PLSC 431 - Classical Quest for Justice

2023-2024 Catalog Year

Credit(s): 3
Lecture: 3
Non-Lecture: 0

This course is devoted to an exploration of the key problems and concerns of classical political thought. We will read authors such as Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero and examine some of the questions central to political life which they first raised and which are still being debated today. Some of these questions include the character of justice, the problem of the best form of government, the meaning of virtue, the benefits and limitations of law, the moral consequences of war, the relationship between the individual and the community, the connection between politics and aspects of private life like friendship and the family, and the relationship of intellectual life to political life.

Prerequisite(s): PLSC 130 or permission of the instructor.
Offered: Once Every Other Year