Course Overview
This is an introductory course in Modern Political Philosophy designed for university students interested in political theory and its history. It covers the period commonly identified as Modern Times, beginning in the 16th century and ending at the eve of the 20th century. All the major thinkers within the Western (European and North American) tradition will be presented, insofar as they have had a bearing on the evolution of Political Philosophy. However, particular attention will be given to the following works, which have had the greatest resonance in the history of Political Philosophy: Machiavelli’s The Prince, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, and On the Social Contract, Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, and To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, G. W. F. Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s The German Ideology, and The Communist Manifesto, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, and Of the Genealogy of Morals.
Anthony Seaboyer 