Lehrman American Studies Center

Introduction

To understand the origins and challenges of democratic regimes is crucial to better understand liberal democracy as practiced in the United States and elsewhere in the world today. This course provides a philosophical foundation of classical, modern, and contemporary theories of democracy as well as a study of the practical policy consequences that result from these philosophical origins. Hopefully students will learn not only the origins of American democracy but the challenges that confront it and how possibly they may be overcome.

Course Objective

This is an upper-division elective course in political science that studies the classical origins of democracy and liberalism. Students will start with Aristotle’s classical account of democracy and Locke’s idea of natural right and revolution. Next students will look at Publius’ and Tocqueville’s description of the American political order as a liberal, democratic regime. Afterwards, students will focus on some specific public policy issues – race, gender, privacy, equality, liberty, and public morality – from the vantage point of two philosophical traditions: natural law and contemporary liberalism. Finally, the student will conclude the course with some thoughts on the relationship between education and democracy.

Required and optional texts

• Aristotle, Politics (any edition)
• Locke, Second Treatise (any edition)
• Publius, Federalist Papers (any edition)
• Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 1 (any edition)
• John Rawls, Political Liberalism (any edition)
• Robert George, Clashes of Orthodoxies (any edition)
• Selected, required readings will be on reserve at the library.

Grading & Assignments

Students will be evaluated on a mid-term examination (30%), a final examination (35%), a 15-page paper (25%), and class participation (10%).

The mid-term examination will be on week 7, class 14 and the final examination will be during the final examination date. The examinations will be in-class, with students expected to furnish their own blue books and pens. Books and notes will not be allowed for students to consult during the examination.

If the student misses the examination, it is his/her responsibility to contact the professor within 24 hours and later provide written verification for the absence. A different examination will be schedule at a later date.

The 15-page paper will be assigned on week 15, class 30, with a 2-page outline (5%) due on week 11, class 22 and the final version (20%) due on week 15, class 30. Students will select an economic subject – as approved by the professor – and will adopt at least two theoretical paradigms to analyze a public policy issue. The papers will be expected to display cogent reasoning, mastery of information, elegance of style, and grammatical correctness. More information about how to write these essays will be given to students later in the course.

The student’s grade will be penalized one letter grade per day (including the weekends) when the outline or paper is received past the due dates. If the student is unable to attend to turn in his/her assignment due to familial death or illness, as verified by the professor, then it is the student’s responsibility to inform the professor within 24 hours of his/her absence from class. In that event, the student will be allowed an extension as deemed appropriate by the professor.

Class participation will count for 10% towards the student’s overall grade and is determined by the quality, not quantity, of inquiries, comments, and discussion in class.

Course Schedule

Review Syllabus (Week 1, Class 1)

Nature, Citizenship & Regimes (Week 1, Class 2)

• Assignment: Aristotle’s Politics (Books 1 & 3)

1. What is Aristotle’s conception of nature?
2. How does he define citizenship and regimes?
3. What are the different claims to rule?
4. How are these claims related to political justice and the rule of law?

Preservation and Destruction of Regimes(Week 2, Class 3)

• Assignment: Aristotle’s Politics (Books 4-5)

1. What are the different types of regimes?
2. How should political institutions be constructed?
3. What are the causes of revolutions?
4. How can revolutions be prevented?

Democratic Regime (Week 2, Class 4)

• Assignment: Aristotle’s Politics (Book 6)

1. What are the varieties of democracy and how are they established?
2. Whatis the nature of democratic equality?
3. How can we preserve democratic regimes?

Natural Right (Week 3, Class 5)

• Assignment: Locke’s Second Treatise (Chapters 1-13)

1. What is the state of nature, the social contract, and natural rights?
2. What is the role of property in securing the social contract?
3. What are the proper ends of government?
4. What are the safeguards Locke proposes to prevent tyranny?
5. How do Locke's safeguards compare to Aristotle's?

Revolution (Week 3, Class 6)

• Assignment: Locke’s Second Treatise (Chapters 14-19) & Declaration of Independence (all)

1. Why does Locke distinguish among various powers, e.g. political, paternal,prerogative?
2. Under what conditions and basis can the government be dissolved?
3. What is Locke's influence on the Declaration of Independence?

American Founding I (Week 4, Classes 7 & 8)

• Assignment: Federalist Papers Nos. 1, 6, 10, 23, 35, 37, 39-40, 45-49, 51, 55, 57, 63, 70 & Paper Assigned

1. What is the nature of federalism?
2. How does Publius envision citizenship and representation in the American republic?
3. What is his solution to the problem of factions?

American Founding II (Week 5, Classes 9 & 10)

• Assignment: Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (I, P1, chs. 1-8)

1. What is the fundamental characteristic of democracy for Tocqueville?
2. Who are the true founders of America?
3. What is the role of the New England township?
4. Compare Tocqueville’s and Publius' views on the constitution.

