Foundations of Western Political Thought Course Descriptor

Course Overview

The course is an in-depth study of key figures in the history of political thought and advances students’ powers of textual analysis and interpretation within this tradition. During the course, students analyse a selection of texts in depth and apply techniques of political, philosophical, and historical analysis to their interpretation. They learn to appreciate the intellectual and historical contexts in which these texts were written, and to develop progressively critical and comparative perspectives on them. Students also have the opportunity to practice with the formulation of persuasive arguments about those texts, and think critically  about current political problems and everyday issues, specifically concerning the pursuit of knowledge and the justification of beliefs. By the end of the course, students will develop the necessary oral, written, and reading skills to think reflectively about these traditions of thought and to situate them within wider political themes. As such, the course plays both an introductory and a foundational role to the study of key political concepts and perspectives that will be expanded in the following years of their degree.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures and/or seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 hours

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessments are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The assessments will require students to discuss key texts in the tradition of Western political thought in depth and to apply techniques of political, philosophical, and historical analysis to their interpretation, contextualisation and comparison: 

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Boucher, D. and P. Kelly, Political Thinkers from Socrates to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
• Cahn, S., Political Philosophy: The Essential Texts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
• Whatmore, R., The History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Approaches to the history of political ideas and intellectual history.
• Political theories of sovereignty and the state.
• Political theories of freedom and equality.