ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL
THEORY/F ’00/S ‘01 - 143-117 - Gov. Dp. -- Father J. Schall, S. J. - 657 ICC. Hrs.: M 10 - 11; W 1:20
- 2:20, by Appt. Tel. 7-4006; 5903. E-mail:
schallj@georgetown.edu - Web: www.moreC.com/schall --www.georgetown.edu/schall
1) A course
designed for undergraduates to acquaint them with political philosophy (in
contrast to constitutional, institutional, or area/national studies) as that
theoretical discipline has been understood in ancient, medieval, and modern
contexts.
2) Method: This course consists in a programmed reading
of ten or so books by student and teacher.
The student is expected to come to each class having regularly read the
assigned sections of each book to gain a general and intelligent acquaintance
with how the particular author thought about political things.
3)
Classes are conducted in a dialogue fashion.
Students are expected to attend each class after having read the
assigned matter. This attendance and
participation will be the main factor in evaluating the performance of the
student. Please, please do not
take this course unless you are willing to do this regular work and regularly
attend class on assigned days.
Absence from class is reason for lower or failing grades. Another Sort of Learning, contains a
discussion of class, grades, expectations.
Each student should read this book privately: 1st half before midterm, 2d before end of semester.
4) A
final examination will be given on the assigned day. One mid-term will be given on the last class day before
Semester Break about the matter studied up to that date (October 6). Assigned texts or your class notes may be
used in any test in this class.
5)
One short, four-page, double-spaced, typed term paper will be expected on the last
day of class. Subject matter is as
follows: A statement of the contents of
one chapter or section (student's selection) in Plato, Aristotle, Simon, or
other assigned text about how the chapter relates to the whole book and its
argument. 1) Some outside reading on the
topic chosen, 2) Footnotes, and 3) Bibliography will be expected (N.B.).
6)
Books: Plato, Great Dialogues;
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics; Schall, At the Limits of Political
Philosophy; Cicero, Selected Writings; Schall, Another Sort
of Learning; Simon, General Theory of Authority; Schumacher, A
Guide for the Perplexed; Deane, Political and Social Ideas of St.
Augustine; Machiavelli, The Prince; Rousseau, Social Contract;
Aquinas, Treatise on Law; Bloom, Shakespeare’s Politics;
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Titles are in the book store. The bookstore removes them early in
October.
THE POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, Spring, 1998, Government Department, J.
Schall, S. J., 143-487. Office, 657,
ICC, tel. 7-4006 or 5903. Office Hours,
10-11 Mon.; 1:20-2:20 Wed., or by Appointment.
schallj@georgetown.edu
1)This
is a course designed for upper division undergraduate student. It will consist in a programmed reading and
discussion of the significant texts of Thomas Aquinas on political
philosophy. (This course is designed to
follow a course on the Political Philosophy of Aristotle, though not required
for this course).
2)
Each student will be expected to write one term paper (two for graduate
students) about 15-20 pages, footnoted, bibliographied, typed, proper academic
form. Subject matter of each student's
paper will be assigned shortly after the beginning of t he semester by the
professor. This paper is due the
last day of class (that is, last day of class, not test).
3) Students
will be expected to attend each class.
Absence from class is itself sufficient for lower grades or
failure. The student who takes this
course is expected to agree to the discipline of regular class attendance after
having read the assigned text for each class.
Students who do not expect to fulfill this requirement are requested not
to take the course.
4)
The classes will be conducted generally in a dialogue fashion. The student is expected to devote a
reasonable amount of study for each day's class, to read the assigned matter before
coming to class, to participate in the class on the basis of his reading. The student is thus expected to so
discipline his daily study schedule to include approximately two to three hours
to each class.
5)
The books required for the class are in the bookstore. The student will need to have these
books. They are: 1) St. Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality,
and Politics; 2) Kreeft, Summa of the Summa; 3) Chesterton, St.
Thomas Aquinas; 4) McInerny, St. Thomas Aquinas; 5) Josef
Pieper -- an Anthology; 6) J.
Owens, Human Destiny; 7) Pieper, A Guide to St. Thomas B. Davies,
The Thought of Thomas Aquinas; Weisheipl, Friar San Thomas d’Aquino.
6)
There will also be some books on reserve.
Each student is also expected to read Part I of Schall, Another Sort
of Learning, on reserve.
