What is Political Philosophy Weeks: 1 & 2Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 1: "Why Do We Need Political Philosophy"
Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 2: "Political Authority"
Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 3: "Democracy"
Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction: Chapter 4: "Freedom and the Limits of Government"
Political Philosophy Today: Week: 3Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 5: "Justice"
Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 6:" Feminism & Multiculturalism"
Read: David Miller,
Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 7: "Nations, States, & Global Justice"
The Greeks Part I: Plato's Republic: Week 4
Read: What is Political Thought? It's About Ideas. Gabriel Almond, "Clouds & Clocks" (pdf link provided in Canvas)
Read: Plato,
The Republic from
The Social & Political Philosophy ReaderWatch: "Why Read Plato's Republic" (Robin Waterfield)
Watch: Plato's Republic I: "Justice, Power, and Knowledge" (Michael Sugrue)
The Greeks Part II: Aristotle: Week 5Read: Aristotle, "Politics" from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, pp.59-100.
Watch: "Politics and Ethics:"
Watch: Aristotle & The Middle Class
Watch: Aristotle, The State, Moderation & The Middle Class
Natural Law & The Social Contract: Week 6 Write: EXAM ONE
Read: Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan" from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, p. 139-168
Read: John Locke, "The Second Treatise on Civil Government" from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, pp. 169- 204.
Read: Jean Jaques Russeau, "The Social Contract", from T
he Social & Political Philosophy Reader, p. 205-238
Read: Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence", from The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, p. 209-24
Liberty & Liberalism: Week 7Read: John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty", from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, p. 302-341
Read: Henry David Thoreau, " On the Duty of Civil Disobedience", from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, p. 282-301
Read: M. K. Gandhi, "Non-violent Resistance", from
The Social & Political Philosophy Reader, pp. 500-
Classical Economics and Political Economy Free Trade PART I: Week 8Read: Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations" Chapters 1, 2, & 3 (excerpts) from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 93-108.
Read: David Hume, "Of Money" and "Of Interest" from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 17-37
Read: Alexander Hamilton "Report on the Subject of Manufacturers 1791 (Excerpts) from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 297-313
Classical Economics and Political Economy Free Trade PART II: Week 9
Read: Deirdre N. McCloskey, "The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an age of commerce" (excerpts), University of Chicago Press
https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/556638.htmlRead: David Ricardo, "On Value" and "On Foreign Trade" from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 109-132.
Read: Carl Menger "The Theory of Value" from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 245-251
Read: Richard Cantillon, "Essay on the Nature of Commerce in General" (Excerpts) from
The Harwood Reader, pp.15-17.
The Socialist Critique of Capitalism From Marx to Rawls: Week 10
Write: EXAM TWO
Read: Karl Marx & The Reaction Against Incomplete Freedom: Karl Marx, "Value, Price & Profit" from
The Harwood Reader, pp. 181-227
Read: Was Karl Marx A PubLic Choice Theorist?
Read: A critique of the central concepts in free-trade theory,
Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, 1998, Vol. 23, Issue 4, pp. 433-435)
Watch: "Introduction to [John] Rawls Theory of Justice",
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6k08C699zIWatch: "Dr. Darren Staloff, John Rawl's A Theory of Justice",
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxvgWjsHynk&t=899sRead: Nick Cowen, "Basic Economic Liberties: John Rawls and Adam Smith Reconciled"
The Independent Review, Vol. 26, Iss. 2,
(Fall 2021): 263-285. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Neoliberalism Part 1: Week 11
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction:, Chapter 1: "What's 'Neo" About Liberalism?"
Read: “Hayek's The Road to Serfdom Revisited: Government Failure in the Argument Against Socialism”, Peter Boettke, Eastern Economic Journal, 1995, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 7-26.
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction:, Chapter 2: "First Wave Neoliberalism in the 1980s..."
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction:, Chapter 3: "Second Eave Neoliberalism in the 1990s..."
Neoliberalism Part II: Week 12
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction: Chapter 4: "Neoliberalism and Asian Development"
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction: Chapter 5: "Neoliberalism in Latin America & Africa"
Read: Manfred Steger & Ravi Roy, Neoliberalism: a very short introduction: Chapter 6: "The Crisis of Neoliberalism in the 200s and Beyond"
Read: Ravi Roy, "India’s Evolving Experiment with Neoliberalism A Confluence of Mental Models"
Political & Economic Positivism of the 20th Century: Week 13
Read: "Karl Popper, critical rationalism, and the Positivist Dispute, Hans Albert." Journal of Classical Sociology, 2015, Vol. 15(2) 209–219. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Read: Deoniti Prasad Sinha, "A Science of Politics Positivism Pros and Cons" 2017 JETIR October 2017, Volume 4, Issue 10 (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Humanomics: Bringing Morality Back In: Week 14
Read: Diedre McCloskey, "Adam Smith did Humanomics: So should we"
Eastern Economic Journal, (2016) 503–513. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Read: An Article about
Vernon L. Smith & Bart Wilson's seminal work on humanomics entitled "The Wealth of Humans: Core, Periphery and Frontiers of Humanomics", Paolo Silvestri & Benoît Walraevens,
Journal of Economic Methodology, 2023, Vol. 30(1) 15-33. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Watch: Bart Wilson,
"Meaningful Economics"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cyq_UG_uO8
Read: "Can there be a normative social epistemology? Vernon Smith, Adam Smith, and the challenge of systems", Michael Munger,
Public Choice, March 2025. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Read: Ravi Roy, Mustafa Deldoost & Ryan Yonk. "The confluence of humanomics and neuroeconomics on economic cooperation",
Submitted to
Cosmos & Taxis journal. (Article link embedded in Canvas.)
Week 15: Summary & Wrap-up