სსიპ-ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი

Course Syllabus

პოლიტიკური ფილოსოფია და თანამედროვე პოლიტიკა

Course Name
Political Philosophy and Contemporary Politics

Author (Authors) Nikoloz Esitashvili PhD, Invited Lecturer

Nikoloz Esitashvili PhD, Invited Lecturer

TSU International School of Economics, ISET, Office 2.7
Contact Information: (+995 32) 2507 177 e-mail: nikoloz.esitashvili@iset.ge
Lecturer (Lecturers)
Consultation hours, date/time are agreed with the Academic Affairs
Department of ISET.
Schedule is available on ISET webpage and also on Learning Management
System - Moodle.

Course Code

1. TSU Faculty of Economics and Business / International School of

Economics at TSU (ISET)
Course Status
2. Level: Bachelor’s Degree
3. Elective
The aim of the course is to teach students an introduction to the basics of
political philosophy. During the course, students will learn about the
fundamental issues of political philosophy.

Also during the course the student will explore the ideas of justice, law,
Course Goals
citizenship, freedom and equality in a historical context. Fair distribution of
wealth is considered, both in countries and globally; Students will learn
about the importance of freedom; The principles of democratic governance
and tolerance in public life.
5 Credit - 125 hours:

Interactive work (lecture/seminar/computer lab session) – 15 hours;

Student’s individual work – 110 hours, among them:
Number of credits and
 Preparation for the midterm exam - 30 hours
distribution of hours based on
 Preparation for practical assignment – 20 hours
students activities (ECTS)
 Preparation for lecture – 15 hours
 Consultations – 5 hours
 Preparation for the final exam – 30 hours.

Course Pre-requisite None

Course Results Knowledge and understanding:
student can:
(1) Understand the contribution of individual theorists and the historical
and political settings in which the theories arose;

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(2) Critical asses those economic, social, and political problems that these
theorists attempted to solve.

Skills: student can:

Be better readers, listeners, surveyors, debaters, presenters, moderators,
collaborators. The class will sharpen student skills contributing to their
individual, group and social productivity
Course Outline
See appendix 1

Teaching/Learning Methods
- Verbal
- Reading
- Written work method
- Practical method
- Explanatory method

Student evaluation will be based on 100 point system. 100 points is the max
Evaluation Criteria score. In order to receive credits, student must score at least 51 points.
The student evaluation system consists of:
a) Five types of positive assessment:
(A) Excellent – 91 and over
(B) Very Good – 81-90
(C) Good – 71-80
(D) Satisfactory – 61-70
(E) Sufficient – 51-60
b) Two types of negative assessment:
(FX) Marginal Fail – 41-50
(F) Fail – 40 and less

Student allows to pass an additional (make-up exam) exam in the same

semester.
Components of evaluation:

Total score max score of 100

Including:

Intermediary score Max 50 points

Including:

Assignments Max 20 points

Activity - Semester
activity/Participation: 0 - 20 points
practical assignments / written and
oral assignments.
Activity - 1 point (1 x 10 activities = 10
points) Total 10 points:
Criteria – the knowledge level of the

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სსიპ-ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი

lectures taken, the completeness of the

retrieved literature, skills of logical
thinking, articulating own ideas, and
discussion, culture of written
communication.
Quiz - 0-10 points (2 Quiz x 10 points)
Total 10 points
Assessment methods and criteria are as
follows:
9-10 points: quiz content-wise is
complete, terminology is properly
used. The topic of the quiz is presented
in a deep and comprehensive manner.
Both primary and secondary literature
has been used. The paper provides
arguments.
5-8 points: quiz is curtailed;
terminology is properly used; the topic
of the quiz is presented in a
comprehensive manner; Errors are
inessential; there are certain types of
errors; the paper provides arguments.
1-4 points: the topic of the quiz is
poorly presented, the topic and the
terminology is incomplete, the student
has little knowledge of the
program/course material, errors are
important and essential.
0 points: no quiz done.

Midterm exam Max 30 points

Mid-term exam is a written test.

The criteria for the written test – the
knowledge level of the lectures taken,
the completeness of the retrieved
literature, academic skills of logical
thinking, articulating own ideas, and
discussion.
Mid-term exam is a combination of 10
tests (1 x 10 = 10 points) and 2
theoretical topics (2 x 10 = 20 points)
Total - 30 points;
Theoretical aspect: the work student
has to complete, is scheduled. Selected
topics fully reflect the covered
program.

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Final exam Max 50 points

Student should accumulate at least 11

points to be eligible for the final exam.
30 tests (1 x 30 = 30), 2 theoretical
topics (2 x 10 = 20).
The final exam is held after finishing
the lectures and sessions in written
and/or tickets/tests form. Special
attention is paid to the ability of
synthesizing the knowledge and
constructing new ideas.
Theoretical topics are assessed based
on the criteria mentioned above.
The final exam is considered as passed
if student receives 50% of maximum
points.

