21801584 - HISTORY OF POLITICAL DOCTRINES

Aim of the course is the acquisition of the knowledge of the Western history of political thought by the students, with increasing level of depth, from the origins to contemporary age. The History of Political Thought is an heritage from which to draw interpretative tools in order to better understand our age. Moreover, it is important for the student, who is also a citizen, to acquire a critical attitude and the consciousness that no conquest in the field of justice, freedom and social life can be taken for granted, but must be defended and nourished.
teacher profile | teaching materials

Mutuazione: 21801584 STORIA DELLE DOTTRINE POLITICHE in Scienze politiche L-36 MODUGNO ROBERTA ADELAIDE

Programme

The first classes will be dedicated to the analysis of the main concepts and categories of political thought: moderna state, natural law and natural rights, contract theory, constitutionalism, representation, sovereignty, democracy. Then classics political thinkers and topics will be examined.
- Utopia and dystopian thought
- Machiavelli
– Modern state and absolutism
– Absolutism and sovereignty in Jean Bodin
- Thomas Hobbes
– The origins of classical liberalism: John Locke
- Montesquieu
– Lights and shadows of Enlightment: Rousseau and the general will
- Theoretical aspects of the American Revolution
- Theoretical aspects of the French Revolution
– The debate on the American democracy: Tocqueville
– Socialism and Karl Marx.
– The élite theorists: Mosca, Pareto and Michels.
– Totalitarianism
- Carl Schmitt
– Against totalitarianism: Hannah Arendt, Friedrick von Hayek, Karl Popper.
– Classical liberalism in the Twentieth century: the Austrian School of Economics: Menger, Mises, Hayek
- The contemporary debate on justice:Rawls, Rothbard, Nozick
– Contemporary egalitarianism and its difficulties

Core Documentation

- L.M. BASSANI – A. MINGARDI, Dalla polis allo Stato. Introduzione alla Storia del pensiero politico, Giappichelli, Torino, 2022

- M. N. ROTHBARD, Contro l'egalitarismo, Introduzione e cura di Roberta Adelaide Modugno, Macerata, Liberilibri, 2023

Type of delivery of the course

Lectures

Attendance

Attendance is not mandatory

Type of evaluation

Oral exam