This course contrasts two conflicting views that have long shaped political theory and practice—idealism and realism.
The debate between them starts with the origins of philosophy in ancient India and Greece through the 20th century’s most extreme examples of idealism and realism—Gandhi and Hitler.
You also examine Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Freud. These exceptional thinkers sculpted, piece by piece, Western political thought from its inception in 5th-century (B.C.) Athens.
In so doing, they asked:
- What is the correct relationship of the individual to society?
- What is the connection between individual freedom and social and political authority?
- Are human beings fundamentally equal or unequal?
The debate between them starts with the origins of philosophy in ancient India and Greece through the 20th century’s most extreme examples of idealism and realism—Gandhi and Hitler.
You also examine Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Freud. These exceptional thinkers sculpted, piece by piece, Western political thought from its inception in 5th-century (B.C.) Athens.
In so doing, they asked:
- What is the correct relationship of the individual to society?
- What is the connection between individual freedom and social and political authority?
- Are human beings fundamentally equal or unequal?