POL 107 First-Year Majors (FYM) Introduction to Political Thought (3 credits)

Political theorists ask questions about justice, equality, law, property, community, and duty. This course examines the foundations of political thought in Greece (Plato, Aristotle), the influence of Christian thinking in the middle ages (Augustine, Aquinas), the Renaissance challenge to Christian thought (Machiavelli), the development of popular sovereignty and rights (Hobbes), the influence of liberal norms of equality, tolerance, and freedom (Locke), the development of liberal institutions (Hume, Smith, Madison), the critique of liberalism (Rousseau), and the 20th and 21st century innovations of post-modernism (Foucault), analysis of race, and feminism (Wendy Brown). Restricted to first-year majors, a smaller and more interactive class than the non-major section.