Christopher C. Burkett
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POLSC 101
UNDERSTANDING POLITICS
The purpose of this course is to introduce
students to essential political ideas and principles and
accustom them to thinking about politics in a
serious manner. This course is designed to raise the
fundamental political ideas and issues,
through various texts, that animated thinkers 2,500 years
ago and continue to be discussed and debated
to this day. This will therefore require us to think
about politics philosophically,
that is, to engage in inquiry and dialogue in order to seek
knowledge of things political. A quest such
as this requires us to begin with the question, “What
is politics?” To answer this we must
also consider other fundamental political questions, such
as:
Why do human beings unite in political
societies?
What kind of political order is most likely
to result in happiness and justice?
What mode of living is most likely to result
in human excellence and virtue?
Why is friendship important in political
life?
Why are laws necessary and how do they shape
the character of human beings?
What do the terms “citizenship”
and “statesmanship” mean?
What distinguishes tyranny from other forms
of political leadership?
In this course our goal will be to move away
from opinion of political things toward knowledge
of political things. The means of doing so
are serious discussion and inquiry. By the end of the course,
after we have discussed these and other
important questions, you will have a broader and deeper
understanding of what is meant by the term
“politics.”
Fall 2008 Course
Syllabus & Reading Plan
Handout on Aristotle’s Politics and Nicomachean Ethics
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