COURSE OUTLINE

Academic Year: 2022/2023

Course Code and Title: HA 1002, “Introduction to Political Theory”

Academic Unit: 3 AU

HA 1002, “Introduction to Political Theory”

[Lectures: 26 hours; Tutorials: 13 hours; Academic Unit: 3.0]

Course Director: Christopher Holman

Office: SHHK-06-04
Email: cholman@ntu.edu.sg
Office Hours: TBA

Teaching Assistant: Ang Ming Wei

Email: mingwei001@e.ntu.edu.sg

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course a student should:

1. Have acquired a general familiarity with the tradition of political thought, including
knowledge of the key theoretical frameworks, concepts, and methodologies espoused by
this tradition’s most important philosophical representatives.

2. Be able to articulate the nature of the relation between the theoretical approaches studied
and their historical situation, that is, understand the degree to which philosophical
production is developed in and informed by specific political, social, and economic
realities.

3. Be able to demonstrate, while being cognizant of the above, the relevance of the tradition
of political thought to the analysis of presently existing political institutions and
practices.

4. Be able to use their analytic skills to review and critically interpret complex textual
material.

5. Be able to present their opinions in a coherent and logical way, both orally and in writing.

1
Content

This course will aim to provide students with a conceptually based introduction to the study of
political theory. The study of politics requires a firm understanding of the philosophical
assumptions that inform our various understandings of the nature of human beings and how they
relate to one another. The course will present to students various of the fundamental normative
claims made throughout the history of political thought, and how these claims structure specific
recommendations for the ordering of political life. Through the survey of the thought of key
political philosophers such as Confucius, Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Mill and
others, the course will ask students to consider important questions about the nature of individual
rights, the roots of government authority, the circumstances of legitimate revolution, the
justification of religious tolerance, and the meaning of political ideals such as liberty, equality,
and justice. We will consider both the specific historical context within which these theorists
articulate their positions, as well as their continuing relevance, that is, the ways in which they are
able to contribute to shaping and informing our contemporary understanding of human goods
and needs, justice, democracy, and so on. An aim of the course will be to understand the
strengths and weaknesses of various thinkers and their philosophical approaches in order to gain
a critical perspective on our own. In the first part of the course we will examine the key debates
that have emerged within the Western political tradition. In the latter part of the course we will
turn to the newly developing field of comparative political theory, examining certain non-
Western traditions (specifically the Confucian, South Asian, and Islamic), in order to reveal their
unique contributions to the analysis of political thought and history.

Course Outline

Lecture Tutorial
S/N Topic Hours Hours
1 Introduction and Overview 2 1
Foundations of the Liberal Conception of
2 Human Being 2 1
Historical Critiques of the Liberal State of
3 Nature 2 1
4 The Social Contract 2 1
Utilitarian and Other Critiques of the Contract
5 Model 2 1
6 The Critique of Democracy 2 1
7 Representative vs. Participatory Democracy 2 1
8 Varieties of Liberty 2 1
9 Distributive Justice 2 1
10 Additional Challenges to Liberalism
11 Islamic Political Thought 2 1
12 Indian Political Thought 2 1
13 Confucian Political Thought 2 1

2
Assessment Scheme

Students will be assessed by:

-Class Participation: 20%

Students should regularly attend lecture and tutorial sessions, although your participation grade
will be based only on your performance in the latter. Good performance in tutorial, however,
depends upon being familiar with the content presented in lecture. It should be noted that
material that will be presented in lecture will often diverge from and expand upon material
covered in your readings. It is essential that students both do the assigned readings and attend
lecture every week.

-Mid-term Paper: 30%

In the weeks prior to the mid-term due date, students will receive a set of questions and be
responsible for answering one. These questions will involve engagement with primary course
material beyond that assigned on the syllabus. Further details will be provided in lecture.

-Final Exam: 50%

Further details will be provided in lecture.

