and enable some continuity across
the various texts. This time, the theme will be the sources of political obligation and
authority in ancient political thought. Among the questions we will ask as we read these
works: to whom do we owe obedience, and under what conditions? How should we
distinguish between just and unjust forms of rule? Which laws ought to take precedence
in case of conflict? Are there conditions under which we may rightfully resist our rulers
or break the law?
Course prerequisites
This course is structured as a graduate seminar in political theory. There will be a
considerable amount of reading, which must be done with great care, since high-quality
participation is expected. The bare-minimum course prerequisites are as follows:
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Undergraduates in Columbia College: Contemporary Civilization, with a first
semester grade of B+ or better. An additional course in political theory is strongly
preferred.
GS students and master’s students outside of the Departments of Political Science
and Classics: At least one prior course in political theory.
Course requirements:
- Midterm take-home exam (8-10 pages): 40%.
- Final take-home exam (8-10 pages): 40%.
- Class participation: 20%.
- Ph.D. students who would prefer to write a research paper in lieu of the takehome exams may do so (approximately 25 pages, worth 80%).
Required texts (available at Book Culture):
Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1984.
Plato. Trial and Death of Socrates. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1975.
Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992.
Plato. Statesman. Trans. J.B. Skemp. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992.
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. David Ross. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1998.
Aristotle. Politics. Trans. Ernest Barker. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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Cicero. On the Commonwealth and On the Laws. Trans. James Zetzel. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Augustine. City of God Against the Pagans. Trans. Henry Bettenson. New York:
Penguin, 2003.
Aquinas. Political Writings. Trans. R.W. Dyson. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2002.
Secondary literature
This is not intended to be a comprehensive list by any means – just some starting points.
Undergraduates should feel free to ignore this list entirely; graduate students may wish to
read selectively after they have read the primary texts.
Allen, Danielle S. The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic
Athens. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Annas, Julia. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1981.
Connolly, Joy. The State of Speech: Rhetoric and Political Thought in Ancient Rome.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
Deane, Herbert A. The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1966.
Finnis, John. Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1998.
Frank, Jill. A Democracy of Distinction: Aristotle and the Work of Politics. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Garsten, Bryan. Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 2006. Ch. 5.
Klosko, George. The Development of Plato’s Political Theory. New York: Methuen,
1986.
Kraut, Richard. Aristotle: Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Lane, Melissa S. Method and Politics in Plato’s Statesman. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998.
Monoson, S. Sara. Plato’s Democratic Entanglements. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2000.
Ober, Josiah. Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics of Popular
Rule. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Schofield, Malcolm. Plato: Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Schofield, Malcolm. The Stoic Idea of the City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1999.
Villa, Dana. Socratic Citizenship. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Vogt, Katja Maria. Law, Reason, and the Cosmic City: Political Philosophy in the Early
Stoa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Wood, Neal. Cicero’s Social and Political Thought. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1988.
Yack, Bernard. Problems of a Political Animal: Community, Justice, and Conflict in
Aristotelian Political Thought. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
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Schedule
Introduction: Political obligation and authority: Why look to the ancients?
January 25: Sophocles, Antigone
Feb. 1: Plato, Apology and Crito
Knowledge and political authority
Feb. 8: Plato, Republic, Books I-V
Feb. 15: Plato, Republic, Books VI-X
Feb. 22: Plato, Statesman
Ruling, obeying, and the common good
March 1: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books I, II, III.1-5, V, VI, VIII, IX, X.6-19.
March 8: Aristotle, Politics, Books I and II
March 22: Aristotle, Politics, Books III and IV [MIDTERM DISTRIBUTED]
Reason, duty, and the city
March 29: Stoicism [selections from Epictetus, Seneca, Cicero] [All on Courseworks]
[MIDTERM DUE]
April 5: Cicero, On the Commonwealth: Books I, II: 64-70, III, V, VI; On the Laws:
Books I-II
Obeying God, obeying men
April 12: Augustine, City of God, Books I, II, Book IV.4 and 15, Book V, VIII.3-12,
XIV, XIX, XXII: 23-24, 29-30. On Courseworks: On Free Choice I.5.11-6.15; Letter
138, to Marcellinus; Letter 189, to Boniface; Against Faustus the Manichaean XXII.7379
April 19: Aquinas, Political Writings: Sections 1 (Government and politics), 2
(Obedience), 3:1-b, g-h (Law), 6 (War, sedition and killing) and 7 (Religion and politics)
Conclusion
April 26: Towards modern theories of political obligation and legitimate authority
[FINAL EXAM DISTRIBUTED, DUE MAY 10]