POLITICS 212(TH) HISTORY OF WESTERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Prof. Sammy Basu

REVIEW for

“Exam 1 - on introductory materials, Plato, Aristotle, and Machiavelli. (25%)”

PLATO (428-348BC)	ARISTOTLE (384-322BC)	NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527)

The exam is designed to reflect your thoroughness in reading, attentiveness in class, and scrutiny of secondary online materials

What is political philosophy?

What intellectual activities does it involve?

What is historiography?

How is ‘mainstream history’ conducted, and what are the problems with its assumptions and preoccupations?

Be prepared to explain and exemplify, using the three authors studied so far, the assumptions and preoccupations of each of the four schools or approaches to the study of history:

1. Whig History
2. Marxist history
3. Gender history
4. Postmodern history

In other words, how does what one is looking for affect what one finds or needs to explain?

Be familiar with the broad (i.e. not specific dates) features of author, text, and context, for each author.

Be able to explain briefly what each author has to say in the following categories of political philosophy:

	metaphysics	epistemology	ethics	politics
Plato
Aristotle
Machiavelli

Identify each of the following individuals, figures, and events from pictures.

Identify the following items (names, places, concepts) by placing a ‘P’ (for Plato) ‘A’ for (Aristotle) or ’M’ (for Machiavelli) next to each of the items with which they are most closely associated.

For each of the following short passages, identify the author and briefly explain (don’t just re-state) the significance of the passage in relation to the author’s larger arguments as well as the wider historical context.

Short Essay Questions from which you will choose one.

Questions will address larger issues raised by all three philosophers, e.g.,

What is ‘philosophy’? How should one think philosophically about politics?

What is ‘justice’? How should one do politics ethically?

What is the ‘best’ political regime?

What is ‘democracy’? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

What is the ‘apex’ of human possibilities? What is the good life?

What are the main ‘differences’ between the ancient (P and A) and modern (M) worldviews?

How does the ‘style of writing’ shed light on their political philosophy?