Freedom and Slavery in Political Thought
Affiliation
What does it mean to be free? This course examines freedom through the lens of political theory and the history of political thought, with a particular focus on the contrasting condition of slavery.
We consider the ideal of liberty in relation to a variety of ideological perspectives each year - which may include civic republican accounts of domination, socialist conceptions of wage-slavery, feminist thinking about women's subordination, or the classical liberal defence of economic liberty. So too, we shall investigate the intellectual history of slavery, and ask how contemporary societies ought to confront the enduring impact of enslavement today.
Students will not only acquire knowledge of the history of freedom and slavery in political thought, but will develop skills in philosophical argumentation and conceptual analysis that will enable them to defend a specific understanding of the nature of political, economic, or social freedom. To this end, the course will be taught through a weekly seminar in which students will use the tools of political theory to discuss a range of historical and contemporary readings on freedom and slavery. Building on these discussions and feedback from a shorter initial assessment, students will undertake a longer coursework essay defending an ambitious historical and/or philosophical thesis about freedom or slavery.
SCQF Credits: 20
Credit Level: 10
Year taken: UG3