College Seminar (101-7-22)
Topic
What is Democracy?
Instructors
Axel Mueller
847/491-2558
Kresge 3-345
Meeting Info
Kresge 3438 Philosophy Sem. Rm: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
In this seminar we will examine some of the fundamental ideas and questions behind democracy and provide a reading of their "inventors". Some of the questions are: What is democracy? Is it a form of government, a value, an ideal, a political system, a form of life, a bit of all this? Is democracy always the best political solution (in wartime? general starvation?)? Why should the whole of the people decide and not the specialists in the respective questions? Are all democratically taken decisions automatically legitimate (what about minorities\' rights?)? How should all citizens in a democracy participate in politics? By direct self-government of the people or by voting representatives? Is everything democratically decidable or does the individual have unalterable rights? Is tolerance and/or free speech necessary for democracy and how far can it go?
Learning Objectives
As a WRITING seminar, this course will teach every student the stepwise development of the general skills needed to write an academic research paper: formulating a claim with clarity, arguing in support of it by using evidence, logical analysis, and commonsense knowledge. It will familiarize the students with critically interpreting sources, anticipating and discussing objections, organizing and formulating the resulting position compellingly. At the conclusion of the course, the student should be able to know what it takes to write a successful research assignment not only in philosophy, but quite generally in academic contexts. As a PHILOSOPHY course, the students will learn the core ideals of major classics of democratic theory from Aristotle to Habermas in a historically guided systematic development of the normative ideal "democratic state". In this process, they will also learn to apply these (=our) ideals reflectively and critically on contemporary challenges to democratic practice like elite domination, racism and populism. Reading and interpreting the sources will enable them to interpret social scientific and philosophical texts and ideas with fluency. At the conclusion of the course students will be able to write a competent research paper that critically and reflectively analyzes core assumptions of present-day democratic practice.
Class Materials (Required)
A course reader will be available for purchase at Quartet.
Course Reader containing:
*Aristotle: Politics, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995
*Locke, John: Second Treatise of Government, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980.
*de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis: The Spirit of Law, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
*Madison, James: The Federalist Papers, ed. by Isaac Kramnick, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1987
Class Attributes
WCAS College Seminar