Classical
Political Philosophy
-- 143-449. Fall, 1999, Father J. Schall, S. J. MWF 12:15-1:05
Office
Hours: M 10-11, W 1:25-2:20, or by appointment. 657 ICC Tel. 74006,
7-6130. Fall, 1999. schallsj@georgetown.edu web sites: www.moreC.com/schall www.georgetwon.edu/schall
1) This is a
graduate/undergraduate course on Greek and Roman Political Philosophy.
2) Method: The course will consist in a programmed
reading by student and teacher of some ten books, in which the student will be
expected to read regularly assigned texts for each class. The student should try to keep a private
journal or account of matter read.
Dates, places, names are important.
3) The class
will generally be conducted in a dialogue fashion. The student is expected to attend class regularly (n.b.,
each class) and a major element (the major element) in his grade
will be derived from this regular reading and attendance. Please do not sign up for this course
unless you agree to follow these requirement. Absence from class is itself a reason for lower grades or
failure.
4) One term paper
(two for graduate students) of about fifteen pages, double-spaced, footnoted,
bibliography, will be due on the last day of class. This paper should be about a subject in political philosophy
based on one of the main authors or on a major idea, such as Roman theory of
empire or Plato. A tentative topic will
be assigned to each student in class.
5) There will
be a final examination on the subject matter of the course on the day assigned
in the calendar. The student will be
permitted to use assigned texts or class notes for this examination.
6) The books to
be read are: Strauss, Argument and
Action in Plato’s Laws; Sophocles, Theban Plays; Thucydides, Peloponnesian
Wars; Marcus Aurelius, Meditations; Aristotle, Politics;
Plato, Gorgias; Last Days; The Laws; Cicero, Selected
Political Speeches; Epictetus, Handbook; The Stoic Philosophy of
Seneca; J. Pieper, Divine
Madness.. Get bookis before middle
of October or Book Store removes them.
There will be a reserve list in library.
7) "The
decay of political philosophy into ideology reveals itself most obviously in
the fact that in both research and teaching, political philosophy has been
replaced by the history of political philosophy.... (This) is an absurdity:
to replace political philosophy by the history of political philosophy
means to replace a doctrine which claims to be true by a survey of more or less
brilliant errors." -- Strauss, City
and Man, p. 8.
Govt. 143-448,
Christian and Medieval Pol. Thought, Schall, Sp. 2001, Office 657, ICC, Hrs. M.
9:15-10; W. 1-2pm, or by appointment.
Tel. 7-4006; 6130.
schallj@georgetown.edu
1) A
course in Christian and Medieval Pol. Theory, approximately Augustine to
Machiavelli.
2) Method: This course will consist in a programmed
reading of some ten books by student and teacher, in which the student will be
expected to come to each class having read regularly assigned sections of each
book in order to gain a general and intelligent acquaintance with the thought
of this era.
3)
Classes are conducted in a dialogue fashion.
Students are expected to attend each class after having read the
assigned mater. This attendance and
reading will be the main factor in evaluating the performance of the
student. Please do NOT take this course
unless you are willing to do this regular work and attend class on assigned
days. Absence from class is itself
a reason for a lowering of grades. (My Another
Sort of Learning [on Reserve] discusses grades, purpose of class and study,
please read if you have not). Students
are expected to conduct themselves in an attentive and disciplined manner in
each class.
4) A
final examination on the matter read in class will be given on the assigned
date in Schedule. Students will be able
to use assigned texts or notes during this test. The test will be a straight forward, objective essay test. The student who regularly and carefully
reads the assigned texts should have no problem with the test.
5)
One fifteen-twenty page academic term paper
-- bibliography, footnotes, proper academic form -- will be expected on the last day of class
(not on day of test). The professor
will assign the topic to each student in due course.
6)
Books to be read (to be found in the bookstore, please purchase before middle
of March when books are removed; students are expected to possess a copy of
books and bring them to class) are: 1)
Political Philosophy of St. Augustine, Gateway, 2) Pieper, A Guide to St.
Thomas, 3) Pieper, Scholasticism, 4) Derrick, Rule of Peace, 5) Dawson,
Religion and the Rise of Western Culture, 6) St. Thomas, Hackett, 7) Adams, Mt.
St. Michel and Chartres, 8) Rahner, Church and State in Early Middle Ages, 9)
Cambridge History of Medieval Political Philosophy, 10) Lerner, Medieval
Political Philosophy.
