Western Civilization versus Ancient Greek Politics

There’s a tension running through the Western tradition—and the Basic Program four-year curriculum—about what to do with the ancient Greek idea of political freedom. Dust off your Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau volumes, as we reread sections of key works from the four-year curriculum and confront the ancient Greeks with their later Western European critics. Is human life solitary, nasty, brutish, and short, or are we political animals?

Schedule for Reading and Discussion

 

Week	Author	BP*	Reading**
1	Herodotus	Y1W	Book 1 (sel.), Book 3 (sel.), Book 5 (sel.), Book 7 (sel.)
2a	Plato	Y1A	Republic 414b-415d, 588b-592b Crito 50a-54d
2b	Aristotle	Y4W	Politics Book 1 (ch. 1-7), Book 3 (first half)
3	Aristotle	Y4W	Book 3 (second half), Book 4 (sel.), Book 6 (sel.)
4	Hobbes	Y1S	Leviathan Intro, Ch. 13-14, Ch. 17-21, Ch. 46
5	Locke	Y3S	Second Treatise on Government (sel.)
6	Rousseau	Y1S	Second Discourse (sel.)

* Y1 = Year One of the Basic Program; A=Autumn, etc.

** All readings taken from four-year BP curriculum, with new passages for only Herodotus and Aristotle.

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Notes

Online registration deadline: Thursday, June 8 at 5:00 pm CT.

Remote courses require you to login to Canvas to access the Zoom Classroom. You will receive an invitation to join Canvas about a week before your course begins. Please visit the Liberal Arts Student Resources page to find step by step instructions for Canvas and Zoom: Online Learning Resources