POSC 102

DEMOCRACY AND ITS PROBLEMS

Spring 2003 Rhodes WW448 83420 MWF 2-4

THE COURSE: To found and preserve a democracy always has been one of the most difficult tasks of politics. There is a great need to determine what democracy is, why one would wish to have it, what sustains it, what its defects are, and what destabilizes it. The course examines these questions philosophically, with emphasis on Classical Greek, Roman, and American cases.

BOOKS TO BE PURCHASED: Aristophanes, Complete Plays of Aristophanes; Aristotle, Politics; Machiavelli, The Prince and the Discourses; Publius (Madison, Hamilton, & Jay), The Federalist; Tocqueville, Democracy in America (2 vols.).

ATTENDANCE: It is necessary to attend all of the classes to do well in the course. Repeated absences will have natural consequences, in the sense that they certainly will cause students to do poorly on papers, to fail to achieve distinction in class discussions, and, hence, to receive low grades. This will occur automatically, so the instructor will not have to take role more than occasionally.

REQUIREMENTS: Students will prepare assigned readings(listed below) for class discussion. The readings are difficult. They cannot be skimmed. Understanding will come only with careful study and reflection. There will be three papers, as specified below.

GRADING: Papers will be expected to display cogent reasoning, mastery of information (factual accuracy, knowledge of arguments, and appropriate selection of texts and data for use in the analysis of problems), elegance of style, and grammatical correctness. Each is worth 33% of the course grade. Effective class participation will result in upward adjustment of grades.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Aristophanes, Acharnians, Knights, Wasps.

Aristotle, Bk VII (chs. 1-3, 13-15); Bk I (chs. 1-2); Bk II (all).

Aristotle, Bk III (all). Bk IV (chs. 1-4, 7-9, 11-13); Bk V (chs. 1-5, 8-9); Bk VI (chs.1-5).

Machiavelli, Prince, ch. xv, and Discourses, Bk I, chs. intro-xviii, xxi, xxv, xxvii, xxix, xxxvii-xxxviii.

Federalist Nos. 2-36.

Federalist Nos. 47-52, 62-63, 67-69, 78.

Tocqueville, vol. 1, author's intro., chs. iii-iv, ix, xiii-xvii.

Tocqueville, vol. 2, Bk II, chs. i-iv, viii, xiii; Bk III, ch. xiii; Bk IV, chs. i-iv, vi.

MORE ABOUT THE PAPERS

The first paper will be on Aristophanes and Aristotle, the second on Machiavelli and Publius, the third on Tocqueville. Due dates will be scheduled in consultation with the class. Each paper will be an essay no longer than 2000 words. The instructor will provide topics a week or so in advance of the due dates. Alternatively, in consultation with the instructor, the student will select and analyze passages from the texts under consideration. The analysis has these tasks: (1) Select passages that focus on one fundamental question. State the question, and explain why it is problematic. (2) Analyze the author's reasoning about the question. What are the assumptions? What are the arguments? To what evidence does the argument appeal? What difficulties might render the assumptions and arguments unacceptable, and how does the philosopher handle them? (3) With regard to what is problematic in the question, explain how the philosopher's arguments guide us in our own search for truth. (Reason this section especially carefully. It is the part of the essay that best shows the student's ability to carry an inquiry beyond the mere recitation of texts and lecture notes.)