Majority Tyranny (Week 6, Classes 11 & 12)

• Assignment: Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (I, P2, chs. 1-9)

1. What is the advantage of a democracy?
2. What is the nature of majority tyranny?
3. What does Tocqueville recommend to temper this tyranny?
4. Are Tocqueville's remedies applicable today?

Review for Mid-Term Examination (Week 7, Class 13)

Mid-Term Examination (Week 7, Class 14)

Race & Equality (Week 8, Classes 15 & 16)

• Assignment: Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (I, P2, ch. 10), Lincoln-Douglas Debate (chapters 1-3), Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, University of California Regents v. Bakke

1. What is Tocqueville's prediction about the future of race relations?
2. What are the arguments of both Lincoln and Douglas on slavery?
3. How is the Dred Scott decision interpreted by Lincoln and Douglas?
4. How should we interpret the recent court rulings on the issue of race?

Gender & Equality (Week 9, Classes 17 & 18)

• Assignment: Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (II, chs. 8-12), Seneca Falls Declaration, Susan B. Anthony’s Constitutional Argument, NOW’s Statement of Purpose, Judith Bulter’s Contingent Foundations: Feminism and The Question of Postmodernism

1. What does Tocqueville say about the role of women in American society?
2. Do the subsequent feminist declarations support or refute Tocqueville’s claims?
3. What should be the roles of gender and equality in the American regime?

Privacy & Liberty (Week 10, Class 19)

• Assignment: Griswold v. Connecticut, Row v. Wade, Arkes’ Privacy and the Reach of the Law & The Question of Abortion and the Discipline of Moral Reasoning

1. What is the Supreme Court’s reasoning behind Griswold and Roe?
2. Is it rooted in natural rights or something else?
3. What is Arkes’ response to the questions of privacy, abortion, and the law?

Public Morality & Liberty (Week 10, Class 20)

• Assignment: George’s Clashes of Orthodoxies (Chapters 1, 4-6, 13)

1. Should there be a public morality?
2. If so, which “orthodoxy” should it be?
3. What are the public policy consequences each orthodoxy?

Law & Liberalism (Week 11, Class 21)

• Assignment: George’s Clashes of Orthodoxies (Chapters 2, 9-11)

1. What is law; and what is its relationship to natural law?
2. What is the foundational difference between positivism and natural law?
3. Does liberalism abets a “culture of death,” as George claims?

The Original Position (Week 11, Class 22)

• Assignment: Outlines Due & Rawls’ Political Liberalism (Lecture I)

1. What are the fundamental elements of Rawls’ liberalism?
2. What is the original position and the idea of the well-ordered society?
3. How do these concepts compare with Locke’s state of nature?

Autonomy & Psychology (Week 12, Class 23)

• Assignment: Rawls’ Political Liberalism (Lecture II)

1. What is the reasonable, the rational, and the burdens of judgment?
2. What is the role of autonomy in Rawls’ regime?
3. What is the moral psychology of the person?
4. Is Rawls’ understanding of the person the same as Locke’s?

Overlapping Consensus (Week 12, Class 24)

• Assignment: Rawls’ Political Liberalism (Lecture IV)

1. What is overlapping consensus and political liberalism?
2. Is overlapping consensus a superior answer to the question of stability when compared to Aristotle’s, Locke’s, Publius’, and Tocqueville’s recommendations?

Justice as Fairness (Week 13, Class 25)

• Assignment: Rawls’ Political Liberalism (Lecture V)

1. What are the primary goods in Rawls’ regime?
2. How does the political limits morality (“the concept of the good”)?
3. Is justice “as fairness” an adequate definition for political liberalism, or is George’s charge that liberalism abets a “culture of death” is right?

Public Reason (Week 13, Class 26)

• Assignment: Rawls’ Political Liberalism (Lecture VI)

1. What is public reason?
2. Why is the Supreme Court viewed as the exemplar of public reason?
3. What are the limits and difficulties with Rawls’ concept?

The Best Regime (Week 14, Class 27)

• Assignment: Aristotle’s Politics (Book 7)

1. What is Aristotle’s account of the best regime?
2. How Aristotle's best regime compare to Rawls’?
3. What Aristotelian features, if any, does the current American republic possess?

Education & Citizenship (Week 14, Class 28)

• Assignment: Aristotle’s Politics (Book 8) & Bloom’s Closing the American Mind (Chapter 1)

1. What is Aristotle’s account of the best education for citizens?
2. Is Bloom’s description of modern music accurate?
3. How would be Aristotle's critique of today's popular music?

Education & Democracy (Week 15, Class 29)

• Assignment: Strauss’ What Is Liberal Education? & Eliot’s Tradition and the Individual Talent

1. What is liberal education?
2. To what extent is liberal education possible in mass democracy?
3. To what extent does liberal education rely upon tradition and individual talent?

Review for Final Examination (Week 15, Class 30)

• Assignment: Final Papers are due