Their ideas also offer a powerful means for putting into perspective and evaluating modern views of human nature as well as modern solutions to social and political problems. Many current social and political views are deeply rooted in the thought of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. An examination of the ideas of such thinkers as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau concerning freedom, reason, fear, nature, and alienation can thus do much to clarify the reasoning underlying contemporary social analysis and discussion. Liberalism and conservatism are the two dominant positions in the United States today on political, social, and moral issues, while socialism has gained influence in recent decades. The course clarifies how these positions differ in defining what constitutes problems and in selecting preferred solutions.
Course has two major objectives.
The goal is a proper understanding of the thought and intentions embodied in the Constitution and, concurrently, a clarification of the reasoning of those who questioned and opposed it. The second objective is to study how the thought and the intentions underlying the Constitution have been realized or transformed since the American founding. Focuses on the reciprocal influences of government on science and technology. Government affects the pace and direction of science and technology. Science and technology, in turn, affect the agenda of government issues and the options government has in dealing with them.