Political Philosophy - 1st semester
Code
711031053
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
António Marques
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
1. First aim consists in giving to the students a network of fundamental concepts in the area of political philosophy.
2. Second, to familiarize the students with some relevant tclassical texts and authors in the tradition of political philosophy.
3.Third, To stimulate the discussion on contemporary questions in political philosophy.
Prerequisites
Not applicable
Subject matter
After a short introduction to the status of political philosophy from an historical and systematic point of view, the course will explore the concept of social contract, according to some fundamental texts and authors, not only classic but also contemporary ones. Also some main classic anti-contractualist authors will be sharply contrasted with those mentioned above in order to better understand the contemporary John Rawlss theory of justice.
It is in this framework that it will be possible to discuss the grounding principles of democracy and the state of right, as well as to go deeper in the analysis of some philosophical concepts such as human rights, global justice and sovereignty, which are the most important challenges to nowadays societies, in particular to the EU.
Bibliography
Aristóteles, A Política, Lisboa: Vega, 2016 (2ª ed.), The Politics, Harmonsworth, Penguin Books, 1962
- Thomas Hobbes, Leviatã, trad. portuguesa João Paulo Monteiro/ Maria Beatriz Niza da Silva, Lisboa IN/CM, 1995 Leviathan, Indianopolis/ Cambridge: Hackett, 1994 (from the latin edition of 1668)
- John Locke, Segundo Tratado do Governo, Lisboa: Fundação Gulbenkian, 2007
- Jean- Jacques Rousseau, Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique, Écrits Politiques, Paris: Livre de Poche, 1992
- I. Kant, Metafísica dos Costumes, Lisboa: Fundação Gulbenkian, 2010
- John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978 (1ª ed. 1972)
- Direitos Fundamentais e Soberania na Europa, ed. A. Marques & P. Barcelos, Lisboa: IFILNOVA/ Nova, 2014
Teaching method
The syllabus resorts a two main activities, the one in the first hour of the class, the other in the second one. During the first hour, an explanation of theoretical contents is delivered and followed by questions and a wide debate on the previously presented issues. In the second part of the class, there is room for reading, interpretation and analysis of the texts on which the presented contents were based.
In class teaching.
Evaluation method
Final exam: 60%; participation in the class discussions and short paper: 40%