Aims and Objectives:

1. The course will examine the main currents of political thinking from antiquity to the eighteenth century by close textual reading of selected political writings. Particular attention will be paid to central writers such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. [see the Course Timetable] As well as exploring these classic texts (and other writers such as the Christian thinkers Augustine, Aquinas and More, or theorists of absolutism and resistance like Bodin or Calvin) the course will also approach the history of political ideas in a contextual and thematic way. So on the one hand, for example, we will explore how political and historical circumstances shaped the nature of particular texts. And on the other hand, for example, we will pursue central issues in political thought such as the different political theories of justice, liberty, obligation, resistance and natural rights proposed by the thinkers we will study.

2. Thinking : The thinkers we will examine, in detail, are Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, More, Calvin and Luther, Bodin, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Most of the important writings of these thinkers are available in various paperback editions, many of them in the blue Cambridge Texts series, or in Penguin or Hackett editions. Given that the objective of the course is for each of you to come to a close understanding of the works it is imperative that you own copies of most of those texts we study: you cannot hope to do this by relying on borrowed library copies. As indicated in the attached recommended bibliographies, there are key parts to each of these works which you will be expected to read and think about each week. These extracts are available in the online and indicated under the titles of each lecture so you can download them to your own computers for either printout or analysis.

3. Reading : Further reading for seminars and the preparation of essays is specified in the reading list for each thinker (those works marked with an asterix are the most useful) but there is also a general list of the most important overviews and introductions. Each week the most important reading you must do is to cover recommended reading of the set text. Lectures and seminars will make very little sense if you have not prepared properly. The reading lists are supplied with library reference numbers.

4. Texts : Some students inquire, 'when is reading week?' The witty reply given by history tutors of course is, 'every week is a reading week in the history department'. Reading the set texts is the main activity of the course: reading an historical text is an acquired skill. Before you sit down with a copy of Plato's Republic or Locke's Two Treatises you need to ask yourself what are you doing when you read? What are you looking for? How will you take notes? When reading such works you need to think about not just the intellectual arguments, but also the style of argument, think about how the writing works. You need then to read proactively, and with your wits about you: always have a point behind your reading (the seminar lists will give you some general issues to ponder, the lectures will highlight some too). One of the best things you can do is imagine you are the audience of the work: does it persuade you, if so why?, If not, why? When reading be on the look out for the intriguing passages that do not seem to make sense: why should this be so? As an historian you are trying to make sense of a past document, to recover the meaning and intentions of the author. Note taking is an idiosyncratic business: you will all develop your own strategies. Again, the best piece of advice is be proactive: do not try to summarise the whole text, have a series of themes or issues, mark the textual passages that engage with those. Some bits of different books will be more interesting than others.