Required Text:

POLS=20 650-2: Basic Problems in Ancient Political Philosophy: Thucydides=20

Northern=20 Illinois University

Department of Political=20 Science

Fall=20 2010

Professor = Radasanu

Office: Zulauf=20 408

Phone Number: 753-7052

Email Address: aradasanu@niu.edu=

Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00pm-3:00pm; Thursdays=20 11am-1pm

Class Time: Tuesday = 3:30-6:10PM

Classroom: DU 466

Course = Description:

In this = seminar, we will=20 endeavor to understand Thucydides=92 teaching on justice and necessity = in=20 politics, and especially in international relations. Thucydides is often = understood to be a historian of a single war. And while interpreters = agree that=20 he makes some general claims (usually understood as =93realist=94 ones), = Thucydides=92=20 place in the history of political philosophy is difficult to assess: = philosophic=20 historian or political philosopher? We will be able to answer this = question by=20 conducting a close reading of Thucydides=92 Peloponnesian War. We will be=20 considering the following problems closely. (1) On what basis, if any, = does=20 Thucydides condemn injustice in politics and war? (2) How does = Thucydides=20 conceive of human excellence, and what is the relationship between = political=20 life and human excellence? (3) How does Thucydides understand the regime = question? What is the fundamental conflict between Athens and=20 Sparta?

Required = Texts:

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War. Use The = Landmark=20 Thucydides, ed. Robert B. Strassler, New = York: Simon=20 and Schuster/Touchstone Books, 1998.

Literal=20 translation of selected passages from above text (by Thomas Pangle). To=20 be handed out in class.

Recommended = Readings/Select=20 Bibliography:

Ahrensdorf, Peter. =93Thucydides=92 Realistic = Critique of=20 Realism.=94 Polity 30 = (1997):=20 231-65.

--- =93The Fear of Death and the = Longing for=20 Immorality: Hobbes and Thucydides on Human Nature and the Problem of = Anarchy.=94=20 American Political Science = Review 94=20 (2000): 579-93.

Bartlett, Robert C. The Idea = of=20 Enlightenment: A Post-Mortem Study. Toronto: University of Toronto = Press,=20 2001.* (On Thucydides: pp. 67-105).=20

Bruell, Christopher. =93Thucydides=92 View of = Athenian=20 Imperialism.=94 American Political Science Review 68 (1974):=20 11-17.

---- =93Thucydides and Perikles.=94 St. Johns=20 Review 32:1 (1981): 24-29.

Connor, W.R. = Thucydides. = Princeton:=20 Princeton University Press, 1984.

Doyle, Michael, =93Thucydidean = Realism,=94 Review of International = Studies 16 (July=20 1990), p. 223-238.

Edmunds, Lowell. Chance and Intelligence in Thucydides. = Cambridge:=20 Harvard University Press, 1975.

Forde, Steven P. The=20 Ambition to Rule. Alcibiades and Athens in Thucydides'=20 History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989. =

__. "Varieties of Realism: = Thucydides and=20 Machiavelli." Journal of Politics 54 (1992) = 372-93.

__ =93International Realism and = the Science=20 of Politics: Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Neorealism,=94=20 International Studies = Quarterly 39:2=20 (June 1995), p. 141-160.

Garst, Daniel, =93Thucydides and = Neo-Realism,=94=20 International Studies Quarterly 33 (March 1989), pp. = 3-28.

Gustafson, Lowell S., ed. = Thucydides'=20 Theory of International Relations. A Lasting=20 Possession. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, = 2000.=20

Hobbes, Thomas. =93Of the=20 Life and History of Thucydides=94 (The famous intro. to Hobbes=92s=20 translation.).

Johnson Bagby,=20 Laurie M. Thucydides, Hobbes, and the Interpretation of = Realism.=20 DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993.

__ The Use and Abuse of = Thucydides,=94 International Organization 48 = (Winter=20 1994), pp. 131-153.

Kagan, Donald. The = Outbreak of the=20 Peloponnesian War; The Archidamian=20 War; The Peace of Nicias and the = Sicilian=20 Expedition; The Fall of the Athenian Empire. = Ithaca:=20 Cornell University Press, 1969-1981.

Lebow, Richard Ned and Barry S. Strauss, ed.=20 Hegemonic Rivalry from Thucydides to the Nuclear Age. Boulder,=20 Colorado: Westview Press, 1991. =

Orwin, Clifford. The = Humanity of=20 Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2d. Ed., 1997.

Palmer, Michael. Love of Glory and the Common Good. = Aspects of the Political Thought of Thucydides. Lanhan, MD: Rowman and = Littlefield, 1992.

