{"id":33346,"date":"2025-01-14T13:42:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=33346"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:42:22","slug":"20th-century-political-philosophy-syllabus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=33346","title":{"rendered":"20th-century political philosophy syllabus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I will be teaching 20th-century political philosophy as a new course this spring. One could choose many different readings for such a course. My list reflects my own interests, to some extent, plus some advocacy by the prospective students. Just as an example, Tufts&#8217; political theory students tend to study Nietzsche intensively, so I have omitted Nietzsche from the &#8220;background&#8221; part of this syllabus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jan. 16:\u00a0Introduction to the course<\/strong> (we&#8217;ll look together at &#8220;W.H. Auden&#8217;s September 1, 1939&#8221;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Part I: Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(A review of five major schools of thought that were already well developed before 1914 and that most subsequent authors knew and addressed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong> Jan. 21: Liberalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>John Stuart Mill, <em>On Liberty<\/em> (1859),\u00a0chapters 1 and 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jan. 23: Liberalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mill (1859),\u00a0chapters 3-5<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jan. 28:&nbsp;Marxism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Engels (1847),&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1847\/11\/prin-com.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Principles of Communism<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marx and Engels (1848),&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1848\/communist-manifesto\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Communist Manifesto<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marx (1867),&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1867-c1\/ch01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Capital, Chapter One<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marx (1871),\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1871\/civil-war-france\/ch05.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Paris Commune<\/a>, from Marx\u2019s address on &#8220;The Civil War in France&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong> Jan. 30:&nbsp;Psychoanalysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A dream from Freud&#8217;s <em>The Interpretation of Dreams&nbsp;<\/em>(1900).&nbsp;[It is the dream about Count Thun, discussed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1861171?casa_token=b_7gauJINpMAAAAA%3AYFn1socj6uGbaSnHrj9-0g2d-db8xYOxOOHWAB46Cgx3WgLGmVzE12epyfIH2t9d1tWKF4hrrDYxKBm33SPNPfPV0cRETBcbY2TFVnarETFkK9siuqSa\">Carl Schorske,<\/a> and I provide a version with my own explanatory notes.]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sigmund Freud,&nbsp;<em>Civilization and its Discontents (<\/em>1930<em>)<\/em>, chapters 3, 7 and 8. (The rest is recommended but not required.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb. 4:&nbsp;Modernity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Max Weber,&nbsp;<em>Economy and Society<\/em>. Ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittic. New York: Bedminster Press, 1922\/1968, excerpts from around pp. 223 and pp. 956ff.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Max Weber,\u00a0<em>The Protestant Ethic and the Sprit of Capitalism<\/em>, trans. by Talcott Parsons (1930), pp. 13-38, 102-125<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>[<em>Not<\/em>&nbsp;required, but an interesting take: Charles Taylor, &#8220;Two Theories of Modernity (2001)]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb 6: Faith and\/or nation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII&nbsp; (1885)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ewtn.com\/catholicism\/library\/syllabus-of-errors-9048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Syllabus of Errors.<\/a>&nbsp;of Pope Pius IX (1864 (note that the numbered statements are \u201cerrors\u201d according to the Pope)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Debates about patriotism: De Tocqueville,&nbsp;<em>Democracy in America<\/em>&nbsp;(from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/titles\/democracy-in-america-english-edition-vol-1#lf1593-01_head_109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chapter 14).<\/a>; Richard Rorty, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1994\/02\/13\/opinion\/the-unpatriotic-academy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Unpatriotic Academy.<\/a>&#8221; (New York Times, Feb. 13, 1994) and Martha Nussbaum, &#8220;&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonreview.net\/forum\/patriotism-and-cosmopolitanism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism<\/a>&#8221; The Boston Review, Oct. 1, 1994.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PART II: Responses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb. 11:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Friedrich Hayek&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Constitution of Liberty<\/em>,&nbsp;chapter 1, pp. 11-21, chapter&nbsp; 4, pp. 54-71and postscript,&nbsp;\u201cWhy I am not a conservative\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chapter 2, Creative Powers of a Free Civilization, 18 pages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Errors of Constructivism,&#8221; from<em>&nbsp;The Market and Other Orders<\/em>, 19 pages&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Engineers and Planners,&#8221; from&nbsp;<em>Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason<\/em>, 13 pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb. 13:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Isaiah Berlin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Two Concepts of Liberty&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb. 18:&nbsp;Marxism after Marx<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rosa Luxemburg, \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/luxemburg\/1904\/questions-rsd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy.<\/a>\u2019 [1904]. Also known as \u2018Leninism or Marxism?