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PHL 253 Course Title: Social and Political Philosophy Course Developer Course Code: PHL 253 Course Title: Social and Political Philosophy Course Developer/ Writer: Oyekunle O. Adegboyega, Ph.D. Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts National Open University of Nigeria. Course Editor: Emmanuel A. Akintona (Associate Professor) Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB) Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF ARTS NATONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA 1 PHL 253: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY National Open University of Nigeria Abuja 2 Course Guide Introduction Welcome to PHL 253: Political and Social Philosophy. PHL 253 is a three-credit unit course with a minimum duration of one semester. It isa compulsory course for Philosophy Major (degree) students in the university. The course is expected to provide instruction on the basic concepts of political and social philosophy. It is also expected to espouse its method and relevancies to human society. The course, which has evolved over time as distinguished from political science, domiciled in the arts; pay particular attention to the study of the major themes and figures in the history of social and political thought such as: Justice (Plato, Aristotle, Rawls, Iris Young), Power and Authority (Machiavelli and Hobbes), State of Nature and Social Contract (Hobbes and Locke), General Will (Rousseau) Majority Rule (Locke), Liberty (Mill), Revolution and Alienation (Marx), Democracy, etc. The aim is to equip the students with the skill to identify, explain and express the basic concepts and a broad understanding of political and social philosophy and enable them torelate these themes to contemporary concerns in African Thought and situation, etc. Course Objectives By the end of the course you will be able to: - Identify the basic questions in political and social philosophy. - Understand the methodology and the relevance of political and social philosophy to human society. - Distinguish between political philosophy and political science - Explain the socio-political philosophies of major philosophers in the West. - Clarify the major concepts in political and social philosophy - Understand the development and history of social and political thought - Clarify the concept of power and authority. - Discuss the concept of justice. - Identify and explain the various political ideologies, such as democracy, capitalism, socialism etc. - Know the meaning and nature of political power. 3 Working through the course: To complete this course of study successfully, please read the study units, listen to the audios and videos, do all the assignments, open the links and read, participate in discussion fora, read the recommended books and other materials provided, prepare your portfolios, and participate in the online facilitation. Each study unit has introduction, intended learning outcomes, the main content, conclusion, summary and references/further readings. The introductory part will tell you the expectations in the study unit. You must read and understand the intended learning outcomes (ILOs). In the intended learning outcomes, you will come across what you should be able to do at the end of each study unit. So, you can evaluate your learning at the end of each unit to ensure you have achieved the intended learning outcomes. For you to achieve this goal, that is, to meet the intended learning outcomes, there are texts, videos and links arranged into modules and units in the study material. Do not ignore any of these, rather, you should click on the links as may be directed, but where you are reading the text offline, you will have to copy and paste the link address into a browser. You can download the audios and videos to view offline. You can also print or download the text and save in your computer, android or any other external drive. The conclusion tells you the subject matter of the unit, which indicates the knowledge that you are taking away from the unit. Unit summaries are recaps of what you have studied in the unit. It is presented in downloadable audios and videos.The references/further readings are other study materials like journals, encyclopedia, books etc. that were either used in the cause of preparing this study material, or not used but could be of help in enhancing further what you have studied in this material. There are two main forms of assessment—the formative and the summative. The formative assessment will help you monitor your learning. This is presented as in-text questions, discussion fora and self-Assessment Exercises. The summative assessments would be used by the university to evaluate your academic performance. This will be given as Computer Based Test (CBT) which serves as continuous assessment and final examinations. A minimum of two or a maximum of three 4 computer-based tests will be given with only