The Key literature

Albert Somit, Sartre's Existentialism as a Political Theory
Allen Buchanan, “Assessing the Communitarian Critique of Liberalism” in
Ethics, Vol. 99, No. 4 (Jul., 1989).
Anthony Quinton and Anne Norton, “Conservatism” in A Companion to
Contemporary Political Philosophy: Second Edition (Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, 2007), eds. Robert Goodin, Philip Pettit, and Thomas Pogge.
Francis Fukuyama. The End of History and the Last Man. 1992.
Jeffrey Church, Infinite Autonomy: The Divided Individual in the Political
Thought of G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche.
James Nickel, “Are Human Rights Mainly Implemented by Intervention?” in
Rawls’s Law of Peoples: A Realistic Utopia? (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006),
eds. D. Reidy & R. Martin.
James Nickel, “The Contemporary Idea of Human Rights” in Making Sense of
Human Rights: Second Edition (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).
James Sheehan. 2006. The Problem of Sovereignty in European History. The
American Historical Review. 111(1).
Jane Mansbridge and Susan Moller Okin, “Feminism” in, A Companion to
Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 2nd
Edition, eds. R.E. Goodin, P. Pettit, T. Pogge.
Jeremy Waldron, “Mill and the Value of Moral Distress” in Political Studies,
Vol. 35, No. 3, 1987.
Jeremy Waldron, “Theoretical Foundations of Liberalism” in Liberal Rights:
Collected Papers 1981-1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
John Simmons, “Civil Disobedience and the Duty to Obey the Law” in A
Companion to Applied Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), eds. R.G. Frey and
C.H. Wellman.
Jonas Proast, “The Argument of the Letter Concerning Toleration, Briefly
Considered and Answered” in Locke on Toleration (Cambridge: Cambridge

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Additional literature and other
learning materials
Additional
information/Conditions
University Press, 2010), ed. R. Vernon.
Kimberley Brownlee, “Conscientious Objection and Civil Disobedience”
Forthcoming in The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Law. Andrei
Marmor(ed.)
Leslie Green, “On Being Tolerated” in The Legacy of H.L.A. Hart (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008).
Martha Nussbaum, “Objectification” in Philosophy and Public Affairs (1995),
Vol. 24, No. 4.
Michael Mann. The Sources of Social Power. Vol I: A history of power from
the beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Paul Kennedy. The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the
United Nations. 2007.
Samuel Huntington. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World
Order. 1996.
Stanley Aronowitz, Postmodernism and Politics.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Thom Brooks Hegel’s Political Philosophy.
Susan Mendus and David Edwards (eds). On Toleration. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987.
All required literature are available at ISET library and provided on ISET
learning management system Moodle http://moodle.iset.ge/
An introduction to political philosophy, Jonathan Wolf, Oxford University
Press, 2006.
Contemporary Political Philosophy, Will Kymlicka, Oxford University Press,
2002.
All additional literature are available at ISET library and provided on ISET
learning management system Moodle http://moodle.iset.ge/
This course requires intensive reading, studying, and time spent
contemplating moral and political questions. Students must not fall behind in
the class, as it will be very difficult to catch up.
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Appendix 1
Course Outline

Topic (lecture/working group/ practical work, Laboratory Materials

№ work and etc.)

1 What is Political Philosophy? Plato, Apology

The oldest of constructive inquiry, the study of political
philosophy must begin with the works of Plato, and
examine in depth the fundamental concepts and categories
of the study of politics. The questions “which regimes are
best?” and “what constitutes good citizenship?” are posed
and discussed in the context of Plato’s Apology.
2 What is Political Philosophy? (Continued)
Bonus (one page summary of each video
adds extra two points towards your final
grade):
Video 1/What is Political Philosophy:
https://oyc.yale.edu/political-science/plsc
-114/lecture-1
Lecture notes are available on Moodle

The focus remains on the Apology as a symbol for the

violation of free expression, with Socrates justifying his Lecture notes are available on Moodle
way of life as a philosopher and defending the utility of
philosophy for political life.

3 Socratic Citizenship

In Crito, Socrates tries to use REASON/philosophy (rather

than the values embedded in his culture) to determine
whether an action is right or wrong. The Crito, a dialogue Lecture notes are available on Moodle
taking place in Socrates’ prison cell, is about civil
obedience, piety, and the duty of every citizen to respect
and live by the laws of the community.

4 The State of Nature & Justifying the State – classical and Hobbes, Leviathan, Chaps. 13-14
Locke, Second Treatise of Civil
modern approaches
Government, Chaps. II-V

What would life be like in a 'natural' state, a world

without government?
Why ask this question? What is its relevance for political
philosophy? We take for granted that we live in a world of
political institutions: central government, local

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government, the police, the law courts. These institutions

distribute and administer political power. They place
people in offices of responsibility, and these people then
claim to have the right to command us to act in various
ways. And, if we disobey and are caught, we will be
punished. This level of interference in our lives can seem
intolerable. But what is the alternative?

