Political Theory: Thinking Philosophically About Contemporary Politics

Content of Course

Issues that may be covered include individual liberty, political obedience, democracy, gender, race, power, and rights. These will be analysed from the perspective of diverse traditions, including (but not limited to) liberalism, socialism, feminism, conservatism, and postcolonialism. Each issue will be explored through pertinent case studies.

Short extracts from freely available sources will be provided in advance of each seminar, which students will be encouraged to read.

Teaching method(s)

Students will attend one seminar per week for ten weeks. Seminars will consist of lectures interspersed with teacher-led discussions and other learning activities. The lecture component will introduce frameworks that students can assess and apply to cases in activity work.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and understand key concepts and approaches in political thought.
2. Apply concepts and approaches to political issues and events.
3. Engage analytically and evaluatively with the works of influential political theorists.
4. Build reasoned and evidenced arguments.

Sources

Core Readings

Cohen, M. (ed.) (2018) Princeton Readings in Political Thought: Essential Texts from Plato to Populism. 2^nd edn. Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford.

Cahn, S.M. (ed.) (2012) Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy. 2^nd edn. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

Web Sources

Online Library of Liberty

Available at: https://oll.libertyfund.org/

Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.