The theme of this junior seminar in political thought is the concept of honor. Among the questions we will address in this seminar are the following: What is (and isn’t) honor? Do people deserve to be honored? Is honor a ‘public good’ that states should supply? Can democracies satisfy the demand for honor? Why can dishonor be a source of conflict? Are ‘honor cultures’ a thing of the past? Readings will include primary source texts on the seminar theme by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Montesquieu, Smith, as well as recent scholarship by Darwall, Nelson, Pinker, Rawls, Sandel, among others. Students in this seminar are expected to have completed at least one undergraduate course in political theory.
The Junior Seminars are intense writing seminars which focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding for faculty research.
Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.
Subfield: Political Theory
Political Science Majors of Junior and Senior Status. Prior completion of at least 1 Political Theory course.
Students can directly enroll in this semester but will be dropped if they have not already taken a course in Political Theory here or at a community college (courses in progress can satisfy this requirement) or they have not received an exception from Prof. Lee based on other related coursework. Questions regarding suitable prior coursework should be sent to Prof. Lee at dan.lee@berkeley.edu.