PHIL 332 A: History of Modern Political Philosophy

PHIL 332: History of Modern Political Philosophy

Autumn 2025

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 SAV 138.

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)

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

Charles Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws (selections)

United States Declaration of Independence

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

WEEK SEVEN (Nov 3rd and Nov 5th)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Edmund Burke: "Reflections on the Revolution in France"

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)

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

Immanuel Kant: Toward Perpetual Peace

WEEK NINE (Nov 17th and Nov 19th)

G.W.F Hegel: Philosophy of Right (selections)

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 (30% of course grade)

Three Writing Assignments (70% of course grade)

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.