Political Theory: The Classic Texts and Their Continuing Relevance (2005)
by Joshua Kaplan.
Kaplan teaches courses in political theory and American politics at Notre Dame.
He reads the text in the record-book version, with syllabus:
See also
Political Science Glossary.
Lecture 1: How Political Theory Means
- "Political theory is ... a way of understanding the significance of political events."
- "The problem of preferences: How can people with different preferences agree on a common course of action?"
- "The problem of order: How can self-interested individuals be persuaded to cooperate rather than fight?"
- "We want to believe that politics is not simply a matter of the strong forcing their
preferences on the weak. But what else is there?"
- Suggested readings:
- George Orwell: essay "Politics and the English Language".
- Sophocles: Oedipus the King, translation by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay (1988).
Lecture 2: Plato 1 The Apology and The Crito.
- "Plato uses these dialogues to ask the city [Athens] to reflect on what it has done
to Socrates, on the wrong it has committed."
- "Is piety just a matter of pleasing the group in power? ...
Or is there something that is pious in its own right?"
- "Socrates wants to persuade people that what is good is also good for you."
- Suggested readings:
- Plato: The Trial and Death of Socrates, translation by G.M.A. Grube, revised by John M. Cooper, third edition (2000).
Lecture 3: Plato 2: The Republic.
- Suggested readings:
- Plato: The Republic, translation by G.M.A. Grube and C.D.C. Reeve (1992).
Lecture 4: Thucydides 1.
- Suggested readings:
- Thucydides: On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: Selections from the History of the Peloponnesian War,
translation by Paul Woodruff (1993).
Lecture 5: Thucydides 2.
- Suggested readings:
- Thucydides: On Justice, Power, and Human Nature: Selections from the History of the Peloponnesian War,
translation by Paul Woodruff (1993).
Lecture 6: Aristotle.
- Suggested readings:
- Sophocles: Oedipus the King, translation by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay (1988).
Lecture 7: Machiavelli.
- Suggested readings:
- Machiavelli: The Prince, translation by Angelo M. Codevilla (1997).
Lecture 8: Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan.
- Suggested readings:
- Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, editor C.B. MacPherson (1982).
Lecture 9: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: On The Social Contract.
- Suggested readings:
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: On the Social Contract:
With Geneva Manuscript and Political Economy,
editor Roger D. Masters,
translator Judith R. Masters (1979).
Lecture 10: The Federalist Papers.
- Suggested readings:
- George Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison: The Federalist Papers,
introduction by Isaac Kramnick (1987).
Lecture 11: Alexis de Tocqueville 1.
- Suggested readings:
- Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America,
editor J.P. Mayer,
translator George Lawrence (2000).
Lecture 12: Alexis de Tocqueville 2
- Suggested readings:
- Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America,
editor J.P. Mayer,
translator George Lawrence (2000).
Lecture 13: Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto.
- Suggested readings:
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto (1998).
- Also see:
Francis Wheen: Karl Marx: A Life (2000).
Lecture 14: Game Theory.
- Suggested readings:
- Kenneth A. Shepsle and Mark S. Bonchek:
Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behaviors, and Institutions (1997).
[Thanks for visiting.]
Introduction to Political Science.
