Course Description
This course will explore the most influential theories of freedom in the history of political thought. It will begin by comparing Ancient and Modern approaches. After drawing this contrast, the course will explore trends in Modern and contemporary approaches to freedom.
Athena Title
Theories of Freedom
Prerequisite
POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will come away from the course with an understanding of the genesis, strengths, and limits of some of our most important theories of freedom in human history.
- Students will develop a more analytically precise vocabulary with which to write about and discuss politics from a normative point of view, as well as evaluate social and political institutions in terms of how freedom-conducive or constraining they are.
- Students will develop their critical reading capacities by engaging closely with canonical texts in Western political thought.
- Students will enhance their writing capacities via assignments designed to further their abilities to express and defend their own points of view.
Topical Outline
- 1) Introduction: What is Freedom? What is its value?
- 2) Ancient contra Modern Approaches to Freedom (e.g., Benjamin Constant, Isaiah Berlin)
- 3) Negative Freedom or Liberty (e.g., Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill, FA Hayek)
- 4) Positive Freedom or Autonomy (e.g., J.S. Mill, R. W. Emerson, Immanuel Kant, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Friedrich Nietzsche)
- 5) Collective Autonomy (e.g., Jean Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx)
- 6) Relational Autonomy: Feminist Approaches (e.g., Jennifer Nedelsky, Sara Rushing, Eva Feder Kittay)
- 7) Freedom in Black Political Thought (e.g., Frantz Fanon, Marcus Garvey, Neil Roberts)
- 8) Against Autonomy (e.g., Friedrich Schiller, GWF Hegel)
- 9) How Different Notions of Freedom Lead to Different Political Commitments (reading selections in contemporary political theory)
- 10) Conclusion: Comparing Accounts of Freedom
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
