GOV 382M, Unique #38475 Political Philosophy of Plato (2018) TTH 2-3:30 pm, BAT 1.104

Note: No computers or other electronic devices in class

Thomas L. Pangle [email protected] Office Hours: Mon. 12:30-3:30 PM Mez. 3.154

Prerequisites: Some reading knowledge of ancient Greek would be very helpful; students are strongly encouraged to read or to consult the original as much as they are able. It will be assumed that students have a basic familiarity with major thinkers in the history of political philosophy, as well as some experience with studying Plato.

Course Description: A theoretically informed close reading and study of the greatest and most influential work of classical political philosophy, Plato's Republic. Themes include: the Platonic analysis of the problematic of justice; the relation between the philosophic life anbd civil society; the meaning of the “best regime” as the central theme of Platonic and consequently of classical and medieval political philosophy. These and other related themes will be addressed by way of a textual analysis that is constantly informed and invigorated by comparisons with the radically different approach to these and kindred themes in modern political philosophy, beginning with Machiavelli and Hobbes and continuing through the twentieth century.

Grading policy, REQUIREMENTS: 30% six bi-weekly 1-2 page papers, on one of the study questions handed out each week, or on a portion of the text not yet covered in class. Three due before spring break. (5% each). 10% Class participation. 60% Two analytic, textual interpretative papers, 10-15 pages each, one due at end of Spring break and one at end of term. Some suggested topics will be handed out. No late papers or question sets will be accepted except in cases of serious illness or family emergency.

Greek option: students with one year or more of Greek may pareticipate in a group that meets weekly with a tutor to work at translating passages from the Republic, in lieu of two of the six 1-2 page papers.

Required reading: Plato's Cleitophon. In T. Pangle, ed., The Roots of Political Philosophy (Cornell U.). Plato’s Republic, trans. Allan Bloom (Harper Collins, Basic Books).

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Standard Greek ed.: James Adam, The Republic of Plato [Greek text with Critical Notes, the latter being what you need] Cambridge U., 1900. Available online at: https://ia802704.us.archive.org/32/items/republicplato00adamgoog/rep ublicplato00adamgoog.pdf

Some Selected Recommended Secondary Literature: Peter Ahrensdorf (1994) “The Question of Historical Context and the Study of Plato,” Polity 27: 113-35. David Bolotin, “The Critique of Homer and the Homeric Heroes in Plato’s Republic,” in M. Palmer and T. L. Pangle, eds., Political Philosophy and the Human Soul (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995), 83-94. JA 71 P62 Christopher Bruell, “On Plato’s Political Philosophy,” Review of Politics 56:2 (Spring 1994) 261-82. JA 1 R4 Linda Rabieh, "Leo Strauss on the Politics of Plato’s Republic." In Timothy Burns, ed., Brill's Companion to Leo Strauss' Writings on Classical Political Thought. Brill, 2015. Devin Stauffer, Plato’s Introduction to the Question Of Justice (Albany: SUNY Press, 2001) B398. J87 S73 Leo Strauss, The City and Man (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964), chap. 2. 320.9 ST827C _____, “The Problem of Socrates: Five Lectures,” in The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 103-83. JA 81 S756

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