one final examination at the end of the semester. You are required to take all the computer-based tests and the final examination. Study Units There are 25 study units in this course divided into Five (5) modules. The modules and units are presented as follows:- Module 1: The idea of political philosophy Unit 1: Nature and Origin of political philosophy. Unit 2: Meaning of political philosophy. Unit 3: Social contract theory. Unit 4: Political Science and Political Philosophy. Module 2: Western political thoughts Unit 1: Plato and Aristotle. Unit 2: St Thomas Aquinas. Unit 3: Thomas Hobbes Unit 4: John Locke Unit 5: J.J Rousseau. Unit 6: Niccolo Machiavelli. Unit 7: Karl Marx. Module 3: The idea of justice Unit 1: John Rawls‘ idea of justice Unit 2: Iris Young‘s idea of justice Unit 3: Robert Nozick 5 Module 4: Political concepts Unit: 1 Communalism Unit: 2 Socialism Unit: 3 Capitalism Unit: 4 Democracy Unit: 5 Anarchism References and Further Readings Adeigbo, F.A (ed) (1991), Readings In Social Political Philosophy Ibadan: Claverian Press David, A. (2004), ―John Locke, Carolina, and the Two Treatises of Government, in Political Theory, Oxford: Clarendon Press Bamikole, L.O. (2012). ―Nkrumah and the Triple Heritage Thesis and Development inAfricana Societies‖, in International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology. Vol. 2 No. 2 Berki, R. N (1977), The History Of Political Thought London: Dent Gewirth,A (1956), Political Philosophy Canada: Collier-Macmillan Bell D. (2012). ―Communitarianism‖, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from www.plato.stanford.edu/entry/communitarianism on 17/08 2014. Berry, G. (2007) ―Political Theory in a Nut Shell‖ http://www.freepublic.com/per/redirect?u=http://users.erol.com/gberry/politic s/theory.htm Chan, S.-Y. (2007) ‗Gender and Relationship Roles in the Analects and the Mencius‘, inConfucian Political Ethics. D. Bell (ed.), Princeton: Princeton University Press. Dale Murray, Robert Nozick: Political Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.http://www.iep.utm.edu/nozick/ Accessed June 20, 2014. Goldman, Emma (2014) Marriage and Love, http://www.marriage.org/id.html, on14/06/2014, Accessed. 6 Hobbes, T. (1963), Leviathan in English Works of Hobbes (ed). W. Molesworth II Vol. Aalen: Scientia, III Ibhawoh, B. and Dibua, J.I. (2003). ―Deconstructing Ujamaa: The Legacy of Julius Nyerere in the Quest for Social and Economic Development in Africa‖, in African Journal of Political Science. Vol. 8 no 1. 59-83. Irele, D. (1998). Introduction to Political Philosophy, Ibadan: University Press. King C. & Mc Gilvary (1973), Political and Social Philosophy: Traditional and Contemporary Readings, New York: Mc Gaw Hill Books Locke, John, (1988), Two Treatises of Government, P. Laslett (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Lasswell, H. (1958), Politics: Who Gets What, When and How Cleveland: The world Publishing Company McLean, L. (Ed.) (1996), Oxford Concise Dictionary N.Y: Oxford University Press Masolo, D.A. (2004). ―Western and African Communitarianism‖, in A Companion to African Philosophy. KwasiWiredu (ed). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Marx, K and Engels, F (1995), "Manifesto of the Communist Party," in FloyaAnthias and Michael Kelly, Sociological Debates: Thinking about the Social, United Kingdom, Greenwich University Press. Morrow, J. (1998), History of Political Thought: A Thematic Introduction London: Macmillan Press Ltd. Miller, D (1998), ―Political Philosophy‖ In Craig, E. (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy London: Routledge, 1998 Morrow, J. (1998), History of Political Thought: A Thematic Introduction London: Macmillan Press Ltd. Newall, P. ―Conception of Political Philosophy‖ http:/www.Rep.Routledge.com/ 7 article/so99, Accessed Nozick, R.(1974)Anarchy, State and Utopia, New York: Basic Books, Nwabuzor, E. and Mueller H. (1985), An Introduction to Political Science for African student, London: Macmillan Pub. Nyerere, J,K. (1977),Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism, Dar-es salaam, Oxford University Press Ogunmodede F. I (1986), Chief ObafemiAwolowo‟s Socio-Political Philosophy: A Critical Interpretation: Tipo-lito-grafia. Onigbinde, A.(2010) What is philosophy? A reader‟s digest in Philosophical Inquiry Ibadan: Frontline Resources Oji O. R (1997), An Introduction to Political Science, Enugu: Mary Dan Pub. Payne R. and Nassar J. R (2004), Politics and Culture in the Developing World: The Impact of Globalization USA. Pearson Education, Inc. Rawls, J. (1971)A Theory of Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press ________(1985). ―Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical: Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 14, No 3. Rosen, M (2000), Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London, Routledge. Russell, B (1948), History of Western Philosophy,
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