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Ph. D. Program in Political Science The Graduate Center, CUNY

SAMPLE FIRST EXAMINATION IN POLITICAL THEORY

May, 2010 -INSTRUCTIONS READ CAREFULLY [These are the instructions that are likely to appear on the exam.] Students taking the First Exam as their Minor Field must answer two questions from the following list of six questions. In the course of answering two questions, you must discuss theorists from two (or more) of the following periods in the history of political thought: ancient/medieval, modern, and twentieth-century/contemporary. You may not write about the same theorist in both questions. Students taking the First Exam as their Major Field must answer three questions from the following list of six questions. In the course of answering three questions, you must discuss theorists from all three of the following periods in the history of political thought: ancient/medieval, modern, and twentieth-century/contemporary. You may not write about the same theorist in more than two questions. *** [These questions will not appear on the exam.] 1. Discuss the conception and function of sovereignty in two of the following authors: Aristotle, Hobbes, Marx, Arendt, Foucault. 2. Discuss the meaning and political significance of education in two of the following authors: Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Mill, Weber, Foucault. 3. Compare and contrast how any two of the following theorists understand the requirements of ethics or morality, that is, what makes something ethical or moral: Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, and Dewey.