Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill (AA311)

• Nigel Warburton on Machiavelli and Mill
• Derek Matravers on Rousseau and Marx
• Jon Pike on Hobbes and Locke

This course focuses on works by six important political philosophers: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx and Mill. The course treats them as contributors not just to the thought of their own time but to subsequent philosophical discussion. You will have the opportunity to read and think critically about seven key texts in political philosophy.

Description

This course examines some of the most fascinating and influential books ever written, from Machiavelli's The Prince to John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women. All the books continue to exert an influence on present-day thought, and are the more exciting to read for that reason. You will be expected to engage critically with the ideas examined.

As its name suggests, this is a reading course. You are expected to read substantial parts, and in most cases the complete texts, of a range of classic works of political philosophy. Your reading will be supported by course materials designed to help you draw out and engage with the key themes and issues in each work. The materials include the main course text, which gives detailed guidance on reading the set texts and a selection of secondary readings, and audio CDs that include discussion of some of the central themes of each set book. You are expected to make thematic links between the works, drawing out ideas about such themes as the social contract, the nature of property, the legitimate sources of political authority, and so on.

The principal texts are Machiavelli's The Prince, Hobbes' Leviathan, Locke's Second Treatise of Civil Government, Rousseau's The Social Contract, Marx and Engels' The German Ideology, and Mill's On Liberty and The Subjection of Women. You will also be expected to read Jonathan Wolff's An Introduction to Political Philosophy.

Read the full course description online