PSIR501 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THEORY
| Course Code: | 3540501 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | Political Science and International Relations |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | Lecturer Dr. NIGEL MARK GREAVES |
| Offered Semester: | Fall Semesters. |
Course Objectives
We shall investigate the content of the social and political thought in question in terms of both its philosphical claims and its practical historical context. That is to say we seek to investigate the specific intellectual output in terms of its ontological and epistemological claims together with the practical political and social events of its time. Thus, we seek to locate the ontological, or ‘claim to truth’ and reality, by virtue of its epistemological validation. It is not just a question of what is being said; we also need to demonstrate how it is justified. However, it is not assumed that political and social speculation is created in a historical vacuum. Social and political speculation is often heavily embroiled in the social and political struggles of its time. Hence, we will gain a crucial insight into the relationship and correspondence between philosophy, history and politics.
Course Content
This course will make an in-depth study of some of the key developments and personalities in social and political theory of the modern era. We cover thinkers who offer accounts of how society can be best organised and administered. This is often an urgent question since societies do exist and do have to be ordered and administered. And yet we encounter inevitably deeper-lying questions also as to how society might be organised and administered, not only effectively and efficiently, but so arranged as to do justice to human beings - provide security and freedom, and so on. This causes us to enquire in turn as to the nature of humans and their societies, which raises further questions, such as how it is humans are capable of living in society at all. Are we selfish or altruistic? Are our natures fixed or malleable? Do humans make society or does society somehow make humans? These are some of the fascinating themes to be covered. We range from Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and the early contract theorists through to the rise of German reason in the 19th century, post-Enlightenment criticism, to more recent 20th century postmodernist arguments. We shall identify some key topics and principles which seem to encapsulate the concerns of political and social speculation, together with the practical political and social problems of the age in question.
Course Learning Outcomes
General
- Enhanced skills of academic enquiry and independent library research relevant to the subject;
- Enhanced ability to communicate in writing and orally, and to work independently;
- Enhanced time-management and self-organisation skills;
- An ability to develop ideas and arguments;
- An ability to engage critically with the course material.
Subject Specific
- A comprehensive appreciation of the nature of the development of social and political speculation during the period covered;
- An ability to relate prevalent political and social ideas to the specifics of their historical context - the conflicts, movements, events, etc;
- An appreciation of the essential linkage between the ontological and the epistemological in social and political speculation.