Charles Lipson

teaches international politics at the University of Chicago. He also writes for students about academic success and honest work at the university level.
To Buy:
 
To Buy:
 
To Buy:
 
To Buy:
 
To Buy:
 

 

E-mail: [email protected]

 

Charles Lipson

Peter B. Ritzma Professor

Political Science Department

University of Chicago

5828 S. University Ave.

Chicago, IL 60637
   

Syllabus
Core Western Values
Political Science 261
Charles Lipson
Syllabus for Winter Quarter, 2012 Prof. Lipson's office is Pick 418b
Course Time: 1:30 til 2:50--Monday, Wednesday Office Hours: Wednesdays 3-4:30
Classroom: Social Science 302 E-mail: [email protected]  please put PS261 somewhere in subject line
  TA: David Benson [email protected]

This course involves heavy reading and writing assignments and presumes you want to exchange ideas in vigorous seminar discussions.

The readings and class discussions combine three avenues of inquiry:

  1. The philosophical underpinnings of central Western values, especially human freedom and government by consent, and the debates over them
  2. The intellectual history of these ideas and their development in the West, especially since 1500
  3. Political contestation concerning these values since 1500

Required background for this seminar:

This course presumes you have some university-level background modern European history, or American history, or history of philosophy. All those subjects bear directly on the course. (I am not assuming you have background in all of them, but you need some background in at least one.)
Beyond that, the stronger your interests and preparation in history, politics, and philosophy, the better. We will build on those foundations.
Although this course does not focus on law, any background in civil liberties would also be valuable since those liberties coincide with several core values we will discuss.

Reading Assignments:

Assignments listed as PDF at Chalk site are available in the “course documents” section of that site. (That site is restricted to students enrolled in the course.)
Wherever possible, I have also included hyperlinks to open-source sites so people not enrolled in the course can find the same items.
Required books to be purchased are listed below (click on this link).
Call numbers of assigned books  are listed.  If a call number says “Harper A,” the book is now on Regenstein’s A level, as part of the Harper collection.
I have asked Regenstein to place all books on time-limited reserve.
I will occasionally add brief items to other sections if I think they are particularly valuable, so please double-check that week's readings before class. Don't worry, I won't add a big, thick book at the last minute!

Paper Assignments:

Each week, as we take up a new Core Value, you will do two short written assignments: filling out a pres-assigned form and writing a short essay.

  1. For the first session (normally on Monday), you will fill out the weekly form. The form is available for download either at Chalk or here. Please use that form and bring three printed copies to class (one each for you, the TA and me). Note: For the second session each week, please bring a one copy for yourself since we may wish to discuss your written answers on the form.

  2. For the second session (normally on Wednesday), you will write a short paper on some aspect of this Core Value. Please give your paper a title and begin it by stating a specific question or problem you wish to address. Then address it in 500-700 words, the length an op-ed piece. Good, snappy writing is appreciated. You are welcome to cite assigned readings, but you don't need to. Papers should be stapled and pages numbered. Please bring two printed copies to class. Also bring one copy of your weekly form to this second session; you might need to refer to it during the discussion.

Writing Better:

Because this course emphasizes clear, sharp writing, I require a book that helps with that craft: William Zinsser, On Writing Well (New York: HarperCollins). Any edition is fine. It's the best book I know on writing, and you will find it very valuable for the weekly essays. You should review it carefully it before starting the course. Zinsser's book is actually readable, a rarity for books about writing. Better yet, it's enjoyable and helpful. Developing your skills as a writer is one of the central aims of this course, and it is one reason I assign short essays each week. Writing clearly and concisely, with a little snap and verve, is a skill you will find immensely useful in your other courses, jobs, and activities. It will also help you learn. As Cal-Berkeley's great philosopher, John Searle, once said, "I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly, you don't understand it yourself."

Sections of the Course (with links to each section):

Writing Guide: Please read this book before the course begins

Zinsser, William Knowlton On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.30th anniversary, 7th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2006

Any edition of Zinsser's On Writing Well is fine. It is a very readable book, and, better yet, a very useful guide to writing essays. Please read it all before beginning the seminar.

