PS 13 Power and Justice
Professor Philip A. Michelbach
Spring 2006
MW 10:00-10:50
email: pmichelb@weber.ucsd.edu
Office Hours: 1:00-2:00 Monday and 12:30-1:30 Wednesday in SSB 447
This course is an introduction to political theory. Political
theory as a sub-discipline of Political Science can focus on many
things, and this course will attempt an answer to the broad questions
of what political theory is and what it is for. Through an
analysis of a variety of texts this term we will explore (1) the ways
in which political power is deployed as well as (2) strategies
individuals use to engage unjust power.
Required Texts and Readings
All required readings can be accessed here at the course website.
There will be a screening of the film The Cowboys in the 9th week of
class (screening time TBA).
Evaluation
Course grades will be determined by performance on three take home
assignments and performance in required discussion sections. The
first of the written assignments, a one-page paper worth 15% of
the final grade, will be in the 3rd week of class. The second
assignment, a 5 page paper assigned in the 5th week and due in the 6th
week of class, is worth 35% of the final grade. The last
assignment (6 pp.), due during finals week, is worth 40% of the final
grade. The remaining 10% is determined by participation in
discussion sections.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Weeks 1-2:
Authority and Responsibility
Week 1: Stanley Milgram, Obedience; (W) Jean Paul Sartre, selection 1, selection 2
Week 2: Michel Foucault, Panopticism
Weeks 3-4:
Embodiments of Power
Week 3: Sophocles, Ajax
First Writing
Assignment due Friday, April 21 in SSB 301
Sample one page
assignment
Week 4: Plato, Apology
Weeks 5-7:
Technologies of Control
Week 5: Friedrich Nietzsche, selections
Beyond Good and Evil: (read
sections Title, Preface, § 1, §§ 3-6, § 9, §§ 21-22)
Beyond Good and Evil: (read §§
28-30, § 32, § 40, §§ 201-202)
Beyond Good and Evil: (read
§ 232, §§ 238-239)
The Gay Science: (
read §§ 124-125)
Twilight of the Idols: (§§
29-30, §§ 38-39)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: (Book I, Ch. 18)
zaraI18.html
Week 6:
(M) Hobbes, selections from Leviathan
Read Introduction, Chapters 1-6
and 10-16
Midterm Assignment
(W) Albert Hirshman,
selection
from The Passions and the Interests
Week 7:
(M) J.S. Mill, selections from On Liberty (Introductory and Of the Liberty of Thought
and Discussion)
(W) 1. Bruno
Bettelheim, Remarks
on the Psychological Appeal of Totalitarianism, 2. Turner Letter
Weeks 8-10: Social
Reproduction
Week 8:
(M) Ernest Gellner, selections from
Nations and Nationalism;
(W) Port
Huron Statement (Introduction only)
Week 9: (M) Holiday
Tuesday, May 30, 8 p.m. in York Hall 2722, screening of The Cowboys
(W) The Cowboys
Week 10: (M) Aristotle, Politics
(selection); (W) R.W. Emerson, Politics
Writing
Assignment 3, due Friday June 16 by 4:00 pm at SSB 447