7)
On the Reverse Side of this Prospectus will be found a list of books on the
reserve shelf in the Lauinger Library, books that will be helpful for this
course.
143-498,
Political Philosophy of St. Augustine, Spring, 2000, MWF, Schall, Office, ICC,
657, Government Department, tel. 687-5903, 4006. Hours: M 10; W 1:20-2:20,
by appointment. schallj@georgetown.edu www.moreC/schall
1)
This course will be a consideration of the Writings and Thought of St.
Augustine particularly in so far as they refer to questions and issues of
political philosophy.
2)
The course will consist of a reading of a number of books of Augustine and
about Augustine. Each student will be
expected to attend each class, having read the assigned text for each
class. Absence from class is itself
cause for lower or non-passing grade. (Please
read in Schall, "Another Sort of Learning" the two essays "What
A Student Owes His Teacher" and "Grades"). A student who does not want seriously to
commit himself to regular class attendance and reading is requested not to take
this course.
3)
These books will be found in the book store
-- they are: The Confessions,
The City of God, Fortin, Elshtain, Deane, Brown, Augustine, Against
the Academics; V. Bourke. A number
of books and essays on Augustine are on reserve, consult George. Numerous books and essays can be found in
the library. Any problem consult
professor. The literature by and about
Augustine is vast. The student will be
expected to have a general idea of Augustine's life and the period in which he
lived, as well as of his subsequent influence.
4)
Final examination on assigned day. A
midterm the class before spring break.
The test will be straight-forward.
Assigned books or notes can be used.
Each student will is to present a researched, reflective essay on some
aspect of the Political Thought of St. Augustine, topic assigned by
professor. This paper (about 15 pp)
should contain bibliography and footnotes, due the last day of class.
5)
The classes will be in dialogue fashion.
The student should come to each class having read the assigned text, but
not worried that somehow he will be asked a question or that he may not know
the answers. The purpose is not to
frighten or unsettle but to learn and to come to see the fascination in St.
Augustine.
6)
"Augustine: 'What does it
seem to you that we wish to accomplish when we speak?" Adeodatus: "As it occurs to me now, either to teach or to
learn." Augustine: "I see, and I agree to one of these
points. For it is evident that when we
speak, we wish to teach. But how do we
learn?" Adeodatus: "How indeed except by asking
questions?" Augustine: "Even then, as I understand it, we only
wish to teach. For, I ask, do you
question for any other reason except that you may teach what you wish to him
you question?" Adeodatus: "That is true."
--
Augustine, De Magistro, Chapter I.
Fall, 1998 --
Schall -- Contemporary Writers Interested in Political Philosophy
-- Gvt. 458 -- Office, 657 ICC, Hrs. M
9-10; W 1:15-2:15, or by appointment, Tel. 7-4006/5903. Web Sites: www.moreC.com/schall -- www.georgetown.edu/schall
1)
This is a course designed to read several significant books dealing with
political philosophy. The course will
pay attention to the reason and revelation issue in political philosophy.
2)
There will be one fifteen-twenty page (for graduate students, two) term paper, as
assigned by the professor, due last day of class. It should be properly footnoted, bibliographied, in academic form
and style. There will be a midterm exam
on Oct. 9 and a final examination on the date in academic calendar.
3) Method: Each class will have a specific
assignment. The student is expected to
have read the assignment before attending class. Absence from class is itself sufficient reason for lower or
failing grades. The class will
generally be conducted in dialogue form.
The major part of the grade consists in the regularity of class
attendance, preparation, response. Each
student is encouraged to read the materials on teaching, grading, and reading
in Schall, Another Sort of Learning, which, along with other materials
for course, is on the library reserve.
4)
The books assigned (found in book store, please purchase before middle of
October as the book store removes them after that time) are the following: 1) Neuhaus, End of Democracy; 2)
Chesterton, Orthodoxy; 3)Walsh, After Ideology; 4) MacIntyre, After
Virtue, 5) Pickstock, After Writing; 6) Schall, At the Limits of
Political Philosophy; 7) Orr, Jerusalem and Athens, 8)Bloom, The
Closing of the American Mind; 9) Manent, The City of Man; 10)
Fortin, Classical Christianity and the Political Order.
5)
Again, class attendance and preparation mandatory. The class requires a commitment of time for
reading for each class in the student's daily or weekly schedule.
