Syllabus F21 - required work PDF

Preview

Summary

required work...

Description

P OL 172-S01F GREA T P OLITICA L TH INKER S Terri Peterson OH: TTh 12:15-12:45 cell/text: 917 974-3772 (never ever ever ever early a.m.) [email protected]

F21 3 cr 11:00-12:15 T Online/synchronous

Who counts as a ‘great political thinker’? There are any number of ways to answer this question; for this course, we’ll focus on thinkers in the history of modern Western political thought in order to explore basic political concepts like “justice”, “liberty”, “equality”, and “power”, among others. These few theorists do not come close to covering the whole of global political thought throughout the ages, nor are they the only “great” thinkers, but that they come out of a particular tradition does not mean they are confined to it, nor that those who are skeptical of that tradition have nothing to learn from it. I believe very strongly that we should take these thinkers as our own and that these ideas are meant for all of us. Note my emphasis on “thinkers” and “theorists”: there are many political activists who have enriched our understanding of politics, but they haven’t always stepped back to write a more general theory of politics. We won’t ignore these activists—we may discuss them in our Tuesday classes and in discussion threads—but the emphasis will remain on the theories. Finally, while we’ll be reading these theorists in (mostly) chronological order, that doesn’t mean that the ideas themselves are confined to a particular age. Consider these thinkers as being in conversation with one another—and with us—and consider as well how we can use their insights (and errors) to understand our own political worlds. Course objectives: To understand some basic concepts and forms of argumentation in modern Western political thought, and to use those concepts and arguments to understand politics today. Required readings: Most of the required readings are available online; links can be found on Blackboard. Two books, required for the latter weeks of the course, are available thru the Lehman Bookstore, or anywhere online (feel free to use any version): Hannah Arendt, On Violence Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth How this works: Given that we’re online, I will be making videos and posting them to Blackboard; discussion will take place via BB Collaborate and Discussion Board threads. Grading: BB Collaborate/Discussion board, 15 pts 15% Midterm Essays 50% Note: you will be given a separate handout for the Essay 1, due Oct 5, 25 pts essay assignments. Essay 2, due Nov 2, 25 pts Final Essay, due Dec 16, 35 pts 35% No extra credit will be available. If necessary, there may be changes to the schedule; these will be posted to Blackboard Announcements. ‘Attendance’ is mandatory, which, in an online class, means that you show up for the live sessions and that you contribute to the discussion board. (See BB Collaborate and Discussion board threads, below) I’ll cover course material in taped videos, and extra material and any questions you may have during our live sessions. Make sure you’ve watch the videos and have at least started the readings by the live sessions. The midterm and final essays are basically take-home exams: You will be given a choice of questions to answer; each set of questions focus on course readings and will require you to perform comparative analyses. Lehman College is committed to providing access to all programs and curricula to all students. Students with disabilities who may need classroom accommodation are encouraged to register with the Office of Student Disability Services. For more information, please contact the OSDS, Shuster 238, 718 960-8441. The Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) and Student Learning Center (SLC) are two of the tutoring centers on campus. The ACE provides appointment based and drop-in tutoring in the humanities, social sciences, and writing, as well as general writing and academic skills workshops. The SLC provides drop-in tutoring for natural and computer science courses. For more information, visit their website at www.lehman.edu/issp, or call ACE at 718 960-8175 or SLC at 718 960-7707.