Price, Jonathan. Thucydides = and=20 Internal War. Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., = 2001.

Romilly, Jacqueline de. Thucydides and Athenian = Imperialism.=20 Translated by Philip Thody. Oxford: Basil = Blackwell,=20 1963.

Strauss, Leo. The City and = Man=20 [1964]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, = 1978.

Formal=20 Requirements and Basis of Grading:

=B7 =20 Attendance and class = participation:=20 10%

=B7 =20 One-page papers (300 words = maximum=20 length), due at the beginning of each class except the first and = last of=20 each semester and on weeks when other assignments are due, on question = assigned=20 previous class (30% of grade; late papers not accepted). Lowest grade = will be=20 dropped.

=B7 =20 Take-home exam (20%) =96Due = date on=20 schedule below

=B7 =20 Term paper; topic choices = provided;=20 3000 words; due on the last class of term (40%). Due date on schedule=20 below.

Expectations of=20 Students:

CLASS=20 PARTICIPATION

Students are expected to = show=20 evidence at each class meeting of having read the text to be covered = that day.=20 You should at least be able to give an account, either when called upon = or by=20 your own questions, of the surface of what is said. It is even better to = show=20 that you have seen relationships among different parts of the text and = can raise=20 intelligent questions about what the text seems to mean or whether what = it seems=20 to mean makes sense, either in itself or in relation to the text's = apparent=20 meaning elsewhere. Students should be prepared to be interrogated and be = able to=20 answer questions put by the professor in a manner that is both = thoughtful and to=20 the point. Students should also be prepared to present their one-page = papers to=20 the class without advance warning.

GRADING

To earn an A in the course, = both=20 active and thoughtful participation and excellent written work will be = required.=20 The written assignments will be on assigned topics (unless the student = secures=20 permission from the professor to do otherwise); A=92s are earned when = compelling=20 interpretations are provided (and expressed clearly) in response to the = assigned=20 topics.

LATENESS = POLICY

Extensions on the final = paper are=20 granted only if the student has a very good reason. Everyone should be = working=20 on the term paper throughout, so that a last-minute glitch doesn=92t = affect your=20 ability to hand in your paper in a timely fashion. =

Weekly = papers must=20 be handed in at the beginning of the designated class, otherwise they=20 are inadmissible.

The take-home exam will be = due at a=20 specific time on a specific day, via email. The time stamp of the email = will=20 determine whether the student has completed the assignment on time. = Exams that=20 are within one day late (this means within 24 hours of the due date and = time=20 =96including even five minutes of lateness), will incur a 10% late = penalty. Exams that are not handed in within 24 hours of the due = date and=20 time, will not be accepted. This strict policy is meant to uphold = the=20 integrity of this assignment as an exam.

INCOMPLETES

Incompletes are given only = for an=20 unforeseeable event that makes completion of the course by the end of = the=20 semester impossible. Students are responsible for informing the = professor of=20 such events, and for securing her consent to an incomplete, as promptly = as=20 possible.

CLASS = SCHEDULE

The following is intended = only as an=20 approximate schedule. Since one cannot predict what parts of the = Thucydides we=20 may wish to explore in greater depth, it is uncertain precisely how long = we will=20 spend on each book. We will move along in a timely fashion, but we may = be=20 detained at certain points longer than at others. Students are = responsible for=20 knowing what material will be covered in each = class.

CLASS = SHEDULE:

August = 24

Introduction

Thucydides, Book=20 One, chapter 1-23

August = 31

Thucydides, Book=20 One, Chapters 24-88*

September = 7

Thucydides, Book=20 One, Chapters 89-146; Book Two, Chapters = 1-33*

September=20 14

Thucydides, Book=20 Two, Chapters 34-103*

September=20 21

Thucydides, Book=20 Three, Chapters 1-50*

September=20 28

Thucydides, Book=20 Three, Chapters 51-114*

October=20 5

Thucydides, Book=20 Four, Chapters 1-64*

October=20 12

Thucydides, Book=20 Four, Chapters 65-135*

October=20 19

Thucydides, Book=20 Five*

October=20 26

Thucydides, Book=20 Five*

November = 2

Thucydides, Book=20 Six*

November = 9

Thucydides, Book=20 Six*

November = 16

Thucydides, Book=20 Seven*

Take-home exam handed = out =96Due=20 November 21^st by email

November = 23

No=20 class

November = 30

Thucydides, Book=20 Seven

Term=20 Paper Due

December = 7

Thucydides, Book=20 Eight

* Weekly = papers=20 due.