This course is an opportunity to read, or to re-read, the most significant political statements of three foundational figures in the Western political tradition, paying due attention to both historical context and philosophical argument. It also aims to stimulate reflection on key elements of the modern political lexicon (e.g. politics, democracy, republic, justice, citizenship) by engaging with their Greek and Latin origins. Of particular interest will be conceptualizations of and relationships between a) the good (to agathon), the just (to dikaion), the common (koinon), and the advantageous (to sympheron), and b) the honorable (honestas) and the useful (utilitas).
This course will be larger in size than a standard Junior Seminar, room sharing with PS214A. Please apply by email to daniela.cammack@berkeley.edu. Attach your transcript and a writing sample and be prepared for a 15-minute zoom interview.
1. Ps-Xenophon, “Constitution of the Athenians”
Plato, Apology (both provided on bCourses)
2. Plato, Republic I-V (Loeb ed., trans. Emlyn-Jones and Preddy)
3. Plato, Republic VI-X
4. Plato, Statesman (Loeb ed.)
5. Plato, Laws I-VI (Loeb ed., trans. Bury)
6. Plato, Laws VII-XII
7. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics I-V (Loeb ed., trans. Rackham)
8. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VI-X
9. Aristotle, Politics I-IV (Loeb ed., trans. Rackham)
Ps-Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians (Penguin ed. by Peter Rhodes)
10. Aristotle, Politics V-VIII
11. Aristotle, Rhetoric Book I (Loeb ed., trans. Freese)
12. Cicero, De Re Publica (Loeb ed., trans. Keyes)
Additional reading: Polybius, History Book VI (Loeb)
13. Cicero, De Legibus (Loeb ed., trans. Keyes)
14. Cicero, De Officiis (Loeb ed., trans. Miller)
Meeting on 1/28 will be in SOCS749.