Government 106b

Winter - Spring 1949

## Lecture Topics

### THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT

**Introduction:** Feb. 10 Law and Custom: in England and on the Continent: Fortescue v. Cujas

**Renaissance & Reformation:** Feb. 15 The Laws of Power and the State as a Work of Art: Machiavelli
Feb. 17 The Medieval Order Reasserted: Suárez and the Jesuits

Feb. 24 (a) The religious revival and the State: Luther and the New Testament

(b) Theocracy: Calvin and the Old Testament

Mar. 1 Humanism and Natural Law: Melanchthon and Hooker

Mar. 3 Sovereignty: Bodin, Althusius, Hobbes

Mar. 8 Reason of State: Botero, Bacon, Hobbes

**Constitutionalism:** Mar. 10 The right of resistance: the Monarchomachs, Althusius, and the Puritans

Mar. 15 From medieval to modern constitutionalism: parliament and the crown's prerogative from Thomas Smith to Locke

Mar. 17 The spread of democratic thought: the Levellers

**Absolutism:** Mar. 22 Reason in Peace and War: Grotius and his predecessors
Mar. 24 Man and the state as a mechanism: Hobbes

Mar. 29 (a) Natural law as natural power: Spinoza, Hobbes, Descartes

(b) The state as living being: Pufendorf

Mar. 31 The meaning of history: Bossuet, Vice, Montesquieu

**Enlightenoment & Revolution:** Apr. 12 The separation of powers and freedom: Locke, Montesquieu, and Kant

Apr. 14 (a) Imperialist aristocracy vs. enlightened despotism: Burke and Bentham

(b) The attack on Natural Law: Hume and Bentham

Apr. 21 The Colonial system and Laissez Faire: Adam Smith and the Scotch Enlightenment

Apr. 26 Coercion, Consent, and the General Will: Rousseau and Kant

Apr. 28 The Political Thought of the French Revolution: from Mirabeau to Blanqui

May 3 Tradition and Order reasserted: Burke, de Maistre and the Romantics

(cont'd)

8. Sovereignty: Bodin, Althusius, Hobbes

O. von Gierke, *Development of Political Theory*, Bk ii, ch. III.

Henri Baudrillart, *Bodin et son Temps*.

Roger Chauviré, *Jean Bodin - Auteur de la République*.

Pierre Mesnard, *L'essor de la philosophie politique* (ch. on Bodin).

O. von Gierke, loc. cit., Bk I, ch. 1-3.

Frithiof Brandt,

*Thomas Hobbes' Mechanical Conception of Nature* (1928), tr. from Danish.

John Laird, *Hobbes* (1934).

George C. Robertson, *Hobbes*.

Leslie Stephen, *Thomas Hobbes*.

Leo Strauss, *The Political Philosophy of Hobbes* (1936).

F. Toennies, *Hobbes, Leben und Lehre* (1896 and later)

9. Reason of State: Botero, Bacon, Hobbes

E.A. Abbott, *Francis Bacon* (1885).

C.D. Broad, *The Philosophy of Francis Bacon* (1926).

R.W. Church, *Bacon* (1884).

C.H. McIlwain, *The Political Works of James I* (Introduction).

M. Sturt, *Francis Bacon, A Biography* (1932).

10. Right of Resistance: Monarchomachs, Althusius, the Puritans

J.W. Allen, *A History of Political Thought in the Sixteenth Century*.

Pierre Mesnard, *L'essor de la philosophie politique du XVIe siècle* (1936).

Erik Wolf, *Althusius chapter in Grosse Rechtsdenker* (1944).

Kurt Wolzendorff, *Staatsrecht und Naturrecht*.

Milton's *The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates* (1645) - note selection in Coker.

11. From Medieval to Modern Constitutionalism: Thomas Smith to John Locke

Wilbur C. Abbott, *The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell*.

L. Alston, *Introduction to De Republica Anglorum of Sir Thomas Smith*.

Maitland, *Constitutional History of England*.

