POLb1008 Traditions of Political Thought

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. et Mgr. Jiří Baroš, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Bc. Tereza Křepelová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Martin Job (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. et Mgr. Jiří Baroš, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lucie Pospíšilová
Supplier department: Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 12:00–13:40 P52
  • Timetable of Seminar Groups:
POLb1008/01: Wed 13. 11. 8:00–9:40 P24b, Wed 11. 12. 8:00–9:40 P24b
POLb1008/02: Thu 14. 11. 8:00–9:40 U41, Thu 12. 12. 8:00–9:40 U41
POLb1008/03: Thu 14. 11. 16:00–17:40 P21a, Thu 12. 12. 16:00–17:40 P21a
Prerequisites
! POL103 History of Political Ideas && !NOW( POL103 History of Political Ideas )
A willingness to think about philosophical problems, intellectual curiosity and openness to the various traditions of thought that have shaped the character of Western societies
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is intended to introduce students to the development of Western political thinking from the Ancient Greece to the end of the nineteenth century. Against this background, genealogy of basic political concepts (such as justice, legitimacy, democracy, or freedom) as well as core issues and corresponding debates in teh Western tradition will be presented. At the end of the course students will have acquired knowledge of the most important political philosophers and traditions of political thinking in the history of Western philosophy, and will be able to understand and explain the roots and background of contemporary thinking about politics and its lingering problems. By reading of selected primary and secondary texts, students will acquire the ability to critically evaluate main problems and concepts of the history of political ideas.
Learning outcomes
Upon completing the course, students will be able to:
describe genealogy of basic political concepts (such as justice, legitimacy, democracy, or freedom)
identify core issues and corresponding debates in the Western tradition of political thinking
explain the roots and background of contemporary thinking about politics and its lingering problems
critically evaluate main problems and concepts of the history of political ideas
analyse the persuasiveness of contemporary solutions against the background of the acquired knowledge
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction. Nature and Role of Political Philosophy
  • 2. Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato
  • 3. Aristotle, Stoicism and Roman Political Thought
  • 4. Christian political thought: St. Augustine, Aquinas
  • 5. Republicanism and Political Realism at the Dawn of Modern Times: Niccolo Machiavelli
  • 6. Classical Social Contract Theory. Natural Rights and the Foundations of Liberalism (Hobbes, Locke)
  • 7. French Enlightenment: Montesquieu, Rousseau
  • 8. Scottish Enlightenment: Morality and Emotions, Liberal Political Economy (Hume, Smith)
  • 9. Self-Study Week (may be moved!)
  • 10. Enlightenment and Deontological Ethics (Kant); Freedom, Civic Society and the State (Hegel)
  • 11. Reaction to 18th Century Revolutions: Burke's Conservatism and Tocqueville's Arictocratic Liberalism
  • 12. Utilitarianism and the Split Within Liberalism: Bentham, J. S. Mill
  • 13. Liberalism as Capitalism: The Birth of the Socialist Tradition (K. Marx)
Literature
    required literature
  • Mill, John S. Utilitarismus. In: Vybrané spisy o etice, společnosti a politice. I. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2016, s. 42–49
  • Marx, Karel. Předmluva ke spisu Úvod ke kritice politické ekonomie. In: Odcizení a emancipace člověka. Praha, Mladá fronta, 1967, s. 185–188
  • Hobbes, Thomas. Leviatan aneb látka, forma a moc státu církevního a politického. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2009, kap. XIII–XV, XVII (s. 87–112, 117–121)
  • Anzenbacher, Arno. Úvod do etiky. Praha: Portál, 1994, s. 42–77
  • Burke, Edmund. Úvahy o revoluci ve Francii. Brno, CDK, 1997, s. 44–74
  • Smith, Adam. Pojednání o podstatě a původu bohatství národů. Praha: Liberální institut, 2001. Kniha I., kap. I a II.; Kniha V, kap. I s. 7–18, 692–698
  • Kant, Immanuel. Odpověď na otázku: co je to osvícenství? Filosofický časopis č. 3, 1993, s. 381–387
  • Císař, Ondřej. Platón, Aristoteles a jejich typy politických zřízení. In Demokracie, eds. Vít Hloušek a Lubomír Kopeček. Brno, MPU, 2003, 49–56
  • Hume, David. O původu idejí a O vzniku vlády, in: Hume: 300 let od narození, ed. Marek Loužek. Praha: Centrum pro ekonomiku a politiku, s. 123–127, 129–132
  • Marx, Karel a Bedřich Engels. Manifest komunistické strany. In Sebrané spisy ve dvou svazcích. Svazek I. Praha, Svoboda 1950, s. 25–47
