POLS 4200 - History of Political Theory

3 cr. 3 hrs. Day course offered every Semester.

This course traces the development of political philosophy from the early modern up to the birth of the modern. In a series of readings we will examine such concepts as the “state of nature” and its concomitants, natural law, natural rights, civil society, the “primitive,” the right to property (private or otherwise) as well as the material foundations of social and political arrangements, warfare and its role in the state of nature and/or civil society, the power of the executive, and even slavery. By its very nature this course is interdisciplinary, as it is both an introduction to the history of ideas and a survey of political philosophy. Cross-listed with

HIST 4200