Faculdade de Direito

History of Political Thought

Code

LL127

Department

Área de Ensino

Credits

Teacher in charge

Cristina Nogueira da Silva

Weekly hours

Teaching language

Português

Objectives

The aim of the program is for the students to a) understand the genesis of political liberalism; b) identify the themes of classical liberalism in thei break with the political culture of Antiquity and of Medieval and Modern Europe; c) compare the political theories of authors from the nineteenth century; d) distinguish between the liberal and the republican thought, namely in what concerns different concepts of liberty connected with each one; e) identify the limits of the liberal political model in the 19th century with regard to the universality of civil and political rights; f) evaluate, in a reflexive way, the tensions associated with the liberal postulate of “equality as universality”; f) evaluate the inclusive and exclusionary dimensions of the above referred postulate. This program also aims at helping the students to get skills in the domain of the scientific research work, as well as skills related with the organization and the oral and written exposition of knowledge.

Subject matter

1.Theoretical and methodological approaches: a cultural history of political ideas; 2. Negative freedom, positive freedom (Isaiah Berlin); Liberty before liberalism (Quentin Skinner); Liberty and Equality (Michael Walzer); 3.The “Mixed constitution” in Aristotle; the mediaeval constitution and the primacy of political community (ies); 4. The sovereignty doctrines against the “Mixed constitution”; 5.Liberalism and the limits of sovereign power: constitution, division of powers; representative democracy, individual rights, utilitarianism; 6.Political participation: from the census to the universal suffrage. Political liberty and administrative decentralization, civil associations, freedom of press, public opinion and the role of religion; 7.Nationality and citizenship in the 19^th century; 8.Liberalism and the civil and political rights (men and women, literate and illiterate people, holders and non holders of property; 9.Liberalism and colonialism: “metropolitan and overseas”; “colonizers and colonized”.

Bibliography

Alain Renaut (dir), Histoire de la Philosophie Politique, Paris, Calmann-Levy, T. III ; Diogo Freitas do Amaral, História do Pensamento Político Ocidental, Coimbra, Almedina, 2011; Isaiah Berlin, ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, in Liberty (ed. HenryHardy),Oxford,Oxford University Press; Maurizio Fioravanti, Constitucion, de la Antiguedad a nuestros dias, Madrid, Editorial Trotta, 2001 (trad. do italiano); Michael Freeden, “European Liberalisms: An Essay in Comparative Political Thought”, in European Journal of Political Theory, 2008; Michael Wazer, "Equality and Civil Society", in Simone Chambers and Will Kimlicka (eds.), Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, Princeton and Oxford,Princeton University Press; Quentin Skinner, Liberty before Liberalism, Cambridge, C.U.P., 1998; Silva, Cristina Nogueira da «Progresso e Civilização: povos não europeus no discurso liberal oitocentista», Estudos Comemorativos dos 10 Anos da Faculdade de Direito da UNL, Coimbra, Almedina, 2008, Vol. I; Cristina Nogueira da Silva, Constitucionalismo e Império: a cidadania no Ultramar português, Lisboa, Almedina, 2009; Cristina Nogueira da Silva, "Conceitos oitocentistas de cidadania. Liberalismo e igualdade", in Análise Social, Vol. XLIV (192), 2009.

Teaching method

Exposition of the course subject matter plus comments on original texts written by the authors selected in the program. Small units of research work composed by students on topics related to the contents of the programme or the completion of reading sheets regarding specific recommended books which are presented in a specific bibliography organised according to different topics included in the program

Evaluation method

The evaluation gets from the classification of the scientific research work or the reading sheet and a final written examination.

Courses

First Cycle - Law