6)
"The decay of political philosophy into ideology reveals itself most obviously
in the fact that in both research and teaching, political philosophy has been
replaced by the history of political philosophy. The substitution can be excused as a well-meaning attempt to
prevent, or at least to delay, the burial of a great tradition. In fact it is not merely a half measure but
an absurdity: to replace political
philosophy by the history of political philosophy means to replace a doctrine
which claims to be true by a survey of more or less brilliant
errors." -- Leo Strauss, City and
Man, (Chicago: U. of Chicago Press,
1964), 7-8.
Government,
143-437, Plato's Political Philosophy, Father J. Schall, S. J., Fall, 2000.
M 10-11 am,
Wed, 1:20-2:20 pm -- Office Hours ( 657
ICC) -- or by appointment; tel, 7-4006.
Tel.: 7-4006. E-mail schallj@georgetown.edu Web-site: www.moreC.com/schall
1) This class
will consist in reading of Platonic dialogues in class. The student is expected to possess a copy of
the Collected Works and to have read the assigned text before the
class.
We will
read: 1) The Apology, 2) The Crito,
3) The Phaedo, 4) The Republic, 5) The Gorgias, 6) The Symposium, 7) The Statesman, 8) the
Phaedrus, 9) the Laws. We
will probably read the “Seventh Letter” and some smaller dialogues. Joseph Pieper’s Enthusiasm and the
Divine Madness, is the second required text besides the Hackett Collected
Works.
2) Class
attendance is required. Please do not
miss class. Class attendance is a major
part of Grades. The class will be
conducted in a dialogue fashion.
NB: read Schall, Another Sort
of Learning, chapters "What A Student Owes His Teacher?" and
"Grades" as well as the chapter, "On Teaching the Political
Philosophy of Plato" (In book store or on reserve).
3) Many studies
on Plato exist in the library. Students
should refer to these sources, have
their own Platonic collections.
There will be a small reserve list at Reserve Shelf in Library.
4) Each student
(graduate students two) will be expected to do a fifteen page term paper,
footnoted and bibliographied on Plato's Political Thought. The paper should show signs of wide reading
and consideration of Platonic works or studies on them. This paper can be on any dialogue or topic
and, if the student prefers, the professor will assign topic. This paper is due the last day of class.
5) The student
is free to consult Fr. Schall on any item pertaining to class assignment or
work.
6) There will
be a mid-term on Friday before semester break (Oct. 6) and a final on day
assigned in schedule. Books and notes
may be used in any test.
7) “Plato died
at the age of 81. On the evening of his
death he had a Thracian girl play the flute for him. The girl could not find the beat of the nomos. With a movement of his finger, Plato
indicated to her the Measure.” Last
words on Plato in Eric Voegelin, Order and History: Plato and Aristotle,
p. 268.
8) Please read
on www.moreC.com/schall under classical political
philosophy (or in library copy) the
essay from The American Scholar, (Summer, 1996), entitled “The Death of
Plato.”
9) “His
(Socrates’) philosophy consists chiefly in exhorting people to virtue as the
most valuable thing.” Leo Strauss, Studies
in Platonic Political Philosophy, p. 45.
Political
Theory and Natural Law. Spring,
1999. Gov't 485. J. Schall, S. J., Office, 657 ICC, Hrs, M
10-11; Wed. 1:20-2:20pm, or by
appointment. Tel. 7-4006, 5903. Class, MW, 1:15-2:30. E-mail
schallsj@gusun web
sites www.moreC.com/schall www.georgetown.edu/schall
1) This course
is designed for undergraduate students to acquaint them with the literature,
tradition, and content of classical natural law discussions in political
philosophy.
2) Method: The course is a programmed reading of some
ten books by student and teacher. The
student will be expected to come to each class having read the assigned
material. There will be materials on
natural law on reserve under my name in library.
Classes are
conducted in a dialogue fashion. Class
attendance is required; missing class is sufficient for lower or failing
grades. Please do not take this course
if regular class attendance and preparation is not possible or intended. The major element in grades consists in the
persistency of regular reading and attendance.
(See Schall, Another Sort of Learning, first section, for a
description of what the instructor expects from the students -- on Reserve in Library or in bookstore).
3) A mid term
will be given the last of class before spring break. A final test will be given on the assigned day in the bulletin on
material read. Please expect to be at
this test. There will be one term
paper, due on the last day of class, fifteen or so pages, proper academic form,
which means footnotes, adequate bibliography.
