POLITICS 305
MODERN POLITICAL THEORY
Fall 2005
MWF 1240-140pm
SML B18

Sammy Basu
Office: Sml 322
mailto:sbasu@willamette.edu

 

A given course has objectives and exams that are intended to encourage students to meet those objectives and measure how well they do so.  In this case, the exam is designed to measure comprehension of the issues surrounding Modernity and familiarity with what makes these first three authors influential exponents of distinctive ÔismsÕ.  Students are likely to do better on the exam if they have attended classes, dutifully completed the readings, scanned the online pages linked in the syllabus, and taken the time to reflect on all three. 

 

REVIEW for

Mid-term Examination (15%)

Òto demonstrate your understanding of crucial themes and differences between various modern political theorists.Ó

 

IMMANUEL KANT

(1724-1804)

COSMOPOLITANISM

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759-1797)

FEMINISM

GEORG W. F. HEGEL (1770-1831) COMMUNITARIANISM

 

 

Explain Modernity in terms of its characteristic epoch-making shifts.

 

Know the important etymologies and synonyms.

 

Recognize the content and significance of images scattered throughout the various online materials.

 

Identify the following concepts by placing a ÔPÕ (for Plato) ÔAÕ for (Aristotle) orÕMÕ (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 (donÕt just re-state) the significance of the passage in relation to the authorÕs larger arguments.

 

 

Short Essay questions.

Eg.

How might a given thinker criticize one or both of the other two?

 

Strengths and weaknesses of each thinker?

 

Contemporary ism – strengths and weaknesses of specific versions

 

 

 

 

 

How would each of our thinkers prioritize the 3 values: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, from low to high. (3)

                                                                                    Low                 Med                             High

 

Kant                

 

Wollstonecraft

 

Hegel  

 

 

 

 

 

Locate K, W, H,

MODERN VALUES:

low     

med

high

 

Liberty (freedom, self-determination etc)   

 

negative liberty, freedom from x      

positive liberty, freedom to do y       

            be happy, moral etc

            fulfill roles                              

 

 

 

 

 

Equality (equity, fairness, justice etc)          

 

political equality                                            

            direct participation                            

            representative participation              

            functional representation                  

           

legal and moral equality                                

            equality before the law                     

            due process under the law                 

            right before the good                        

 

economic equality                                          

            equality of subsistence minimum       

            equality of opportunity                      

            equality of condition/outcome          

 

social equality, status, respect                      

            as subjects

          as citizens                                             

            as humans                              

 

 

 

 

 

Fraternity (solidarity, community etc)  

 

human beings are socially constituted    

 

ethics is culturally specific                   

            good before the right

 

being communal/self-sacrificing is ethical

 

revolution is bad