There will be a brief quiz each Thursday over the readings for the week. They are designed to test whether you have read the texts, and read them with sufficient attention. I will drop the lowest quiz grade. Positive participation will be factored into the quiz grade at my discretion.

You are required to have the text under discussion with you in class.

In this course we will not be studying the political thought of currently contending political parties, or of “conservatism” and “liberalism” as political movements, nor is our horizon to be limited to America per se. Rather, we will be reading a thoughtful set of books which treat what I believe to be the central political philosophical issue of our time. Our point of departure will be the defeat of communism, and with it the idea that history, understood as war between different opinions about how human life is to be lived, has come to an end. Almost all assume today that the universal victory of liberal democracy as a global political regime is fated. Does this mean that the dissatisfaction and discontent that has driven history is now over, does it mean that human happiness has been achieved? Can politics now wither away? Is political philosophy no longer necessary? Do we know the answer of how to live and how to die? By the end of the course you will be acquainted with the questions that are being thought about and written about by the best political philosophers living today.

The readings will be considered lengthy by many students. I can tell you, however, that there is considerable variety in them, and that a few of the books are even entertaining as well as instructive. Also, in some cases we will only read portions of books.

I invite you to discuss the issues of the course with your student colleagues as well as with me, if not in class, then outside of class and via email. They should stimulate you to consider issues of tremendous importance to your life. Do not assume you know what the professor thinks in each and every instance, nor should it be assumed that I agree with each author or with every thing an author maintains. The books were chosen because of their thoughtfulness and fitness to the theme of the course.

Feel free at all times to consult with me about any problem or question you have.