IWP 723
2 Credits
Note: This course is open only to students who have taken IWP 608 (American Political Thought) and 615 (Western Moral & Political Thought).
The first half of this seminar will be a close reading of the first classical text which applied philosophic reason to the political order: Aristotle’s Politics. The second half will read and study The Federalist Papers, the authoritative interpretation and defense of the U.S. Constitution as proposed by the Framers in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
Course Aims:
The principal aim of this seminar is to learn and understand two canonical books in the Western tradition: first, the classic foundational text of political science, and second, the most authoritative textbook on the nature of the American Constitution.
Aristotle’s book describes and explains the nature and purpose of “political community.” Only if it is possible to give a rational account of political order can human beings know the transcendent standards of justice, or “natural right,” by which we can judge which political communities are directed to human flourishing and which conflict with human dignity, which are rising and which are in decline, which are models of justice, peace, and liberty, and which pose threats of war and tyranny to others.
The thought and intentions of the American Founders will be studied against the background of the classical formulation of political science. In what respects, and for what reasons, did the Founders draw on the great Western tradition of political and moral thought? In what respects did they differ from that tradition? Philosophic ideas such as laws of nature, natural rights, federalism, and popular consent embodied in the American experiment of republican government can be sourced in part in Aristotle’s political teachings. Our Founders also had disagreements with the classical political tradition on principles such as equality, economics, religion, technology, and virtue. These constitutional breaks with pre-modern theory and practice will be brought to light by comparing the Federalist Papers (together with documents written by opponents of the new Constitution) with the Politics of Aristotle.
A second aim of this seminar is to help students read and think more deeply about fundamental political alternatives. The course requires written analytic descriptions of weekly readings, oral presentations, and class dialogue. Neither Aristotle’s texts nor the Founders’ political arguments yield their intellectual fruit to casual perusing. The purpose of the seminar’s requirements is to encourage students to develop the habit of analyzing dense and subtle texts with care, precision, logic, and common sense—a habit essential for success in the practice of statecraft.
The third aim is to help students consider more seriously the political issues of our own time, beyond today’s narrow partisanisms and ideologies. The Federalist Papers were written as newspaper opinion pieces in rhetorical rather than philosophic form. They argued strenuously about the paramount political issue of their day: whether the people should vote for the newly proposed Constitution (as did most of their “anti-federalist” opponents). This class will supply an invaluable lesson in the conduct of civil dialogue and debate among fellow citizens, without which self-government is simply not possible.