\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Selections from&nbsp;<em>An Antonio Gramsci Reader<\/em>, edited by David Forgacs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Walter Benjamin,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfu.ca\/~andrewf\/books\/Concept_History_Benjamin.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Theses on the Philosophy of History.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong> Feb. 25:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Fascism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Benito Mussolini (1883-1945):&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldfuturefund.org\/wffmaster\/Reading\/Germany\/mussolini.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Doctrine of Fascism<\/a> (1932)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carl Schmitt,\u00a0<em>The Concept of the Political<\/em>, pp. 19-22, 25-52, 53-58, 78-79<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feb. 27:&nbsp;Pragmatism I: John Dewey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>John Dewey,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/41386\/41386-h\/41386-h.htm#Pg278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology<\/a>&nbsp;(1922), conclusion (pp. 278-332)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Public and its Problems<\/em>\u00a0(1927), chapter 5.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March. 4:&nbsp;&nbsp;Pragmatism II: other authors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sidney Hook, &#8220;The Democratic Way of Life&#8221;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cornel West,&nbsp;<em>Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America<\/em>&nbsp;(1994),&nbsp;Chapter 7: Pragmatism and the Sense of the Tragic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 6:&nbsp;W.E.B. DuBois<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Black Reconstruction in America<\/em> (1935), pp. 55-83, 182-202, 210-219, 711-731<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 11: The&nbsp;Frankfurt School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Max Horkheimer \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/reference\/archive\/horkheimer\/1931\/present-situation.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Present Situation of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research.<\/a>\u201d (1931)&#8211;just skim the discussion of Hegel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Theodor Adorno, \u2018Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda\u2019 [1951], in&nbsp;<em>The Essential Frankfurt School Reader,<\/em>&nbsp;ed. A. Arato and E. Gebhardt (New York, 1982)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Horkheimer and Adorno,&nbsp;\u201cThe Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception&#8221; from&nbsp;<em>Dialectic of Enlightenment<\/em>&nbsp;(1944)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 25: Hannah&nbsp;Arendt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Excerpts from\u00a0<em>On Revolution<a href=\"https:\/\/canvas.tufts.edu\/courses\/63317\/files\/8396096\/download?download_frd=1\">\u00a0<\/a><\/em> (1963)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March 27: Hannah&nbsp;Arendt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Human Condition<\/em>, chapters II and V<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>March April 1:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Simone de Beauvoir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Second Sex<\/em>, trans. by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier (1949\/2011), pp. 23-39, 83-5, 330-360, 848-863<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 3: Frantz Fanon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The Wretched of the Earth<\/em>, trans. by Richard Philcox (1961\/2004), the preface by J.-P. Sartre and Parts I-IV and the Conclusion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 8: Michel&nbsp;Foucault<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Excerpts from&nbsp;<em>History of Sexuality<\/em>&nbsp;and\/or&nbsp;<em>Discipline and Punish&nbsp;<\/em>[To be selected]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 10: late Foucault<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;What Our Present Is\u201d (1981), from The Politics of Truth&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cWhat Is Critique?\u201d in James Schmidt, From <em>What Is Enlightenment<\/em>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Course Descriptions\u00a0from the Coll\u00e8ge de France\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThe Ethics of the Concern of the Self as a Practice of Freedom\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cTechnologies of the Self (pp. 145-169) in&nbsp;<em>The Essential Foucault<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThe Subject and Power\u201d (pp. 126-144 in&nbsp;<em>The Essential Foucault<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>\u201cTruth and Power\u201d (1976) in&nbsp;The Essential Foucault&nbsp;&nbsp; pp. 300-18 <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 15: J\u00fcrgen&nbsp;Habermas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cThe Public Sphere\u201d&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cLegitimation Crisis\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 17:&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Habermas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Between Facts and Norms,&nbsp;<\/em>pp. 17-23<a href=\"https:\/\/canvas.tufts.edu\/courses\/63317\/files\/8396111\/download?download_frd=1\">&nbsp;<\/a> and 38-41 and&nbsp;pp. 359-379&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 22:&nbsp;<\/strong>Left open to pursue gaps we have identified (or else texts from the Habermas-Foucault debate]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>April 24:&nbsp;<\/strong>Concluding discussion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I will be teaching 20th-century political philosophy as a new course this spring. One could choose many different readings for such a course. My list reflects my own interests, to some extent, plus some advocacy by the prospective students. Just as an example, Tufts&#8217; political theory students tend to study Nietzsche intensively, so I have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-continental-philosophy","category-philosophy","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33346"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33366,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33346\/revisions\/33366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}