Political Philosophy

COURSE OBJECTIVE
Objectives of this course:
1. To gain insight into the contemporary political and political-philosophical landscape: participants will acquire, from a historical perspective, knowledge of and insight into the most important streams of thought within contemporary political philosophy and the contemporary political landscape and how they relate to each other.
2. Philosophical analysis: the participants learn by asking about and critically analyzing the supporting assumptions under the various streams of thought.
3. Getting acquainted with "famous texts": with each movement the participants are introduced to some characteristic original text
fragments from the tradition of political philosophy.
4. Analysis of current affairs: Students gain some insight into current social themes and learn to see how different ideologies might provide
responses to these issues, while students also learn to take their own position.
5. Opinion-forming and debating skills: every week each participant writes a brief reflection on the material and a debate is held in which
we try to determine together the "resolving potential" of a certain ideology regarding an urgent social problem.

COURSE CONTENT
Political philosophy or political theory (often used interchangeably) deals with the ideas and visions that people use when designing,
redesigning or assessing the way their society is organised. In this course you get to know the most important past and contemporary
ideologies within the modern political spectrum. We also look - particularly during the lectures - at the historical-cultural background
of ideologies.
Ideologies still are - some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent – highly influential in the shaping of societies and in the
arguments put forward in the public sphere, in public debates.

Co-construction
This module will be further defined by you as students. During the first lecture we will identify a top 5 of the biggest challenges / problems
for the society of tomorrow, as you see it - by majority vote. These themes will form a common thread in the weeks that follow, as we
take a closer look at the different political ideologies.

TEACHING METHODS
Lectures and seminars, presentations, debates and discussions by students

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT
Written assignments, presentations, written exam