Schedule

Last updated: Thu, Jan 22, 2026

Date Module Readings Due Dates
2026-01-21 Course overview Revolutionary ideas: Political philosophy between the past and the future
2026-01-26 The making of modern political philosophy The philosopher who would be king I
  • Plato, Republic, [Translator's] Preface & 327a–354c [CourseWorks > Files]
 Please complete this “Getting to Know You” survey by 5pm the day before (or as soon as possible if you are joining late)
2026-01-28 The making of modern political philosophy The philosopher who would be king II
  • Plato, Republic, 484a–489c [CourseWorks]
  • Plato, Statesman, 291d–303b [CourseWorks]
2026-02-02 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature I
  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651), chaps. 11, 13, 14.1–9, 15.1–7, 17–18, 29.23 [anthology]
2026-02-04 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature II
  • John Locke, Second Treatise (1689), chaps. 1–5, 8 (only §§ 95-99, 119–22), 9–11 [anthology]
2026-02-09 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature III
  • Locke, Second Treatise, chaps. 6-7 [anthology]
2026-02-11 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature IV
  • Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract (1988), Preface and chap. 3 [CourseWorks]
2026-02-16 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature V
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality (1755), selections
2026-02-18 The making of modern political philosophy Before the state there was nature VI
  • Charles Mills, The Racial Contract (1997), selections
2026-02-23 The making of modern political philosophy Give me liberty or give me death I
  • Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (1748), 8.16 [CourseWorks] and 11.6 [anthology]
  • Declaration of Independence (1776)
  • U.S. Constitution
  • The Federalist Papers, nos. 9–10, 51
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), selections
  • Victoria Woodhull, A New Constitution for the United States of the World (1870)
2026-02-25 The making of modern political philosophy Give me liberty or give me death II
  • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859), selections
2026-02-27 The making of modern political philosophy BCRW 50th Scholar & Feminist Conference (Day 1)
2026-02-28 The making of modern political philosophy BCRW 50th Scholar & Feminist Conference (Day 2)
2026-03-04 The making of modern political philosophy Give me liberty or give me death III
  • Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844), pp. 85–95
  • Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach” (1845)
  • Marx, “On the Jewish Question” (1844), selections
  • Marx, Capital (1867), selections
2026-03-09 The making of modern political philosophy Give me liberty or give me death IV
  • Marx, Capital, selections
2026-03-11 The making of modern political philosophy Give me liberty or give me death V
  • Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays (1910), chaps. 1, 4–5, 10
2026-03-16 The making of modern political philosophy Spring recess (no class)
2026-03-18 The making of modern political philosophy Spring recess (no class)
2026-03-23 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Protest like it’s the 1960s I
  • National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy, “We Are Facing a Danger Unlike Any Danger That Has Ever Existed” (1957)
  • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, “Statement of Purpose” (1960)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963)
  • Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” (1964)
  • Pauli Murray, “The Liberation of Black Women” (1970)
  • Sylvia Rivera, “Street Transvestites for Gay Power” (1970) and “Y’all Better Quiet Down” (1973)
  • In-class screening: My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021), directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, 91 min
2026-03-25 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Protest like it’s the 1960s II
  • Carol Hanisch and Elizabeth Sutherland, “Women of the World Unite—We Have Nothing to Lose But Our Men!” (1968), in Notes from the First Year (“Notes I”), pp. 12–16
  • Collected in Notes II (1970):
    • Barbara Susan, “An Abortion Testimonial,” p. 94
    • Kate Millet, “Sexual Politics: A Manifesto for Revolution,” pp. 111–12
    • “Politics of the Ego: A Manifesto For N. Y. Radical Feminists,” pp. 124–26
  • Radicalesbians, “The Woman-Identified Woman” (1970), in Notes III, pp. 81–84
2026-03-30 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Protest like it’s the 1960s III
  • TBD—visit to the Barnard Archives?
2026-04-01 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy: Second time’s the charm? I
  • John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (1971), selections
  • Katrina Forrester, In the Shadow of Justice: Postwar Liberalism and the Remaking of Political Philosophy (2019), selections
2026-04-06 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy: Second time’s the charm? II
  • Rawls, TJ, selections
2026-04-08 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy: Second time’s the charm? III
  • Rawls, Political Liberalism (1993), selections
2026-04-13 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy has a porn problem I
  • Catharine Mackinnon, “Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An Agenda for Theory” (1982)
2026-04-15 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy has a porn problem II
  • Catharine Mackinnon, Feminism Unmodified (1987), selections
2026-04-22 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy has a porn problem III
  • Ronald Dworkin, “Is There a Right to Pornography?” (1981), selections
  • Rae Langton, “Whose Right? Ronald Dworkin, Women, and Pornographers” (1990), selections
2026-04-27 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Political philosophy has a porn problem IV Lorna Bracewell and Margot Kotler visit?
2026-04-29 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Putting the political back into political philosophy I
  • Iris Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), selections
2026-05-04 The fall and rise of contemporary political philosophy Putting the political back into political philosophy II
  • Young, JPD, selections