PHIL 332 A: History of Modern Political Philosophy

PHIL 332: History of Modern Political Philosophy

Spring 2024

Instructor: José J. Mendoza  

Email: josejm@uw.edu

Office: Savery Hall 385

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 3:30-4:30pm

Course Description

This course is designed as a broad introductory survey to some of the principal authors, ideas, concepts, and problems found in the history of modern political philosophy.

Meeting Time and Location:

Monday and Wednesday, 10:30-12:20pm, in

Required Texts

All Texts will be available on Canvas.

Reading Schedule

WEEK ONE (Sept 24th)

Introduction

WEEK TWO  (Sept 29th and Oct 1st)

Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince and Discourses on Livy (selections) 

WEEK THREE (Oct 6th and Oct 8th)

Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan (selections)

WEEK FOUR (Oct 13th and Oct 15th)

John Locke: Second Treatise of Government (selections)

WEEK FIVE (Oct 20th and Oct 22nd)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract and The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (selections)

WEEK SIX (Oct 27th and Oct 29th)

United States Declaration of Independence

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

David Hume: "Of the First Principles of Government"; "Of the Origin of Government"; and "Of the Original Contract"

Edmund Burke: "Reflections on the Revolution in France"

WEEK SEVEN (Nov 3rd and Nov 5th)

Marie-Olympes de Gouges: "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens"

Mary Wollstonecraft: "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman"

WEEK EIGHT (Nov 10th and Nov 12th)

Charles Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws (selections)

Publius (a.k.a. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay): The Federalist Papers (selections)

WEEK NINE (Nov 17th and Nov 19th)

Immanuel Kant: "On the Common Saying: 'This May be True in Theory, but it does not Apply in Practice'"

WEEK TEN (Nov 24th and Nov 26th)

Jeremy Bentham: "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation"

John Stuart Mill: "On Liberty" and "On the Subjection of Women"

WEEK ELEVEN (Dec 1st and Dec 3rd)

Karl Marx: "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" (selections); "Alienated Labor"; "Critique of the Gotha Program" (selections) and The Communist Manifesto

Grading

Reading Quizzes (40% of course grade or 1.6 of the 4.0 total)

Two Writing Assignments (60% of course grade or 2.4 of the 4.0 total)

Grading Scale

(roughly each 1% increment between grades is equivalent to 0.1)

A          95% = 4.0

B          85% = 3.0

C          75% = 2.0

D         65% = 1.0

At the end of the quarter I will convert your course grade from a percentage to the UW 4-point scale using this metric: 95% and up is 4.0; 94% is 3.9; 93% is 3.8; etc.  Each 1% step is a 0.1 step on the UW 4-point scale. So an 86.1%, e.g., would give you a 3.1 on the UW scale. 85.5% rounds up to 86% (and thus 3.1), but 85.49% does not. At the bottom of the scale, however, 60% also rounds up to 0.7. See image below.