Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
This course examines the key arguments of early modern political thought, with a particular focus on Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan and John Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration as a contrast to Hobbes’s theory of religious toleration.
能力項目說明
We will engage with these classic texts through several primary lenses. First, we will investigate the relationship between Hobbes’s political theory and the long-debated concept of Hobbesian liberalism. What is the nature of the relationship between liberalism and Hobbes’s ideas? Second, we will place Hobbes’s political thought in the context of international politics, including European expansion and colonization—an ironic yet essential part of the history of liberalism. Is Hobbes an apologist for English colonialism? The specific themes of the class include natural equality, the sovereign state, liberty, and religious toleration. In sum, this course aims not only to help us 'see things in their way' by situating these political ideas in their historical contexts, but also to encourage a rethinking of the state, sovereignty, and politics in the present day.
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
Attendance & participation: (i) All students are required to read in advance the weekly primary reading below and (ii) to come prepared to make comments or pose questions about the text under consideration.
|
Week |
Topic |
Content and Reading Assignment |
|
|
1 |
Introduction |
Arrangement of presentations |
|
|
2 |
On Man, Passion, Reason and Science |
Leviathan. Part I: Of Man, Introduction, pp. 3-5; ch.1-3, pp. 6-15; ch.5, pp. 22-27. Leviathan. A Review and Conclusion, 489-497. |
|
|
3 |
State of nature |
Leviathan ch. 13- 15, 74-100 |
|
|
4 |
Film watching |
TBA |
|
|
5 |
Sovereign state |
Leviathan. ch. 16- 17, 22, pp. 101-110; pp. 146-155 |
|
|
6 |
The Hobbesian democracy |
Leviathan. ch. 18- 19, pp. 110 – 127 |
|
|
7 |
Patriarchal Power |
Leviathan. ch. 20, 127 – 135. Pateman, “‘God Hath Ordained to Man a Helper’: Hobbes, Patriarchy and Conjugal Right,” 445-463. |
|
|
8 |
Hobbes against Republicanism |
Leviathan. ch. 21, 136-145. |
|
|
9 |
|
Mid-term |
|
|
10 |
Hobbes on Systems and Nutrition of State |
Leviathan. ch. 23 - 25, 146-172. |
|
|
11 |
The post-colonial critique |
Leviathan. ch. 29-30, 210-233. |
|
|
12 |
On Religion |
Leviathan ch. 12, pp. 63-74; ch. 45, pp. 435-453. |
|
|
13 |
Of Power Ecclesiastical |
Leviathan. ch. 42: sec.1-15, pp. 333-341, sec. 31, pp. 348-349; sec. 66-72, pp. 366-369. |
|
|
Religious toleration |
|||
|
14 |
|
Locke on Toleration, 3-23. |
|
|
15 |
|
Locke on Toleration, 24-46. |
|
|
16 |
|
Final exam |
|
|
|
Grading is based on participation (30%), Midterm exam (30%) and final exam (40%)
References
Hobbes, Thomas 1994. Leviathan. (ed.) E. Curley, Indianapolis, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.
Pateman, Carol 1989 “‘God Hath Ordained to Man a Helper’: Hobbes, Patriarchy and Conjugal Right,” British Journal of Political Science 19(4): 445-463.
Quentin Skinner, (2008) Hobbes and Republican Liberty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
| 書名 Book Title | 作者 Author | 出版年 Publish Year | 出版者 Publisher | ISBN | 館藏來源* | 備註 Note |
|---|