POLITICAL SCIENCE 13 - PowerPoint Presentation

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POLITICAL SCIENCE 13Power and Justice

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INTRODUCTION

Instructor: Tracy B. Strong

Office: SSB 374

Office hours:

M: 2-3; W 11-12; by

appt (534 7081) or drop in

Email:

tstrong@

ucsd.edu

I am assisted by Ike

S

harpless

and Caleb

Scoville

.Slide3

Outline and logic of the course

Requirements

for the course include attendance, participation in section (10%), 2 midterms (25% each) and a final in-class exam (40%).

March 31: Introduction: Political Theory, the Political, Politics, and Political Science.

SECTION ONE: Power and the politics of identity in difficult situations

April 2: FILM: "Obedience" by Stanley

Milgram

April 7-9: The limits of selfhood and identity:

READING: Bettelheim: "Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations" (reader)

April 14,16: The self and political commitment

READING: Koestler, Darkness at Noon (BOOKSTORE)

April 21, 22: What does it mean to be a citizen?

READING: Plato, Apology, Crito (BOOKSTORE)

April 28 : What obligations does a citizen or anyone else have?

READING: Pitkin, “Obligation and Consent” (reader)

FIRST MIDTERM, April 30 IN CLASS –BRING

BLUEBOOKS

SECTION

TWO: Justice and the politics of identity in a changing world

May 5, 6: Persons, Humans and Citizens

READING: "Griswold

v

. Connecticut"; "Roe

v

. Wade"; "Webster

v

. Reproductive Health Services"; "Planned Parenthood

v

. Casey": in Shapiro, ed. The Abortion Decisions (BOOKSTORE).

May 12, 14: Selfhood and Society

READING: Mill, On Liberty (BOOKSTORE)

May 19: Politics, Contracts and Technology

READING: Locke (reader); “In the Matter of Baby M” (2 Court decisions in reader)

SECOND MIDTERM ON May 21 – BRING BLUEBOOKS

MAY 25 = MEMORIAL DAY

SECTION THREE: The Limits of Citizenship and Citizenship at the Limit

START READING ELLISON

May 28: If not a citizen then what?

READING: Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” (reader); (Optional) Kateb, “Walt Whitman and

the Culture of Democracy” (reader)

June 2, 4: Being in and being out: who speaks for whom?

READING: Ellison, Invisible Man (BOOKSTORE)

FINAL IN CLASSROOM AT SET TIME (June 12, 11:30-2:30)Slide4

Reading: you are asked to read the works of a number of individuals.

How

to approach them.

These are particular individuals -- political theorists. Slide5

Political Theory

That which is

POLITICAL

is

about the arrangements that people make to live a life in common, that is with others who are not their blood relations.

Implies sharing (having something in common) and thus difference or individuality. (I and you)

I like to think of human activities as answers to questions. Thus:

psychology is the answer to the question of what or who am I?

Religion to the question of why do I suffer

economics to that of how do I get what I want

morality to that of what should I do

and POLITICS to that of the

simultaneous

answer to what am I and who are we? (

Eg

what one is claiming when I says (I take this to be political) “I am an American

” – It is thus a claim on others.Slide6

What makes something political?I hold a claim that I make to apply to others

A. “Eavesdropping

on private conversations without a warrant is un-American.”

B. “How

can you say that? The country is in danger from terrorists.”

“Well

, that is what I feel

.”

“A’s” response is

not

politicalSlide7

A. “Eavesdropping on private conversations without a warrant is un-American.”

B. “How can you say that? The country is in danger from terrorists.”

A. “The

Fourth Amendment to the Constitution

clearly

forbids it

.”

A’s response is political.Slide8

But not resolvedB. “In cases like this one the President can make an exception. Lincoln did it during the Civil War.”

Now

we have an

argument

, an argument that is political. It cannot be resolved except in the interaction of A and

B. Hence politics involves conflict.Slide9

Note this difference for a non-political exchange

A. 2

+ 2 = 4.

B. I

think it is 22.

A. No

– that is a “plus” sign, not some symbol for association.

B. Oh

, of course! You are right.Slide10

And from this oneA. I

would like to buy that car.

B. It

really too expensive for you, given your income.

A. Nevertheless, I am going to – I really want it. [Or: Damn! I guess you are right.]

Here

,

no

claim is made to something

common

to

the two, there is no “I” to “We” claim. Slide11

And this oneA. Eavesdropping

on private conversations without a warrant is un-American.

B. Perhaps

so, but that is a small price to pay given the danger.

Here, any notion of a common claim (“being American”) is ruled out. B reveals his preference and willingness to pay a price.Slide12

What has gone wrong here?King Lear (that one) has in the First Act asked “

Which of [our daughters] shall we say does love us most?”

and proposed to divide his kingdom accordingly.

Cordelia

famously refuses the test. Lear banishes her and decides to live alternately with others (

Goneril

and Regan), taking his very large retinue of knights and retainers with him. The daughters object to the extent of Lear’s retinue. He responds:Slide13

LEAR

[To GONERIL]

I

'll go with thee:

Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,

And thou art twice her love.

GONERIL

Hear me, my lord;

What need you five and twenty, ten, or five,

To follow in a house where twice so many

Have a command to tend you?

REGAN

What need one?

KING LEAR

O, reason not the need: our basest beggars

Are in the poorest thing superfluous:

Allow not nature more than nature needs,

Man's

life's as cheap as beast's:…

Act II, sc. 4Slide14

What is theory?

THEORY is derived from the Greek word

theoros

- spectator, often a delegate from one city to another to observe their rituals.

Theory is seeing , getting it. “Oh! I see.” And KNOWING what it is that you have gotten in such a way that you can make it available to yourself and to others.

POLITICAL THEORY is thus understanding about politics: most generally about what humans try to do when they live a life with others.

These political Theorists are central to who we are, i.e. to how we understand ourselves when we live in a political matter.

Who is “we” -- explain. -- anyone who finds these voices in him or her or rejects them. -- provocation as modality of knowing

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Political Theory1/ who is “we”? What do we find out about about “we”?

E.g. of property

2/ how do we study this in this course?

classic texts

literary texts (give us a world)

scholarly analyses

theory in practice(court cases)Slide16

Power 1. power to make a decision

2. power to set an agenda

3. power to control what counts as a contestable itemSlide17

Justice…Why is it hard to determine it?