POLITICAL THEORY
1. Theorists
a.
b.
c.
d.
Ancient: Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle
Medieval: Augustine, Aquinas
Modern: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Mill, Marx, Nietzsche
20th century/contemporary: Arendt, Beauvoir, Rawls, Fanon, Butler, Foucault, Berlin
You should have a working knowledge of at least two theorists from three of these historical
periods. (I.e. two theorists from three periods means six theorists overall.)
2. Main Issue Areas
a. Different theorists' understanding of human nature, freedom, and justice
b. Different theorists' understanding of the public and the private sphere, particularly
their views on the role of—and relationships between—property, the family, and
sexuality.
c. How race and gender are political concepts
d. Different theorists' concept of power and its relationship to freedom
e. The relationship between reason and politics
f. The differences between ancient, medieval, modern, and 20th century/contemporary
political theory
3. Exam Questions
The theory questions may focus on comparing theorists’ views of specific concepts such as
justice and human nature. They may also ask you to analyze specific theorist’s views of
different concepts such as the relation between their view of human nature and their vision
of justice, or the relation between their view of power and their notion of freedom. Drawing
on those connections, you should be able to explain underlying differences in views between
two or more theorists as well as analyze different areas of a theorist’s work.
4. Practice Questions
a. Analyze two political theorists' understandings of freedom and explain how it affects
their view of justice. (Possible theorists to include: Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau,
Nietzsche, Foucault, Berlin, Taylor)
b. Compare and contrast two theorists’ views of the family and how those views
structure their sense of the polity. (Possible theorists to include: Plato, Aristotle,
Hobbes, Locke, Arendt, Beauvoir)
5. Readings
a. Primary
i. Bronner, Stephen Eric, ed. Twentieth Century Political Theory. New York:
Routledge, 1997. (anthology)
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ii. Cohen, Mitchell and Nicole Ferman, eds., Princeton Readings in Political
Theory. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1996. (anthology)
iii. Plato: The Republic
iv. Aristotle: Ethics; Politics
v. Machiavelli: The Prince; Discourses
vi. Hobbes: Leviathan
vii. Locke: Second Treatise of Government
viii. Rousseau: Discourse on the Origins of Inequality (or Second Discourse); The
Social Contract
ix. Marx: The Marx-Engels Reader (anthology)
x. Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals
xi. Beauvoir: The Second Sex
xii. Arendt: The Human Condition
xiii. Berlin: “Two Concepts of Liberty”
xiv. Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth
xv. Rawls: The Theory of Justice
xvi. Foucault: Discipline and Punish; History of Sexuality, Vol. 1;
Power/Knowledge (anthology)
xvii. Butler: Gender Trouble
b. Secondary
i. Fraser, Nancy. "Rethinking the Public Sphere," in The Phantom Public
Sphere, ed. Bruce Robbins, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1993.
ii. Kolakowski, Leszek, Main Currents of Marxism, Volumes I, II, and III,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
iii. Okin, Susan Moller. Justice, Gender and the Family. New York: Basic, 1991.
iv. Okin, Susan Moller. Women in Western Political Thought. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1979.
v. Strauss, Leo and Joseph Cropsey, History of Political Philosophy. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1987.
vi. Taylor, Charles, “Atomism,” in Charles Taylor, Philosophy and the Human
Sciences, volume II , New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
vii. Wolin, Sheldon, Politics and Vision. Princeton: Princeton University Press
2004
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