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What’s the right thing for a group of people to do? How does a society know it is well governed? How do you know you are doing the right thing for your country, or your fellow citizens, or how that will impact on your family and friends? Who matters more, your family or your fellow citizens? The written record of the arguments about the best way to answer such questions is over 2000 years old, and this is an introduction to the thinkers that have answered these question and influenced everyone from Plato to Obama, and you. In this course, you will study the evolution of the ideas that form the building blocks of the political and social sciences. The course traverses the political ideas that arose in the Greek and Roman civilisations, the Renaissance, the birth of America, the death of the English and French despotic monarchies, and the great traumas of socialism, Marxism and the political upheavals that followed the wars of the 20th century. We will trace the changes in the fundamental political concepts such as freedom, equality, rights, justice, government, the state, markets, and domination.
This course is a glorious escapade through the best political theories of Western history. What’s the right thing for a group of people to do? How does a society know it is well governed? How do you know you are doing the right thing for your country, or your fellow citizens, or how that will impact on your family and friends? Who matters more, your family or your fellow citizens? The written record of the arguments about the best way to answer such questions is over 2000 years old, and this is an introduction to the thinkers that have answered these question and influenced everyone from Plato to Obama, and you. In this course, you will study the evolution of the ideas that form the building blocks of the political and social sciences. The course traverses the political ideas that arose in the Greek and Roman civilisations, the Renaissance, the birth of America, the death of the English and French despotic monarchies, and the great traumas of socialism, Marxism and the political upheavals that followed the wars of the 20th century. We will trace the changes in the fundamental political concepts such as freedom, equality, rights, justice, government, the state, markets, and domination.
Course GoalsAcademic aims: To foster a detailed critical understanding of a range of arguments in contemporary political philosophy, and the ability to criticise, evaluate, and apply these arguments.Learning objectives: By the end of the module, students should be able to comprehend and critically analyse complex arguments from contemporary political philosophy, to provide a critical account of them, and to construct and defend their own sustained arguments about major political values.Learning methods: Lectures are meant to provide students with an overview of the various topics covered in the module, and the material presented in them is by no means to be considered exhaustive. Students are expected to do additional reading for lectures and especially for seminars. Seminars are an extremely important part of the module, and their value depends on students’ active participation in the discussion. This may involve group work and oral or written presentations to the rest of the class. Discussions in, and preparations for, seminars are essential for the understanding of the material in the lectures, and for extending this material.
PHIL145
Lindsey Te Ata o Tu MacDonald
Morrow, John,Ph. D; History of western political thought : a thematic introduction ; 2nd ed; Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Also recommendedWill Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, 2002.Dryzek, John, Bonnie Honig, and Anne Phillips, eds. 2006. The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Goodin, Robert E., and Phillip Pettit, eds. 2006. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Wolff, Jonathan. 2006. An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Library portalhttp://canterbury.libguides.com/pols Learn Assignment Sheet Cover Referencing for Political Science Using EndNote for referencing Writing guides for Political Science
Essay boxes are located on the 5th floor Locke, outside the POLS office, Locke 501.
Domestic fee $732.00
International fee $2,975.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .