UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Political Science 3340

Ancient/Medieval Political Philosophy

Spring 2001

T/R 2:30-4:00

Professor S. Collins

PGH 429

743-3900/suecoll724@uh.edu

Office Hours: MW 3:00-5:00 or by appointment.

This course is an effort in recovery. For we will strive to recover an understanding of ancient and medieval political philosophy. This is a tradition of political philosophy that seems distant from us but which speaks to the deepest of human concerns, and especially to the quintessentially human hope for justice in a world in which, as Machiavelli chillingly insisted, there is inevitably evil. But even in a world in which some people rise by vice and others by virtue fall, we are in the enviable position of having the leisure to investigate fundamental questions of politics and human existence: Is there justice, and if so, what is it? What is law and what is the purpose of law? What is the nature of power? What is the relation between ethics and politics? Is there a highest good for human beings, and if so, what is its relation to politics? What is education and is it a political matter? What is the relation between religion and politics?

We will begin the course by reading Machiavelli’s Prince, the sleek handbook on political power which inaugurated the tradition of modern realism and has profoundly influenced our own view of ethics and politics. We will aim in particular to understand the kind of politics Machiavelli founded (the specific character of his “realism”) in order to gain some initial sense of the distance between us and ancient-medieval thought.

Our study of ancient-medieval thought will be anchored by two major texts of political philosophy authored by the ancient philosopher that thinkers of the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions saw fit to call “The Philosopher”: Aristotle. We will rely Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics to investigate both how classical thought approached the study of political matters and how medieval thought embraced and diverged from the classical tradition it confronted. Our study of medieval thought will draw from Islamic (Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes), Jewish (Maimonides), and Christian (Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, and John of Paris) thinkers. Although the story of how the classical tradition was transmitted through the Islamic and Jewish worlds to Christianity is a fascinating one, we will focus on the questions that unified these theological alternatives to classical political philosophy. We will be particularly concerned to comprehend how medieval theology reconciled the centrality of faith in God with the “rational” requirements of politics.

This is a tough course, but as John Belushi said in that classic film Animal House, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going—Did the Americans quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Required Texts

1. Machiavelli. The Prince (University of Chicago)

2. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Macmillan/Library of Liberal Arts)

3. Aristotle, Politics (University of Chicago)

4. Lerner & Mahdi, Medieval Political Philosophy (Cornell)

5. Shakespeare, Tempest (Signet)

Expectations

Students are expected to come to class, on time, to read the assigned selections carefully, and to participate in class discussion thoughtfully and with due respect for the opinions of their classmates. Please note that class participation is assessed as a part of your final grade. BRING ALL TEXTS ASSIGNED FOR THAT DAY TO CLASS.

Requirements

PROPOSAL AND PAPER

You will be asked to write one 7-8 page paper. The paper must focus on a section of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics or Politics that is NOT assigned for the course. Before you begin work on the paper itself, however, you will be required to submit a 3 page proposal outlining the section you wish to examine, why you chose this section, and the kinds of questions you expect your paper to address. I will return your proposal to you with comments and a grade. I may also ask you to make an appointment with me to discuss the proposal before you proceed.

PLEASE NOTE: If you do not submit the proposal, I will not accept the paper for grading, and you will be given zero points.

Proposal: Due Tuesday, February 27

Paper: Due Thursday, April 12

Exams

There will be a midterm and a final exam, both of which will be essay format. You will be provided with a number of study questions from which the exam questions will be taken.

MIDTERM EXAM: Thursday, March 8 -- Class time

FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, May 8 – 2:00-5:00 pm

Grades

15% Class participation

10% Paper proposal

25% Paper

15% Midterm exam

35% Final exam

Grade Penalty for Absences: Attendance is mandatory. You will be given two “free” absences, after which you will be docked TWO POINTS from your final grade points for every class missed.

The paper and essay exams will be given a numerical grade on the following scale:

A 93-100

A- 90-92

B+ 87-89

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 59 and below

The course grade is determined by multiplying numerical grades by the weights listed above.

Other Policies

The paper and paper proposal must be submitted at the first of class on the day they are due. Work that is submitted after the first of class will receive a letter grade reduction. Additional letter grade reductions are made for each subsequent day the assignment is late. This includes the day it is turned in and weekend days. For example, if a paper is due Thursday and you turn it in on Friday, your grade will be reduced by 2 letter grades or 20 points, or if a paper is due Thursday and you turn it in on Monday, your grade will be reduced by 5 letter grades or 50 points. You must turn papers in to me directly, or after having them time-date stamped and signed by one of the departmental secretaries, place them in my mailbox. Do not slip them under my office door unless we agree to this arrangement.

MAKE BACK-UP COPIES of your work. Do not wait until the last minute to go to the computer lab to print your paper since students often find that in waiting to the last minute to print their paper, they meet with printer problems and delays. Such last minute problems are not acceptable excuses for handing work in late.

PLAGIARISM IS NOT TOLERATED. You should familiarize yourself, if you have not already, with the definition of Academic Dishonesty in the Course Catalogue and with the sanctions that such dishonesty can incur. I will not hesitate to bring charges of plagiarism when they are warranted; please be aware that penalties can include failure in the course and suspension from the University.

If you miss handing in a paper, you must have a very good and a documented excuse: for example, a doctor’s or infirmary’s note, or evidence validating a family emergency. Such evidence will also be required if you miss the mid-term or final exam.

Political Science 3340

Tentative Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Week 1

Jan 16: Introduction

Jan. 18: ANCIENT AND MODERN POLITICS

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Bk I, chs. 1-2 and Bk. V, ch. 1 (1129b12-1130a11)

Aristotle, Politics Bk I, chs. 1-2.

Plato, Laws 631b-632d (Handout)

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, excerpt (Handout)

Immanuel Kant, Theory and Practice, excerpt (Handout)

Federalist X, excerpt (Handout)

Week 2 MACHIAVELLI AND THE ETHICAL FOUNDATION OF MODERN POLITICS

Jan. 23: The Prince, Dedicatory Letter and chs. 15-18

Jan. 25: The Prince, Chs. 1-14 Foundings

Week 3 MACHIAVELLI AND CLASSICAL-MEDIEVAL POLITICAL SCIENCE

Jan. 30: The Prince, Chs. 19-26 Government

Feb. 1: Aristotle, Ethics, Bk I

Medieval Political Philosophy (MPP), Introduction, pp. 1-20

Alfarabi, “The Enumeration of the Sciences,” MPP, pp. 22-30

Avicenna, “On the Divisions of the Rational Sciences,” MPP, pp. 95-97

Maimonides, “Logic,” MPP, pp. 188-190

Week 4 NATURE, THE GOOD, AND POLITICS IN CLASSICAL THOUGHT

Feb. 6: Aristotle, Ethics, Bk. I contd. and Politics, Bk. I, chs. 1-2

Feb. 8: Same readings contd.

Week 5

Feb. 13: Same readings contd.

THE ETHICAL FOUNDATION OF CLASSICAL POLITICS

Feb. 15: Aristotle Ethics, Bk. II through Bk. III, ch. 5

Week 6

Feb. 20: Same readings contd.

Feb. 22: Aristotle, Ethics, Bk. III, ch. 6 through Bk. IV

Week 7 ARISTOTELIAN JUSTICE AND THE LAW

Feb. 27: Aristotle, Ethics, Bk. V

[Paper Proposal Due]

Mar. 1: Same readings contd.

Week 8

Mar. 6: Same readings contd. AND Bk X, ch. 9

MAR. 8: MIDTERM EXAM

Week 9 SPRING BREAK

Week 10 NATURE AND THE MEDIEVAL-CLASSICAL REGIME

Mar. 20: Aristotle, Politics, Bk I

Mar. 22: Same readings contd. AND

Politics, Bk. II, chs. 7 though 12 AND

Alfarabi, “The Political Regime,” MPP pp. 31-57

Week 11 CLASSICAL POLITICAL JUSTICE

Mar. 27: Aristotle, Politics, Bk. III

Mar. 29: Same readings contd.

Week 12 THE BEST REGIME IN CLASSICAL-MEDIEVAL THOUGHT

Apr. 3: Aristotle, Politics, Bk. VII through Bk. VIII

Apr. 5: Same readings contd. AND

Alfarabi, “The Attainment of Happiness,” MPP, pp. 58-82

Week 13 THE BREAK BETWEEN MEDIEVAL AND CLASSICAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Apr. 10: Aristotle, Ethics Bk VI AND Bk. X, chs. 6 through 9 AND

Aquinas, MPP, “Condemnation of 219 Propositions”: Intro. (pp. 335-338); On the Nature of Philosophy (pp. 338-339); On the Human Will (pp. 350-51); On Ethics or Moral Matters (p. 351) AND

Questions 90-91, Summa Theologica (Handout)

Apr. 12: Same readings contd., AND

Roger Bacon, “Opus Maius: Moral Philosophy,” MPP, pp. 355-390

John of Paris, “On Kingly and Papal Power,” MPP, pp. 402-417

[Paper Due]

Week 14 RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND THE LAW or

CONTEMPLATION AND WORSHIP

Apr. 17: Averroes, “The Decisive Treatise,” MPP, pp.163-185

Apr. 19: Maimonides, On Prophecy, The Guide for the Perplexed, MPP, pp. 191-226

Week 15 CLASSICAL POLITICS AND THE DAWNING OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Apr. 24: Shakespeare’s Tempest

Apr. 26: Shakespeare’s Tempest