The topic will be assigned by the instructor. Graduate students will be expected to do two papers. In all tests, all assigned books can be
used.
4) Books: In the bookstore the following books should be
available (there will also be books on reserve) -- please purchase before middle of March as book store removes
them at that time. 1) Aquinas, Treatise
on Law; 2) d'Entreves, The Natural Law; 3) Rommen, Natural Law;
4) Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Right; 5) Hittinger, A Critique of
the New Natural Law Theory; 6) Arkes, Beyond the Constitution; 7)
Budziszewski, The Case for Natural Law; 8) Pieper, Living the Truth;
9) Manent, Essays, 10) Fortin, Essays; 11)Schall, Jaques
Maritain.
5) Thomas
Aquinas: "To the natural law
belongs everything to which a man is inclined according to his nature."
(I-II, 94, 3).
6) Marcus
Tullius Cicero: "True law is
reason, right and natural, commanding people to fulfil their obligation and
prohibiting and deterring them from doing wrong. Its validity is universal; it is immediate and eternal. Its commands and prohibitions apply
effectively to good men, and those uninfluenced by them are bad. Any attempt to supercede this law, to repeal
any part of it, is sinful; to cancel it entirely is impossible. Neither the Senate nor the Assembly can
exempt us from its demands; we need no interpreter or expounder of it but
ourselves. There will not be one law in
Rome, one in Athens, or one now and one later, but all nations will be subject
all the time to this one changeless and everlasting law." -- On the Commonwealth, III, 33.
The Political
Philosophy of Aristotle. Government
143-456, Fall, 1997. Schall. Office:
657 ICC, Hours: M. 10-11; W. 1:20-2:20, or by appointment. Tel. 7-4006; 6130: E-mail,
schallj@georgetown.ed; Web Sites: www.moreC.com/schall
www.georgetown.edu/schall
1) This course
is a study of the principal elements in Aristotle's political philosophy,
including the place of politics in Aristotle's general theory. In addition to the Politics, we will
read The Ethics, The Poetics, and passages from The Rhetoric,
the works that Aristotle designated as practical sciences. One of the purposes of the course is to
learn what is a practical science.
2) Method, This course will generally be conducted in a
dialogue fashion. The student is
expected to attend class regularly.
Repeat: the student is expected
to attend class regularly. Absence from
class is itself reason for a lower or failing grade. The student is expected to be present in class after having
carefully read each class assignment.
Each student is expected to set aside sufficient time for regular
assignments and to order his life so that he can do the required material. Please expect to do this if you take this
course.
3) There will
be both a midterm on October 10 of the matter studied till that time and a
final scheduled examination on day assigned.
Each student will be expected to possess a copy of the assigned
books. There will be a Reserve List in
the Library of other materials on Aristotle.
4) There are
seven required books, to be found in the bookstore: 1) The Politics, 2) The Ethics, 3) The Rhetoric
and the Poetics, 4) Nichols, Citizens and Statesmen, 5) Bodeus, The
Political Dimensions of Aristotle's Ethicss, 6) Strauss, City and Man,
and 7) the issue of The Review of Metaphysics, June, 1996, which
contains a symposium on Aristotle's Politics. This latter journal will be made available through the professor,
to be announced in class. The bookstore
usually removes these books early in October.
5) I will at
least mention five books about Aristotle (there are gillions) that would be
well to read: 1) Henry Veatch, Aristotle,
2) Eric Voegelin, Plato and Aristotle, 3) R. G. Mulgan, Aristotle's
Political Theory, 4) S. Salkever, Finding the Mean, and 5) Sir
Ernest Barker, The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle. M. Adler's Aristotle for Everybody is
also good.
6) "The
direction of Aristotle to those that study politicks, is, first to examine and
understand what has been written by the ancients on government; then to cast
their eyes round upon the world, and consider by what causes the prosperity of
communities is visibly influenced, and why some are worse, and others better
administered.
"The
same method must be pursued by him who hopes to become eminent in any other
part of knowledge. The first task is to
search the books, the next to contemplate nature. He must first possess himself of the intellectual treasures which
the diligence of former ages has accumulated, and then endeavour to encrease
them by his own collections.
"The
mental disease of the present generation, is impatience of study, contempt of
the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly upon
unassisted genius and naturral sagacity."
-- Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, Saturday, September 7, 1751.