Ancient Greek Politics and Political Thought

UC Berkeley, Spring 2022. Undergraduate lecture course. This class explores the varieties of political experience and ideas in the ancient Greek world, focusing on the Classical era. We consider different regime types (kingship, tyranny, democracy, oligarchy), places (Athens, Sparta, Crete, Syracuse, and beyond Hellas, Persia, Carthage, and Egypt), political forms (city-state, nation, alliance, empire), institutions (assembly, council, courts, offices) and persons (political leaders or “demagogues,” citizens, women, foreign residents, slaves). The readings are broadly chronological and include a wide variety of sources: epic and elegiac poetry, tragic and comic drama, history, inscriptions, speeches, pamphlets, and philosophy. Throughout, we keep an eye on the similarities and differences between ancient Greek and modern political ideas and practices, particularly with respect to three themes: political agency, democracy, and justice.

Syllabus

S22

Evaluations

S22

Aristotle's Politics

UC Berkeley, Fall 2021. Graduate seminar co-taught with Kinch Hoekstra (mean student evaluation 5.25/7). In this course, we read the whole of Aristotle's Politics, spending two weeks on each book (combining Books VII and VIII for this purpose). Prior knowledge of ancient Greek is not necessary, although we have the original on hand and discuss the meaning of the Greek as we go. This is a communal scholarly journey, featuring two faculty as lead teachers but drawing on graduate students and any other interested faculty members as equal collaborators. Theory grads in their first and second years are particularly encouraged to attend, but all graduates with an interest in theory in our department and proximate ones are welcome. Topics include the polis (city-state), oikos (household), freedom, slavery, Aristotle's interpretation of Plato, citizenship, democracy, oligarchy, Aristotle's ideal political system, the political implications of economic disparity, and how to think about and avoid political revolution. 

Syllabus

F21

Evaluations

F21

Liberty, Ancient and Modern

UC Berkeley, Spring 2021 (online). Graduate seminar (mean student evaluation 6.67/7). In a classic lecture of 1819, Benjamin Constant represented the “liberty of the ancients” as collective public liberty—that is, direct political power—predicated on war and slavery, combined with citizens’ total subservience to the community as private individuals. By contrast, he represented modern liberty as a tissue of private liberties, such as liberty of speech, religion, and association, predicated on peace and commerce, combined with political representation—that is, a division of political labour between rulers and ordinary citizens. How plausible was that account? In the first part of this course, we study the conceptualization of liberty (eleutheria, libertas) and its opposite, slavery, and some aspects of both public and private life in ancient Athens, Sparta, and Rome. In the second part, we explore how a selection of canonical early modern authors approached the idea of liberty, paying special attention to the role that claims about ancient Greece and Rome and the concepts of public and private played in their thought. In the process, we consider how far these men’s writings suggest the existence of two distinct theoretical traditions (one more “political,” foregrounding the concept of sovereignty, the other more “economic,” foregrounding natural sociability). We close with two weeks on the French Revolution, asking how far it constituted an attempt to return to the politics of the ancient world, and finally, a return to Constant in the light of what we’ve learned. 

Syllabus

S21

Evaluations

S21

Modern Political Thought (c. 1789-c. 1970)
UC Berkeley, Spring 2021 (online). Undergraduate lecture course (mean student evaluation 5.65/7). This course introduces some key moments in the history of the modern world through the writings of some its most stimulating and influential—though not always frequently studied—political thinkers and actors. The material is presented chronologically in the form of seven modules: (1) the French Revolution; (2) the division of labour and representation; (3) responses to capitalism and slavery; (4) Kultur and its discontents; (5) the Russian Revolution; (6) interwar and postwar politics; and (7) critiques of modernity. While the list of authors we’ll read is long and varied (including geographically), excerpts will be short, and the instructor will provide all necessary context. There are no prerequisites, and in the hope of providing some fascinating mental fodder for anyone interested in politics today, newcomers to the world of political theory are very welcome.

Syllabus

S21

Evaluations

S21

Athenian Democracy
UC Berkeley, Spring 2021 (online) and 2022. Freshman seminar (mean student evaluation 2021 - 6.44/7, 2022 - 7/7). In classical Athens, ordinary citizens ruled over the political elite. That's what demokratia, “rule by the people,” meant. How did non-elite Athenians pull that off? In this seminar, we’ll explore two fascinating, important and in some respects baffling short texts, both titled “The Constitution of the Athenians,” one attributed to Xenophon and the other to a student of Aristotle. We’ll also look at some additional brief extracts from Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. Though the material concerns ancient Greek politics, we’ll approach it with all our assumptions and anxieties about modern democracy in mind. How different was ancient Greek democracy from what we call democracy today—and could we manage something more like it here?

Syllabus

S21

Evaluations

S21

Syllabus

S22

Evaluations

S22

Syllabus

F19

Evaluations

F19

Democracy Ancient and Modern
Yale University, Spring 2019; UC Berkeley, Spring 2023 (upcoming). Undergraduate lecture course (mean student evaluation 2019 - 4.8/5). Dēmokratia, democratia, democracy. What did this term mean to the ancient Greeks who coined it, to the Romans who borrowed it, to the early modern Europeans who discussed it—and what does it mean today? Who or what was the original dêmos, how did it rule, and how different is the interpretation of “rule by the people” that now predominates? Starting with the first attestations of da-mo in the 12th century BC and ending with Iceland’s recent attempt to crowdsource its constitution, this course offers a chronological exploration of the idea and practice of democracy intended to broaden our imaginative horizons with respect to what democracy has been, is, and could become.

Syllabus

S19

Evaluations

S19

Ancient Greek Political Development
Yale University, Spring 2016 and Fall 2018. Graduate seminar (mean student evaluations 2016 - 4.8/5, 2018 - 4.5/5). This course explores the varieties of political experience in the ancient Greek world in the Archaic, Classical and (briefly) Hellenistic eras. Attention is given to different regime types (kingship, tyranny, democracy, oligarchy), places (e.g. Athens, Sparta, Crete, Carthage, Syracuse, and beyond Hellas, Persia and Egypt), political forms (city-state, nation, alliance, empire), institutions (assembly, council, courts, offices) and persons (political leader, citizen, woman, foreign resident, slave). The readings are broadly chronological and include a wide variety of sources: epic and elegiac poetry, tragic and comic drama, history, inscriptions, speeches, pamphlets, and philosophy.

Evaluations  S16

Evaluations 

F18

Plato, Aristotle, Cicero
Yale University, Fall 2018; UC Berkeley, Spring 2022. Mixed graduate and advanced undergraduate seminar (mean student evaluation 2018 - 4.6/5, 2022 - 6.9/7). An opportunity to read, or to re-read, the most significant political statements of three foundational figures in the Western political tradition, paying due attention to both historical context and philosophical argument. It also aims to stimulate reflection on key elements of the modern political lexicon (e.g. politics, democracy, republic, justice, citizenship) by engaging with their Greek and Latin origins. Of particular interest will be the conceptualization of and relationships between a) the good (to agathon), the just (to dikaion) and the advantageous (to sympheron), and b) the honourable (honestas) and the useful (utilitas).

Syllabus F18

Evaluations F18

Syllabus S22

Evaluations

(Undergrad)

S22

Evaluations

(Graduate)

S22

Syllabus

S18

Evaluations

S18

Syllabus

F15

Evaluations

F15