Course Materials: Readings The bulk of the readings are online; links can be found in Blackboard/Course Materials. Two books (to be purchased through the Lehman bookstore or a site of your choosing) are also assigned. I’ll provide videos and notes to help you through all of the readings, and encourage questions during our class meetings. BB Collaborate Since this is a synchronous course, we will meet via BB Collaborate on Tuesdays 11:30-12:15. PARTICIPATION IN TUESDAY CLASS IS MANDATORY; if you can’t make it to a week’s class, you can make it up by contributing extra to that week’s discussions. This is meant to be used only a few times over the course of a semester: if you miss more than 2 BB Collaborate sessions, you will lose participation points. Course Materials: Videos and chalkboard notes I’ll generally post videos Wednesday/Thursday for Thursday viewing. These videos will vary in type: in some cases, I’ll explicate the readings and in others, I’ll tie together larger themes. These videos will be in Mp4 format and uploaded to YouTube; you should be able to view them on your computer, phone, or tablet. I will also at times post “chalkboard notes” (pdfs) in Course Materials: these are meant to substitute for what I would have written on the chalkboard had we been in class, and are provided to help you make sense of the readings and the videos. The videos themselves are meant to stand-in for in-class lectures, and you are encouraged to ask questions about the readings and the videos in discussion board threads. Discussion Board threads About those discussions: I will generally open a thread each week, in which I post a set of questions and ask you to respond to those or offer your own responses to the readings or videos. You will be required to post a minimum of FIFTEEN substantive comments in the threads over the course of the semester; these should be roughly divided between 7-8 original comments (either a response to one of my questions or your own response to readings/videos) and 7-8 substantive responses to other students’ comments, spaced out over the course of the semester. In other words, you won’t get the full points if you post all of your comments or responses in one or two threads; plan to contribute to every thread. And, as noted, above, if you miss a live session, you must make that up with additional comments. For your participation to count, you must post by noon Friday of each week; comments posted after this will not count. Given that the point of the threads is to encourage you to engage with one another, I strongly recommend you don’t wait until the last minute to post your comments. Yes, this may happen once or twice, but if you always post a comment/response at the last minute, you may not receive full credit. What do I mean by substantive? In a word: thoughtful. Generally, this will mean a paragraph or two in your comment; it could also mean a back-and-forth, as in, you ask a question, someone responds, you respond to their response, etc. Again, the point is for you to demonstrate some engagement with the readings, the ideas and with your classmates. Note that you are also invited to ask questions to me about the meanings of the readings or videos in the threads. These questions won’t count as “substantive comments”, but I will respond to try to help you to understand the material. I will read every comment posted, and will actively participate in these discussions. I do try to hang back a bit to give you a chance to speak first, but if you want to know my own views, ask me directly and I’ll respond sooner rather than later. I have also opened a Q&A Forum on the Discussion Boards. This is strictly voluntary, and is meant to be a place where you can ask practical questions about the course and assignments. Posts here will not count toward your participation grade. Deadlines I use deadlines to manage workload: they are not a moral issue. If you need an extension, contact me BEFORE THE DUE DATE, and we’ll almost certainly be able to work something out. Work handed in late without an extension will be penalized. Contact As mentioned, I will actively monitor and participate in discussion threads. I will also respond to emails, calls, and texts ([email protected], 917 974-3772), albeit not early in the morning.

SCHEDULE Note: Readings may be modified. DAY 1 Introduction: Justice and power Aug 26: Thucydides, Melian dialogue (Book V, ch. 17 of The Peloponnesian War) DAYs 2-5: On truth and lies and getting things done Aug 31, Sept 2, 9 & 14: Machiavelli, The Prince, chs. 1-10, 12-19, 21-23, 25 | Discourses, Bk I, chs. 1-5, 8-10, 16-18, 2427, 41-42; Bk II Intro *** Sept 3-8: NO CLASSES (Rosh Hoshana); Sept 15-16: NO CLASSES (Yom Kippur) *** DAYS 6-8: State of nature, state of war Sept 21, 23 & 28: Hobbes, Leviathan, Introduction; chs. 5, 9-11, 13-14, 17-19, 20 (through ‘The right of succession followeth...”)-21, 26 DAYS 9-11: State of nature, state of inconvenience Sept 30, Oct 5 & 7: Locke, 2nd Treatise on Government, chs. 1-13, 16

Essay 1 due Oct 5

DAYS 12-13: The ‘civilizing’ mission Oct 12 & 14: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, Preface, Parts One & Two DAYS 14-17: Consciousness and conscience Oct 19, 21, 26 & 28: Kant, “What is Enlightenment” | Mill, On Liberty DAYS 18-21: Consciousness and revolution Nov 2, 4, 9 & 11: Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach” | Communist Manifesto

Essay 2 due Nov 2

DAYS 22-24: Cracks in the modern world, pt I Nov 16, 18 & 23: du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (selections) | de Beauvoir, Introduction to The Second Sex | Fanon, begin The Wretched of the Earth: Concerning Violence *** Nov 25 NO CLASS: Thanksgiving *** DAYS 25-26: Cracks in the modern world, pt II Nov 30 & Dec 2: Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth: Concerning Violence; The Pitfalls of National Consciousness; Conclusion| Arendt, begin On Violence DAYS 27-28: Politics amongst the cracks Dec 7 & 9: Arendt, On Violence Final Essay due Dec 16...