Courses:

Introduction to Political Thought >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

Amazon logo When you click the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book (or other media) from Amazon.com, MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of this purchase and any other purchases you make during that visit. This will not increase the cost of your purchase. Links provided are to the US Amazon site, but you can also support OCW through Amazon sites in other regions. Learn more.

Required Texts

Amazon logo Plato. Four Texts on Socrates. Translated by T. G. West, and G. S. West. London, UK: Cornell University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780801485749.

Aristotle. Politics. Edited by Stephen Iverson. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988. (Download a version from the Internet Classics Archive.)

Amazon logo Machiavelli.
 The Portable Machiavelli. Edited by Peter Bondanella, and Mark Musa. New York, NY: Penguin, 1979. ISBN: 9780140150926.

Amazon logo Hobbes. Leviathan. Edited by Richard Tuck. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780521560993. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)

Amazon logo Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Edited by C. B. Macpherson. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co., 1980. ISBN: 9780915144938. (Download a version from Project Gutenberg.)

Amazon logo Rousseau. Basic Political Writings. Edited by Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub. Co., 1987. ISBN: 9780872200470.

Amazon logo Marx. The Marx-Engels Reader. Edited by Robert Tucker. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1978. ISBN: 9780393056846.

Amazon logo Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Edited by J. P. Mayer. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1988. ISBN: 9780060915223. (Download versions from Project Gutenberg: Volume 1 and Volume 2.)


Reading Assignments

LEC #TOPICSREADINGS
1Introduction
2Plato, Apology
3Plato, Crito
4Aristotle, Nichomachean EthicsAristotle. Nichomachean Ethics. Edited by Iverson. Book 10. Chapter 9.

———. Politics. Book 1 (entire).

———. Politics. Book 2. Chapters 1-5.
5Aristotle, PoliticsAristotle. Politics. Book 3 (entire).

———. Politics. Book 4. Chapters 1-13.
6Aristotle, Politics (cont.)Aristotle. Politics. Book 5. Chapters 1-5 and 8.

———. Politics. Book 6. Chapters 1-5.

———. Politics. Book 7 (entire).
7Machiavelli, The PrinceMachiavelli. The Prince. Dedication, and chapters 1-14.
8Machiavelli, The Discourses on LivyMachiavelli. The Prince. Chapters 15-26.

———. Discourses on Livy. Book 1. Introduction and chapters 1-5.
9Machiavelli, The Discourses on Livy (cont.)Machiavelli. Discourses on Livy. Book 1. Chapters 6-12, 16-18, 55 and 58.

———. Discourses on Livy. Book 2. Introduction, and chapters 1-2.

———. Discourses on Livy. Book 3. Chapters 1 and 40-41.
10Hobbes, LeviathanHobbes. Leviathan. Introduction, and chapters 6, 10-11 and 13.
11Hobbes, Leviathan (cont.)Hobbes. Leviathan. Chapters 14-19.
12Hobbes, Leviathan (cont.)Hobbes. Leviathan. Chapters 21, 24 and 28-30.
13Locke, Second TreatiseLocke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 1-5.
14Locke, Second Treatise (cont.)Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 7-9.
15Locke, Second Treatise (cont.)Locke. Second Treatise of Government. Chapters 10-14, and 19 (pp. 211-230 and 240-243).
16Rousseau, Discourse on InequalityRousseau. Discourse on Inequality. Part 1.
17Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality (cont.)Rousseau. Discourse on Inequality. Part 2.
18Rousseau, Social ContractRousseau. Social Contract. Book 1 (all).

———. Social Contract. Book 2. Chapters 1-4, 6-9.
19Rousseau, Social Contract (cont.)Rousseau. Social Contract. Book 3. Chapters 1-7, 9-10.

———. Social Contract. Book 4. Chapters 1-2, 7-9.
20Marx, "On the Jewish Question," and "1844 Manuscripts"Marx. "On the Jewish Question." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 26-52.

———. "1844 Manuscripts." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 70-105.

 ———. "Communist Manifesto." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 472-91.

21Marx, Communist Manifesto and Selections from CapitalMarx. "Selections from Capital." In Marx-Engels Reader. pp. 302-8, 319-29, 392-403 and 407-15.
22Tocqueville, Democracy in AmericaTocqueville. Democracy in America. Vol. 1. Introduction, Part 1, chapters 2-4, chapter 5 (pp. 61-70 and 87-98), Part 2, chapter 4, chapter 5 (pp. 196-201 and 220-230), chapters 6-9, chapter 10 (pp. 316-20 and 340-63), Conclusion.
23-24Tocqueville, Democracy in America (cont.)Tocqueville. Democracy in America. Vol. 2. Part 1, chapters 1-2, Part 2 chapters 1-8, Part 3, chapters 1, 5, and 7-9, Part 4, chapters 1-3, and 6-8.
25Concluding Lecture

 








© 2010-2021 OpenCollege.com, All Rights Reserved.
Open College is a service mark of AmeriCareers LLC.