Question 1.

 Critically compare their estimation of the role of rhetoric in political activity and deliberation.

Readings:

Charles L. Griswold, ‘Plato on Rhetoric and Poetry’, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(2003, 2016). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-rhetoric/

Glenn Morrow, ‘Plato’s Concept of Persuasion’, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 62, no. 2, April

1953, pp. 234-250.

Rollin W. Quimby, ‘The Growth of Plato’s Perception of Rhetoric’, Philosophy and Rhetoric,

Vol. 7, no. 2, Spring 1974, pp. 71-79.

Bernard Yack, ‘Rhetoric and Public Reasoning: An Aristotelian Understanding of Political

Deliberation, Political Theory, Vol. 34, no. 4, August 2006, pp.417-438.

H.C. Lawson-Tancred, ‘Introduction’ to Aristotle’s The Art of Rhetoric (Penguin ed.)

Michael Oakeshott, ‘Political Discourse’, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Liberty

Press, 1991)

Question 2.

‘More’s Utopia simultaneously borrows from as well as undermines the construction of ideal

commonwealths in the manner of Plato’s Republic’. Critically discuss

Readings:

Hugh Trevor-Roper, ‘Sir Thomas More and Utopia’, Renaissance Essays

Thomas I. White, ‘Pride and the Public Good: Thomas More’s Use of Plato in Utopia’, Journal

of the History of Philosophy, vol. 20 no.4, October 1982, pp.329-54.

Brendan Bradshaw, ‘More on Utopia’, The Historical Journal, vol.24, no. 1, March 1981, pp. 1-

27.

Thomas Engerman, ‘Hythloday’s Utopia and More’s England: an Interpretation of Thomas

More’s Utopia’, The Journal of Politics, vol. 44, no. 1, Feb. 1982.

John Schaeffer, ‘Socratic Method in More’s Utopia’, Moreana, XVIII, no. 69, March 1981, pp.

5-20. Available at: http://www.thomasmorestudies.org/moreana/Moreana69pages5-20.pdf

James Steintrager, ‘Plato and More’s Utopia’, Social Research, vol. 36 no. 3, Autumn 1969,

pp.357-72

Question 3:

‘Despite appearances virtue is one of the central concerns in Machiavelli’s The Prince ’. Discuss.

Readings:

Sydney Anglo, Machiavelli: A Dissection, ch7

Terrance Ball, ‘The Picaresque Prince: Reflections on Machiavelli and Moral Change’, Political

Theory, Vol.12 No.4, November 1984, pp.521-536.

Rafael Major, ‘A New Argument for Morality: Machiavelli and the Ancients’, Political Research

Quarterly, Vol.60, no.2, June 2007, pp.171-179.

Neal Wood, ‘Machiavelli’s Concept of Virtù Reconsidered’, Political Studies, XV, 1967, Issue 2,

pp.159-172.

Question 4.

In his dedicatory preface to Leviathan Hobbes wrote: ‘in a way beset with those that contend on one side for too great Liberty, and on the other side for too much Authority, ‘tis hard to passe between the points of both unwounded’. To what extent do you think Leviathan successfully balances the competing claims of authority and liberty?

Readings

Primary

Hobbes, Leviathan (any edition). Relevant sections: chapters 11,13,14,16, Book II (Of

Commonwealth) esp. chapters 17-22.

Secondary

Arendt, Hannah, The Origins of Totalitarianism (New York: Harcourt Jovanovich, 1973), pp.

139-147.

Judd Owen, J. ‘The Tolerant Leviathan: Hobbes and the Paradox of Liberalism’, Polity, Vol. 37,

No. 1 (Jan., 2005), pp. 130-148.

Ryan, Alan. ‘Hobbes and Individualism’, in G.J.A. Rogers and A. Ryan (eds.) Perspectives on

Thomas Hobbes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988).

Tarlton, Charles D., ‘to avoyd the present stroke of death:’ Despotical Dominion, Force, and

Legitimacy in Hobbes’s Leviathan’, Philosophy, Vol. 74, Issue 2, March 1999, pp 221 – 245.

Van Mill, David, ‘Civil Liberty in Hobbes’s Commonwealth’, Australian Journal of Political

Science, Mar 2002, Vol. 37 Issue 1, pp. 21-38.

Walter, Ryan, ‘Hobbes, Liberalism, and Political Technique’, The European Legacy: Towards

new Paradigms, Vol. 16, issue 1, 2011, pp. 53-69.

NATURE OF THE TASK

Individual task.

MATERIALS REQUIRED / SUGGESTED RESOURCES

Prescribe or recommend resources students will be required to use for this task. E.g. Macquarie University Databases, a template that you will provide, a certain text etc.