Introduction to Political Theory

Fall 2011

University of Michigan

 
 

This course serves as an introduction to political theory, one of the subfields of political science. Political theory traditionally focuses on questions of how to manage our lives together. It concerns itself with questions of how we should live, as individuals and communities, what counts as valuable human life, what justice is, what just and fair institutions look like, and how to deal with the problems human communities face.

If you want to print this syllabus as a single page, follow this link.

This course is organized around a set of problems we face. Who that “we” is is one of the questions we’ll pay attention to. But it certainly includes the students in this course, who will have a say in our choice of themes. This is why you don’t see any readings in the course calendar yet. They will depend on which themes we choose. We’ll tackle four themes during the semester. Each theme will include readings from so-called canonical political theory, which means key texts in Western political thought, beginning in the Greek antiquity and reaching the twenty-first century. But there will be other texts, to supplement the canon and its academic and Western focus.


Much of what we’ll do in this course is unconventional, whether you compare it to your high school experience or other courses in college. It will reward initiative, flexibility, and collaboration.


We recommend you move through this site in the suggested order if this is your first time going through the class materials. You can, of course, use the general navigation menu at the top of this page.


Read about learning objectives >>


 

Course Description

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2011 Mika LaVaque-Manty.