DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
PSC 340 FOUNDATIONS
OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Dr. Martin J. Plax Office Hours: T,Thu
9-10 Office: Rm. 1741 RT or by appointment
E-Mail: m.plax@csuohio.edu
This course is designed to explore the
dynamics and challenges of political life from the perspective of ancient
political thought. It will demonstrate
that those same dynamics and challenges are at work in contemporary political
life – what to do about preventing war, creating coalitions for war, governing
a political system, the nature of revolutionary politics, and the conflict
between political realism and political idealism.
Political thought is not solely about
abstract thinking. It also points to the
practical problems of governing and persuading those being governed. In the
ancients one can locate practical ways of containing both irrationality and
immorality in political life. This
course will prepare students to better understand the values on which political
actions are taken and simultaneously expose the ways of dealing with political
problems on a practical basis.
Grades in the class will be compiled from
your performance on three in-class exams that are aimed at getting you to
reflect on what these founders of political thought reveal about our own
time. Each exam will be weighted
equally.
1. The
War of Words and the War of Weapons: A Tale of Two Cities
from: Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War (On
Electronic Reserve)
A. Introduction 1: 1, 22-26
B. The Search for Allies: Going to War
The Debate
over the Corcyean
Speeches before the Spartan Congress 1:66-87
Corinthean appeals to the Spartans 1:118-26
Pericles appealing to Athenians 1:139-146
B.
Affirming Domestic Support: Boosting Morale
Pericles’ Funeral Oration 2:34-44
Pericles’ Speech during the Plague 2:51-63
C.
Breaking a Fragile Peace
Spartan
at
D. The Weakness of Justice: Brutality of the Stronger
The Melian Dialogue 5:84-116
G. Debating a Perilous Invasion
Debate over the Sicilian Expedition 6:8-29
EXAM: How Thucydides’
account informs us about debates over the war
2. Politics in a Money-Loving
Democracy
A. Making a Religion out of Democracy:
Plato: Euthyphro
B. How Democracies Respond to Internal Challenges
Plato: Apology
C. The Power of Cowardice in Money-Loving Democracies
Plato: Crito
EXAM: What do these Platonic works reveal about
the challenges to Democracy in
American today?
3. Can Politics be Reformed by Idealism?
Xenophon Hiero the Tyrant (On Electronic Reserve)
Plato: The Republic (Regime)
4. Looking at Politics from a Distance: The Roots of Political Science
Aristotle: Politics
Book 1
Book 2, Chapters 1-5; 9
Books 3-6
Book 7,
Chapters. 1-3
EXAM:
What can political science offer to Americans for a better future?