  • Rousseau, Jean Jacques. O společenské smlouvě neboli zásady státního práva. In Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rozpravy. Praha, Svoboda, 1989, s. 217–252
  • Baroš, Jiří. Suverenita u Rousseaua. In Suverenita panovníka, lidu a státu v moderní politické filosofii. Eds. Vojtěch Belling a Lukáš Kollert. Ústí nad Labem, Univerzita J. E. Purkyně, 2017, s. 52–74
  • Kratochvíl, Petr. Původ a smysl národního zájmu. Analýza legitimity jednoho konceptu. Brno, CDK, 2010, s. 27–45
  • Aristotelés. Politika. Praha, Rezek, 1998, s. 65–77 (sekce 1260b/začátek 2. knihy – 1264b/do 6. podkapitoly), 117–124 (sekce 1278b/od 6. podkapitoly – 1281a/do 10. podkapitoly)
  • Montesquieu, Charles–Louis de Secondat. O duchu zákonů. Dobrá Voda: Aleš Čeněk, 2003, s. 33–40, 74–105
  • Sobek, Tomáš. Právní rozum a morální cit. Hodnotové základy právního myšlení. Praha: Ústav státu a práva, 2016, s. 26–31
  • Platón. Ústava. Praha, Svoboda 1993, s. 254–271, 315–325, 357–398
  • Augustinus, Aurelius. O boží obci II. Praha, Vyšehrad, 1950, s. 64–65, 71–72, 391–393, 400–406, 410–418, 420–424, 433–434, 435–437 (novější vydání: Praha, Karolinum, 2007, svazek II, s. 58, 62–63, 255–256, 261–264, 266–271, 273–275, 280–281, 282–283)
  • Machula, Tomáš. Tomáš a jeho sumy. České Budějovice, Nakladatelství Jihočeské univerzity, 2020, s. 117–127
  • Tocqueville, Alexis de. Demokracie v Americe. Praha: Academia, 2000, s. 9–18, 190–198, 587–599
  • Shapiro, Ian. Morální základy politiky. Praha: Karolinum, 2003, kap. 2 (Klasický utilitarismus) a část kap. 3 (Spojení práv a užitečnosti), s. 21–34, 49–59
  • Mill, John S. Utilitarismus. In: Vybrané spisy o etice, společnosti a politice. I. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2016, s. 42–49
  • Helm, Paul, David Hume, in: Konzervativní myslitelé, ed. Roger Scruton. Brno: CDK, 1994, s. 9–26
  • Locke, John. Dvě pojednání o vládě. Praha: Nakladatelství ČSAV, 1965 (jiné vydání: Druhé pojednání o vládě, Praha, Svoboda, 1992), Část 2, kap. II–V, §§4–51 (s. 140–163), kap. VI, §§57–59, §§71–73 (s. 165–166, 172–173), kap. VII, §§87–91 (s. 179–182), ka
  • Akvinský, Tomáš. Tomáš Akvinský o zákonech v Teologické sumě. Ed. Karel Špruňk. Praha, Krystal, 2003, s. 21–23, 26–32, 58–60.
  • Bentham, Jeremy. Anarchical Fallacies, being an examination of the Declaration of Rights issued during the French Revolution, in: Jeremy Waldron (ed.), Nonsense Upon Stilts: Bentham, Burke and Marx on the Rights of Man, London: Methuen, 1987, s. 46–59
  • Machiavelli, Niccolo. Rozpravy o prvních deseti knihách Tita Livia. In: Úvahy o vládnutí a o vojenství. Praha, Argo, 2001, s. 158–73, 177–82, 204–5, 211–14, 235–37, 269–73, 280–81
  • Chotaš, Jiří. Práva a povinnosti suveréna u Hobbese. In: Belling, Vojtěch, Lukáš Kollert a kol. Suverenita panovníka, lidu a státu v moderní politické filosofii. Ústí n. Labem: Filozofická fakulta Univerzity J.E. Purkyně v Ústí n. Labem, 2017, 36–52
  • Adam Smith semper vivus. Edited by Josef Šíma. Praha: Liberální institut, 2003, 48 s. ISBN 8086389197. info
    recommended literature
  • Blackwellova encyklopedie politického myšlení. Edited by David Miller. Vyd. 2. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2000, xiii, 581. ISBN 80-85947. info
  • Velké postavy politické filosofie. Edited by Jaromír Žegklitz, Translated by Roman Civín. Praha: Občanský institut, 1996, 223 s. ISBN 8090165958. info
Teaching methods
The basic pedagogical method of the course are lectures on each topic, which put the required readings into intellectual-historical context, and also focus on several selected problems and issues. Students are required to read the assigned readings before each lecture, so that they are ready to answer the teacher's in-class questions adequately.
Lectures are supplemented by four seminars devoted to detailed analysis of assigned readings and presentation of students' independent activity.
Assessment methods
There are two requirements to fulfil in order to finish the course:

(1) Attending two seminars during the term (37,5 %). Seminars consist of group presentation and in-class activity based on position papers addressing assigned readings.

(2) Final written test in the exam period (67,5 %). The test consist of five open-ended questions based on the content of both lectures and compulsory readings.

The overall assessment (A through F) represents the total point score from the two parts. Questions the final test are based both on the assigned readings and on the content of the lectures. Minimum score for passing: 60 % of total points
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
Teacher's information
For additional information please consult the course guide, which is available in the Study Materials section within the Information System
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
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