This module will cover historical and contemporary approaches to the philosophical foundations of political legitimacy, forms of government and social organisation; the meaning of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, rights, national sovereignty, etc., and the relationship between ideas of human nature and political forms. The philosophical arguments and assumptions that lie behind ideas of liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, multiculturalism, feminism, etc. will also be looked at. The political philosophers to be studied will include, among others, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Mill, Marx, and Rawls.
Tutor:Simon Skempton PhD
Term: Summer
Day: Wednesday
Start Date: 19 April 2023
Time: 7-9pm
No. of weeks: 11
Full fee: £135
Credits: 10
Location: University of York Campus, Classroom-based
