POL 3251W is also offered in Spring 2024
POL 3251W is also offered in Fall 2022
POL 3251W is also offered in Spring 2022
Spring 2021 | POL 3251W Section 001: Power, Virtue, and Vice: Ancient and Early Modern Political Theory (51848)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- Completely Online
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
Mon,
Wed 04:00PM - 05:15PM
Off Campus
UMN REMOTE
- Enrollment Status:
Closed (55 of 55 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Key concepts of contemporary political life such as 'democracy', 'tyranny', 'authority' - and indeed 'politics' itself - derive from ancient sources. This course offers students an opportunity to return to the foundations of this vocabulary by delving into work by such major thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and Machiavelli. Lectures and discussion shall consider the endurance of certain basic questions of political life, such as: What is justice? What is the best regime? What is the relationship between human nature and political order? Can politics be virtuous and, if so, in what way? The course will also consider the radically diverse responses to these essential questions through examination of a wide range of historical periods and the unique terms of political order each offered. Previous iterations of the course have included examination of the Classical Greek city-state system and its fragile experiments with democracy; the rise and fall of the Roman empire; the establishment of Western Christendom; the Renaissance, so-called 'discovery' of the New World, and dawn of the modern era. Students will gain a glimpse into worlds preoccupied by matters of truth, virtue and nobility, but also widely populated by slavery, imperialism, violence, and religious strife. In this way, the study of ancient theory is intended to serve as both supplement and challenge to the terms of contemporary political life.
- Class Notes:
- This course is completely online in a synchronous format. The course will meet online at the scheduled times. http://classinfo.umn.edu/?rbnichol+POL3251W+Spring2021
- Class Description:
- Student may contact the instructor or department for information.
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/51848/1213
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2021 Political Science Classes