English CT 200C - Fall, 2012

Class Information

Instructor: Shershow, Scott
Time: R 12:10-3:00
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

In this course we will study selected texts of the philosophic tradition that concern in particular the basic axioms of political thought: sovereign power, law, the state, the citizen, and the relationship of politics and ethics. We will read a relatively small number of texts closely with particular interest in the genealogy of the classical theory of right from its foundational statements in Bodin and Hobbes to the totalizing syntheses of Hegel and Marx. At the end of the course we'll depart from our historical focus and read a few more recent texts that exemplify a pervasive new interest in the question of sovereignty in our own era.

Tentative reading list:

Bodin, "On Sovereignty," from Two Books of the Commonwealth
Hobbes, Leviathan
Rousseau, The Social Contract
Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and "Perpetual Peace.”
Hegel, The Philosophy of Right
Marx, The German Ideology (part one), and “Critique of the Gotha Program."
Carl Schmitt, selections from Political Theology and The Concept of the Political
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer
Jean-Luc Nancy, The Inoperative Community
Jacques Derrida, "Force of Law" (part one), "Ethics and Politics Today," and "To Arrive - At the End of the State," from Rogues.

Grading

Evaluation will be based on class participation, one short explanatory paper, and a concluding term paper, in which students can, if they wish, bring their own research interests to bear on the course readings.