Academic Honesty

It is the responsibility of students to familiarize themselves with NTU’s policies regarding

academic integrity: https://libguides.ntu.edu.sg/c.php?g=894110&p=6451616. Students found
plagiarizing written work will be reported to the relevant academic authorities. In order to ensure
students are motivated to avoid academic dishonesty, all written assignments must be uploaded
to Turnitin on the course webpage

Reading Schedule

Assigned readings will be made available on the course’s NTULearn webpage. Complete texts
for you to consult for your mid-term papers may be acquired through the NTU library system or
via online retailers such as amazon.com, bookdepository.com, and abebooks.com. Various books
from this course are also sometimes stocked at the main Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City.

2: August 19: Foundations of the Liberal Conception of Human Being

-Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy, pp. 6-23
-Hobbes, Leviathan, chapters 13-14 (pp. 86-100)
-Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapters 1-4 (pp. 7-18)

3
3: August 26: Historical Critiques of the Liberal State of Nature
-Wolff, pp. 24-33
-Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Preface (pp. 33-36)
-Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, pp. 58-68

4: September 2: The Social Contract

-Wolff, pp. 34-48
-Hobbes, Leviathan, chapters 16-18, 21 (pp. 111-129, 145-154)
-Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapters 9, 11 (pp. 65-68, 69-75)

5: September 9: Utilitarian and Other Critiques of the Contract Model

-Wolff, pp. 48-61
-Marx, The Communist Manifesto, chapter 1 (pp. 158-169)
-Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” pp. 99-101
-Mill, Utilitarianism, chapter 2 (pp. 6-22)

6: September 16: The Critique of Democracy

-Wolff, pp. 62-77
-Plato, Republic, 507b-520d, 557a-563d
-Mill, Considerations on Representative Government, chapter 5 (pp. 246-261)

7: September 23: Representative vs. Participatory Democracy (mid-term paper due)

-Wolff, pp. 77-103
-Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book 1, chapters 6-8 (pp. 147-151); Book 2, chapters 1-4, 7 (pp.
153-159, 162-165); Book 3, chapter 1 (pp. 173-176); Book 4, chapters 7-8 (pp. 219-227)

8: October 7: Varieties of Liberty

-Wolff, pp. 104-132
-Mill, On Liberty, chapter 1 (pp. 69-83), chapter 4 (pp. 143-153)
-Marx, “On the Jewish Question,” pp. 2-21

9: October 14: Distributive Justice

-Wolff, pp. 133-152
-Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapter 5 (pp. 18-30)
-Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, pp. 150-155, 160-164
-Marx, Capital, Volume One, chapter 26 (pp. 294-297)

10: October 21: Additional Challenges to Liberalism

-Wolff, pp. 177-199
-Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, pp. 7-8, 52-55, 76-77
-Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, First Essay (pp. 11-28), Second Essay, chapter 12 (pp.
57-59)

11: October 28: Islamic Political Thought

4
-Mahdi, “Alfarabi” in Dallmayr (ed.), Comparative Political Theory: An Introduction, pp. 39-54
-Umar, “Farabi and Greek Political Philosophy” in Parel and Keith (eds.), Comparative Political
Philosophy: Studies under the Upas Tree, pp. 185-216
-Qutb, “Signposts along the Road” in Euben and Zaman (eds.), Princeton Readings in Islamist
Thought, pp. 136-144
-Qutb, “In the Shade of the Qur’an” in Euben and Zaman (eds.), Princeton Readings in Islamist
Thought, pp. 145-152
-Qaradawi, “Islam and Democracy” in Euben and Zaman (eds.), Princeton Readings in Islamist
Thought, pp. 230-245

12: November 4: Indian Political Thought

-Parekh, “Some Reflections on the Hindu Tradition of Political Thought” in Dallmayr (ed.),
Comparative Political Theory: An Introduction, pp. 107-116
-The Laws of Manu, chapters 1.1-119, 2.1-25, 7.1-136, 8.1-118, 9.313-336
-Parel, “Gandhi and the Emergence of the Modern Indian Political Canon” in Dallmayr (ed.),
Comparative Political Theory: An Introduction, pp. 147-165
-Parel, “Mahatma Gandhi’s Critique of Modernity” in Parel and Keith (eds.), Comparative
Political Philosophy: Studies under the Upas Tree, pp. 163-182

13: November 11: Confucian Political Thought

-Confucius, The Analects, books 1-20

Primary Works

Burke, Edmund, Reflections on the Revolution in France, J.G.A. Pocock (ed.), (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company, 1987) .

