A study of the major Oriental philosophical and religious traditions, including Yoga, Jainism, Vedanta, Buddhism, Lamaism, Taoism, and Zen Budddhism. Attention will be paid to the contrast and continuity with the Western tradition. A survey of recent culture theories with a particular focus on racism and sexism in the contemporary world. Special emphasis will be placed on one particular culture in order to determine the role played by ethnicity in modern political life. A survey of the development of political philosophy from Plato through Machiavelli.
Emphasis is placed on the value system from which the differing political solutions emerged.
An examination of the political thought that seeded the modern nation-state. The political crises of the contemporary world and the proposed political solutions by theorists from the seventeenth through the twentieth century are focuses of consideration. A study of some philosophical contributions both to conceptual clarification and to policy elucidation in legal practice. Topics examined from a variety of sources include the theories of punishment, legal responsibility and obligation, civil disobedience, law-morality interaction, and the nature of law. This course encourages students to take up some of the most interesting and fundamental questions which have been raised concerning not only the purpose and meaningfulness of human life, but also the notion of existence itself.