Graduate

Xenophon moved in Socratic circles in his youth but wrote on a wider range of topics
and in more varied modes than Plato. He was never a philosopher’s philosopher, as
Plato was; but he and Plato kept an eye on each other’s writings, as the many parallels
between their works attest. “Socratic discourses” or “Socratic dialogues” (Sōkratikoi
logoi) are first mentioned as a literary genre by Aristotle in the Poetics. Xenophon, like
Plato, is a practitioner of the genre. The Memorabilia not only features Socrates as a
speaking character but makes him the explicit topic of interest. Rather than being
written in Plato’s manner — fully fictionalized and without first person authorial intrusion
— it reads instead as a series of sketches, moving continually and easily between
personal report of Socratic behavior and direct reproduction of conversation between
Socrates and a series of interlocutors.
In this seminar we will read and discuss together the entire Memorabilia. Comparative
reference to Plato will be frequent. We will consider Xenophon’s achievement as a
writer of “Socratic discourse,” together with the portrait of Socrates that emerges from
his pages. Is this Socrates too much of a civic educator to be recognizable as the
philosophic gadfly of Plato’s dialogues? And if so, does this make him the “founder of
political philosophy,” as a prominent scholar has recently claimed?
The seminar aims to be of interest to a broad audience of classicists and students in
political and legal theory.  Our common text for the class will be in English, but students
who are able to do so are encouraged to integrate reference to the Greek text into our
discussions.

Co Instructor: G.R.F. Ferrari

This course is a  seminar which can be taken for 0 - 2 units, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory with the following course description:

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress by graduate students. To receive credit for the course, the student will participate fully, including, as asked, either making a presentation of work in progress or serving as lead  discussant for another student's work. Appropriate works-in-progress include  (but are not limited to) a paper in preparation for submission to a journal, a dissertation prospectus (including early drafts), a dissertation chapter, or a job market paper. Anyone working on theory is welcome.

https://polisci.berkeley.edu/research-and-teaching/lectures-colloquia/political-theory-workshop

Please see click on the link below for more information regrarding MIRTH

https://polisci.berkeley.edu/research-and-teaching/lectures-colloquia/monday-international-relations-thoughts-series-mirth-colloquium

This colloquium exposes graduate students and faculty to work by leading scholars of comparative politics working in diverse substantive areas. Graduate students are expected to read circulated papers of visiting speakers ahead of the colloquium and participate actively in raising questions and making comments.  They are encouraged to meet visiting speakers in their areas of interest in group or one-on-one sessions. 

This description is from Spring 2015

A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress by graduate students. To receive two units of credit, a student must make at least one presentation of work in progress and serve as a discussant for another student's presentation. To receive one unit of credit a student must regularly attend class and participate in discussion, but will not be required to make a presentation. Appropriate works in progress include (but are not limited to) a paper in preparation for submission to a journal, a dissertation prospectus (including early drafts), a dissertation chapter, or a job market paper. Anyone working on American politics, political behavior, public law, or public administration is welcome.

The practice of carrying out research is an acquired skill. Everyone has to learn it, although traditionally most of it is self-taught. This course is designed to provide students with guidance, structure, and feedback that will help them to frame and execute well-specified and coherent research projects on American political behavior. The seminar also offers students an opportunity to work through their ideas and test their arguments in an informal, small, and collegial setting. Students will present their own research, comment on the research of their peers, and learn about different types of feedback mainly through example.

The workshop provides a forum for students to improve how they think about conducting research projects, to workshop early work, conference papers, and ideas for MA or PhD proposals, and, finally, to develop a community in which they can work through specific practices for research and problems that arise in conducting their projects. These main aims of the workshop are met through a forum in which faculty and graduate students at various career stages work closely together. It is an applied workshop with an emphasis on learning by doing and on learning how to be a more constructive colleague. Rather than segregate PhD students by cohort, the workshop is designed to bring cohorts together in order to facilitate the student-to-student transfer of skills and knowledge.