C.H. McIlwain, *The High Court of Parliament*.

Prothero, *Statutes and Constitutional Documents*.

Joseph Redlich, *History of Parliamentary Procedure*.

12. Spread of Democratic Thought: the Levellers

Wilbur C. Abbott, *The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell* 1 (4 vols)

E. Bernstein, *Cromwell and Communism* (1930 - transl. of German work)

C.H. Firth (ed.), *The Clarke Papers*, 4 vols. 1891-1901.

M. James, *Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution, 1640-1660*.

Willmoore Kendall, *John Locke and Majority Rule*.

(cont'd)

12. (cont'd) *Spread of Democratic Thought: the Levellers*

Perry Miller, *The Puritan Mind*.
T.C. Pease, *The Leveller Movement* (1916).

13. Man and the State as a Mechanism: Hobbes

(see bibliography under 8 on page 3)

14. Reason in Peace and War: Grotius and predecessors

see *Inevitable Peace* (Friedrich), ch. V, p. 119 ff.

J.N. Figgis, *Studies of Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius*, (2nd ed., 1923).

J. Huizinga, *Hugo de Groot* (1925).

W.S.M. Knight, *The Life and Works of Hugo Grotius* (1925).

Hamilton Vreeland, *Hugo Grotius*.

Erik Wolf, *Deutsche Rechtsdenker*, ch. on Grotius
(also has a very full bibliography).

Government 106b

<u>The History of Political Thought II</u>

(Spring Term, 1949)

<u>Required Readings II.</u> (March 20-May 7)

Selections from Pufendorf, Bossuet, Bolingbroke, de Maistre and Godwin
(mimeo)

Coker, <u>Readings</u>, XXIV and XXV

Paine and Benthem (Fragment)

Jones, <u>Masters of Political Thought</u>, ch. VI, VIII & IX

Montesquieu, Burke and Bentham (Legislation)

Sabine, <u>Political Theory</u>, chs. XXVI-XXX ✓

Friedrich, <u>Inevitable Peace</u>, chs. I-III, V-VII ✓

John Locke, <u>Two Treatises on Civil Government</u>, Book II ✓

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, <u>The Social Contract</u>

(the same) A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality ✓

(the same) <u>Emile</u> (Last half of Bk. V, as well as Bk. I)

David Hume, <u>An Enquiry Concerning Morals</u>

Frederick Watkins, <u>The Political Tradition of the West</u>, chs. 4-6

Government 106b

*The History of Political Thought II*

(Spring Term, 1949)

*Required Readings II.* (March 20-May 7)

SUBSTITUTE for Jones, *Masters of Political Thought* (as given in original assignment) : ---

1. Coker, *Readings*, ch. XXII, on Montesquieu.

2. *Burke's Politics,*

edited by Ross J.S. Hoffman and Paul Levack, 1948;
the following sections:

pp. 5-12, 17-24, 27-30, 113-119, 225-229,
284-286, and 296-317.

GOVERNMENT 106b

Graduate discussion group on the scope and method of political theory
as part of the social sciences, II. (continuation from 106a)

XII. Law of nature and laws of nature

XIII. Style as a category in historical studies

XIV. Evidence and proof

XV. Induction and deduction

XVI. Determinism (causation II)

XVII. Progressive evolution (philosophy of history II)

XVIII. Quantitative method: statistics

XIX. Quantitative method: probability

XX. Critical limits of reason (causation III)

XXI. Inverse deductive method (philosophy of history III)

XXII. Political theory and jurisprudence

XXIII. Political theory and economic theory

XXIV. Political theory and sociology (including anthropology and social psychology)

N.B. XXI-XXIV will be inserted among XII-XX where general lectures call for them. Anyone interested in additional readings for this work is referred to the following: Kant, John Stuart Mill's Logic, Max Weber's methodological essays (transl. Shils), and Morris Cohen, Reason and Nature and part III of Law and the Social Order.