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  4. Political Philosophy

Political Philosophy

Objectives

1. First aim consists in giving to the students a network of fundamental concepts in the area of political philosophy.
2. Second, to familiarize the students with some relevant classical texts and authors in the tradition of political philosophy.
3.Third, to stimulate the discussion on contemporary questions in political philosophy.

 

General characterization

Code

711031053

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Giovanni Damele

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Not applicable

Bibliography

Kant, I. (2018). A Paz Perpétua e Outros Opúsculos. Lisboa: Edições 70.
Maquiavel, N. (2012). O Príncipe. Lisboa: Temas e Debates.
More, Th. (2019). Utopia. Silveira: BookBuilders.
Platão (2017). República. Lisboa: Gulbenkian.
Schmitt, C. (2018). O conceito do Político. Lisboa: Edições 70.
Textos intrudutórios / Introductory readings:
Galston W.A. (2010). Realism in political theory. European Journal of Political
Theory; 9(4):385-411
Nagel, T. (1989). What makes a political theory utopian? Social Research, 56
(4), 903-920
Para aprofundar / Further Readings:
Estlund, D. (2020). Utopophobia. On the Limits (if any) of Political Philosophy.
Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Geuss, R. (2008). Philosophy and Real Politics. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton
University Press
Williams, B. (2005). In the Beginning was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in
Political Argument. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press

Teaching method

Teaching - Lectures introducing the major themes of the course (75%), and discussions of selected texts (25%).


In class teaching.

Evaluation method

Evaluation method - Final test(70%), Participation(10%), mid-course test(20%)

Subject matter

The main theme of the course will be a reconstruction of the roots of liberalism, based on the analysis and on the discussion of three classical texts: John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government”, Benjamin Constant’s “The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of Moderns” and John Stuart Mill’s “On liberty”. Starting from this three texts, and through the analysis of other texts and authors belonging to the liberal tradition, we will analyze and discuss the main concepts and elements of political liberalism: the idea of liberty (and its limits and contradictions), the role and the definition of individual rights and guarantees, the foundation and justification of private property, the role of the State and that of civil society, the relationship between liberalism and democracy. Finally, we will discuss the possible relevance of liberalism in the contemporary political landscape, starting from the works of the American political philosopher Judith Shklar.