5 Who should rule? classical and modern approaches

Plato’s Critique of Democracy, excerpt
from Republic, powerpoint
Jeremy Bentham’s, Fragment on Government provides a
Jeremy Bentham’s, Fragment on
utilitarian approach to justifying the existence of Government, powerpoint
government and suggests its potential functions. Bentham’s John Mill, Considerations on
work is preceded by Platonic masterpiece, which Representative Government, powerpoint

altogether questions democracy as a viable form of

governance. Check also Kimberley Brownlee’stake on Civil
Disobedience.

6 Freedom/Liberty – classical and modern approaches

John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty was the canonic text for an

approach in favor of the maximization of liberty. We will
Mill, on rights - Mill discusses the
define what is liberty/freedom and focus on the arguments
principle of harm
pro and con Mill’s theory of liberty. According to Marx
Marx, on the Jewish Question
liberal rights are egoistic rights of separation, rights which,
Jeremy Waldron, "The Mill and the
encourage each individual to view others as limitations to
Value of Moral Distress" in Political
his or her freedom. Marx's idea is that the genuinely
Studies, Vol. 35, No3, 1987, p. 410-423
emancipated society is one in which individuals see
themselves, and act, as fully co-operating members of a
community of equals. Mill and/or Marx? Take a look at a
modern approach to Mill’s moral argument by Jeremy
Waldron
7 Justice and Property – classical approach Plato, Republic, powerpoints
Hume, Of the Origin of Justice and
Plato’s Republic provides five different definitions of Property
justice. Four of these definitions are advanced and
criticized from traditional justice through poetic justice to
the Sophist reduction of justice to power and concluding
with one version of the idea of justice as a social contract.

An alternative theory on the origin and function of justice

is provided by David Hume’s account of justice. The
selection from “Of the Origin of Justice and Property,”
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follows Aristotle in exhibiting an interpretation of justice

which tends to view justice as a conserving social value
rather than a reforming social value.

8 Justice and Property/Distributive justice - classical and

modern approaches
John Locke, whose ideas we broached earlier, addressed
himself in his writings on property primarily to the
question: how can an individual form a right to property
Locke's Second Treatise, a chapter on
appropriated from its natural state?
property, powerpoint
Frederick Engels, Speeches in Elberfeld
In his Speeches in Elberfeld, quoted above, Engels
complains that the free market is extraordinarily wasteful.
This is essentially a utilitarian argument against the free
market, and Engels has two main charges.

9 A conceptual analysis of “distributive justice” has been

extraordinarily popular in twentieth-century philosophy.
This is John Rawls’s analysis of justice presented in the
essay “Justice as Fairness.” Rawls’s analysis has generated
much political controversy that relates back to the
justification of egalitarian redistributionism and to the
previously raised issue of the relationship between
economic growth, economic equality, and economic
deprivation. Nozick argues that the state is justified only
when it is severely limited to the narrow function of
protection against force, theft and fraud and to the
enforcement of contracts. Among the many achievements
of the work is an important new theory of distributive
justice.
10 Interrogating sovereignty
 Globalization
 The role of the state in a globalized world
11 The “end of history,” the “clash of civilizations”
 Have we reached an ideological consensus?
 Or is it just another transformation of conflict?
12 Toleration
 As a political culture
 As an intellectual habit
John Rawls, Justice as Fairness
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and
Utopia, powerpoint
James Sheehan. 2006. The Problem of
Sovereignty in European History. The
American Historical Review. 111(1), pp.
1-15;
Michael Mann. The Sources of Social
Power. Vol I: A history of power from
the beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge
University Press, 1986. Ch. 1
Samuel Huntington. The Clash of
Civilizations and the Remaking of World
Order. 1996. Ch. 8.
Francis Fukuyama. The End of History
and the Last Man. 1992. Ch. 26.
Jonas Proast, “The Argument of the
Letter Concerning Toleration, Briefly
Considered and Answered” in Locke on
Toleration (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2010), ed. R. Vernon,

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pp. 54-66.
Karl Popper, “Toleration and Intellectual
Responsibility” in On Toleration
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987),
eds. Susan Mendus & Dave Edwards, pp.
17-35.
13 Contemporary manifestations of: Jane Mansbridge and Susan Moller Okin,
 Feminism “Feminism” in, A Companion to
 Objectification Contemporary Political Philosophy
 Conservatism (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007),
2nd
Edition, eds. R.E. Goodin, P. Pettit, T.
Pogge, pp. 332-360.
Martha Nussbaum, “Objectification” in
Philosophy and Public Affairs (1995),
Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 249-291.
“Conservatism” in A Companion to
Contemporary Political Philosophy:
Second Edition (Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, 2007), eds. Robert Goodin,
Philip Pettit, and Thomas Pogge, pp.
285-311.
14 Human Rights James Nickel, “The Contemporary Idea
 Do human rights affect interstate politics? of Human Rights” in Making Sense of
 What is the role of legitimacy in politics? Human Rights: Second Edition (Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Ch. 1, pp. 7-21.
John Rawls, The Law of Peoples
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1999), pp. 78-82.

15 Review

16-18 Sessional period

Final Exam -

Note: The midterm exam will be held in the week of 8th, 9th

The final exam will be held in the weeks of 16th-18th

The make-up exam will be held in the week of 19th