Power: Ancient and Modern (Syllabus) (original) (raw)

Catalogue Description: PH 398A POWER: ANCIENT AND MODERN. The employment of political power is a permanent feature of human action and the principles governing the employment of political power are a permanent topic for reflection by the political philosopher. This course begins with one of the greatest studies of imperial leadership of all time: Xenophon's Cyropaedia. The central work of Christian political philosophy we shall examine is St. Thomas Aquinas's sketch in the De regno, ad regem Cypri (On Kingship, to the King of Cyprus). Then we shall consider the two most political works of Niccolò Machiavelli, the founder of modern political philosophy, namely The Discourses on Titus Livy and The Prince. Finally, we shall glance at the territories governed under the Persian Empire founded by Cyrus and see how they fit into the Middle East of today. 2. The objectives of the course: " The best books on leadership, " according to management guru Peter Drucker " are from Xenophon, one of Socrates's friends and disciples, who became a military leader. Nothing written since comes close. " If true, clearly at least Xenophon's greatest book on leadership deserves to be included. Accordingly, The Lord's Education (be it the education he receives or the one he bestows) is indispensible. What sorts of questions does a great leader ask? What sorts of problems does he face? How does he resolve them? How does his thinking lead to action? Xenophon himself was both a military leader and well-connected with practical leaders. Thomas Aquinas was raised in a family of lesser nobility who lay between a political hammer, Frederick II Hohenstaufen, and a political anvil, the Popes whose territories constituted the one piece of the jigsaw puzzle needed to make Frederick's real estate look like a tall, high-heeled Italian boot. Though he seems not to have read any Xenophon and practically no Plato, he can be regarded as a continuator of the Socratic tradition through Aristotle. Moreover, as a Dominican friar, his profession was to preach the Catholic faith. Accordingly, Aquinas in some measure can be taken to stand for both the classical and the Biblical tradition. What difference, then, if any, does being Catholic make to one's political life? Niccolò Machiavelli died on 21 June 1527 having received the last rites of the Catholic Church. Does this mean that Machiavelli, like St. Thomas Aquinas, should be regarded as a Catholic thinker? And even if this is somehow so, does this therefore mean that Machiavelli is a " good guy " ? " We shall not shock anyone, we shall merely expose ourselves to good-natured or any rate harmless ridicule, " announces Leo Strauss, " if we profess ourselves inclined to the old-fashioned and simple opinion according to which Machiavelli was a teacher of evil. " What is the connection between the words and the deeds of political men? Can one be a good human being and a good citizen at the same time? If so, how? If not, why? How does this course fit into the big picture? Suppose we divide the world into four "dimensions." There is a world we do not make; we are related to this world as onlookers. There are other worlds that somehow we do make: a world of products separable from ourselves; a world of action, which cannot meaningfully be separated from us doers of deeds; a world of thought and expression. The world of nature belongs to the first of these four "dimensions"; it is the central target of this course, the philosophy of nature. Though there are many beautiful things in nature, many people focus especially on a second "dimension": the world of art; the philosophical study of "aesthetics" considers all beautiful things, but things made by human beings-things produced by art-have a special place of importance in it. The world of human deeds is the world of moral philosophy: ethics, management, politics, and related fields. The world of inner meaning and its outer expression includes especially studies like literature, speech, and logic; of these branches of what may be called discursive philosophy, logic is taught within the department of philosophy. These four "dimensions" or directions can help us to navigate the world of learning. But where do we begin? The order of study or discovery is not necessarily perfectly lined up with the way the world itself is put together. This is a practical problem. I and I believe my colleagues in the department of philosophy are persuaded that most people approach college-level learning most effectively starting with logic, then mathematics, third philosophy of nature, fourth moral philosophy, and fifth metaphysics. Not all of these subjects are taught by professional philosophers, and at this college only three courses in philosophy are required.