Confucius, Analects, R. Eno (trans. and ed.), Online Teaching Translation.

Euben, Roxanne and Muhammad Qasim Zaman (eds.), Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009).

Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan, R. Tuck (ed.), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

The Laws of Manu, W. Doniger (trans.), (London: Penguin Books, 2000).

Locke, John, Second Treatise of Government, C.B. Macpherson (ed.), (Indianapolis: Hackett
Publishing Company, 1980).

Marx, Karl, Selected Writings, L.H. Simon (ed.), (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company,
1994).

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism and other writings, G. Williams (ed.), (London: Everyman’s
Library, 1971).

5
Nietzsche, Friedrich, On the Genealogy of Morals, W. Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale (eds.),
(New York: Vintage Books, 1969).

Nozick, Robert, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974).

Plato, The Republic of Plato, A. Bloom (trans.), (New York: Basic Books, 1991).

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Basic Political Writings (D. Cress trans. and ed.), (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company, 1987).

Secondary Works

Dallmayr, Fred (ed.), Comparative Political Theory: An Introduction (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010).

Parel, Anthony and Ronald Keith (eds.), Comparative Political Philosophy: Studies under the
Upas Tree (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2003).

Wolff, Jonathan, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press,

2006).

6
Appendix 1: Assessment Criteria for Class Participation

  Very Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Inadequate

Frequency of Student proactively Student proactively

Participation contributes to contributes to Student rarely Student does not
discussion during discussion in a participates in class participate in class
every class. majority of classes.discussion. at all.
Student's
Student's Student's contributions
contributions contributions sometimes engage Student's
Quality of reflect an excellent reflect an adequate with the course contributions do
Participation understanding of understanding of material, but not reflect direct
and engagement and engagement mostly do not engagement with
with the course with the course reflect serious the course
material. material consideration of it. material.
Student often
attends class
Student always Student always without having Student
attends class attends class reviewed the demonstrates no
Preparation having reviewed having reviewed course material in evidence of having
the course material the course material advance, and rarely reviewed or
in advance and in advance, and has specific considered the
with questions to often has questions questions to course material in
discuss. to discuss. discuss. advance.

7
Appendix 2: Assessment Criteria for Written Work

Unsatisfactor Unacceptabl
Excellent Very Good Satisfactory
  y e
Paper followed Paper has a Paper does
Paper makes
proper structure Paper followed clear not
little attempt
and logical proper organization consistently
to follow
Structure and organization structure and although it apply the
proper
Organization clearly leads has mostly sometimes proper
structure and
reader through logical strays from structure and
is poorly
the arguments organization. the logical is not well
organized.
and evidence. narrative. organized.
Somewhat Paper has few
Strong and clear
unclear or arguments Paper made
arguments that Clear
weak and draws or no attempt
Argumentatio offer nuanced arguments that
arguments weak or to construct
n and offer relatively
that produce logically a logical
sophisticated sound insights.
mostly valid inconsistent argument.
insights.
insights. insights.
Demonstrates
exceptional Demonstrates
Demonstrates
analytical Demonstrates some
little
originality in analytical analytical
analytical Makes no
creating new originality in originality,
originality, attempt to
arguments and creating new but often
Analysis mostly provide
interpreting arguments and simply
repeating original
content in new interpreting repeating
arguments analysis.
ways (beyond content in new arguments
covered in
what is ways. covered in
class.
discussed in class.
class).
The depth of
engagement
Paper offers Basic content
with the Basic content
detailed is correct, but
Paper offers literature is is incorrect
evidence it is not
Depth of thorough and somewhat due to lack of
grounded in supported
Research well-supported lacking, engagement
close reading of through
evidence. although with
the relevant appeal to
some literature.
literature. literature.
evidence
presented.
One major or Two to three
No major Four or more
Grammar, several minor major stylistic
No stylistic stylistic errors, major
Syntax, stylistic errors and
errors. a few minor stylistic
Punctuation errors. several minor
errors. errors.
errors.