Required book
PE1429.Z5 2006
or other editions

Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language" (1946) The classic essay on stating your meaning plainly and avoiding obscure language. PDF at Chalk site
Bluebox Graff, Gerald. "Arguespeak." Brief excerpt from his book, Clueless in Academe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. PDF at Chalk site
Overview

 Kors, Alan Charles. “The West at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Triumph Without Self-Belief,” Watch on the West,vol. 2, no. 1, Center for the Study of America and the West, Foreign Policy Research Institute, February 2001
http://www.fpri.org/ww/0201.200102.kors.westatdawn.html

PDF at Chalk site

 Grayling, A. C. Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights that made the Modern Western World. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Walker & Co., 2007

PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK ONLINE. It is available at Amazon, Half.com, and perhaps other sites. It is not available at the Seminary Coop or U of C Barnes and Noble bookstore.

Required book
JC571.G73 2007
 Pera, Marcello "The Crisis of Western Liberalism"
http://www.marcellopera.it/index_en.php?page=english_zoom.php&sct=5&cnt=148
 PDF at Chalk site

 Berlin, Isaiah. Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty , Edited by Henry Hardy and Ian Harris. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Chapter on “Two Concepts of Liberty.”  Online only:
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/oso/private/content/politicalscience/9780199249893/p068.html#acprof-019924989X-chapter-4

Required book
Library has only the electronic version

Also available as:
Berlin, Isaiah. “Two Concepts of Liberty.” In Berlin, Isaiah. Four Essays on Liberty.  London: Oxford University Press.  (New ed. 2002.)

Also available as a long PDF at Chalk JC585.B498

Religious Freedom, Religious Toleration

Blue square Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom (Thomas Jefferson, 1779)

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport, 1790

PDF at Chalk site
Blue square United States Constitution.  Article VI, plus  First Amendment  http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Zagorin, Perez. How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Required book
BR1610.Z34 2003 also Law; Harper A

Blue square Locke, John. “A Letter Concerning Toleration.” In Locke: Political Essays, Edited by Mark Goldie. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1997.  Pp. 134-159.

JC153.L79 1997
also Harper A

Also available as:
Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration (Dover Thrift Editions)

Required book

Blue square Uzgalis, William. “Locke and Religious Toleration.” Section 4 of “John Locke” article in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.).  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/  Section 4 is http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/#LocRelTol

Online Link

Blue square Collins, Jeffrey R. “Redeeming the Enlightenment: New Histories of Religious Toleration.” Review Essay. Journal of Modern History. 81 (September 2009). Pp. 607-636.

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square OPTIONAL: Students with a special interest in philosophy should consider:
Forst, Rainer. “Toleration.” Article in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/toleration/		 Online Link
Free Speech

Blue square Kors, Alan Charles. “A Note About Free Speech,” The Hornacle, Sept. 1, 2001. http://www.thefire.org/article/4834.html

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Warburton, Nigel. Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Required book
JC591.W37 2009 at Law only

Blue square Mill, John Stuart. ‘On Liberty’ and other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989 and reprinted 1998. Chapter II, “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion.”

Required book
JC585.M740 1989
also at: Harper A

Blue square Wilson, Fred.  “John Stuart Mill.” Section 13: Social and Political Philosophy.  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.).  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill/

Online Link
Property Rights and Market Competition

Blue square Three Simple, Crucial Graphs about World Economic History (from data compiled by Angus Maddison)

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Heritage Foundation Scale of Property Freedom
    http://www.heritage.org/index/ (definition: economic freedom)
    http://www.heritage.org/index/Property-Rights.aspx (definition: property rights)		 PDF at Chalk site
Blue square Federalist No. 62 on the importance of stable government for commerce (very brief excerpt) PDF at Chalk site
Blue square North, Douglass C. “The Paradox of the West.” In Davis, Richard W., ed. The Origins of Modern Freedom in the West. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995. Pp. 7-34. PDF at Chalk site
JC599.E9 O75 1995
Blue square Bernstein, William J. The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Pp. 7-90, 161-92. Required book
HC79.W4 B47 2004
Blue square Muller, Jerry Z. The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.  Pp. xvii, 14-17, 76-77, 390-94, 400-405. PDF at Chalk site
HB501.M84 2002 
Blue square Epstein, Richard A. Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985, Pp. 7-18.  PDF at Chalk site
XXKF5599.E670 1985;
also at: Law
Blue square Rosenberg, Nathan and L. E. Birdzell. How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World. New York: Basic Books, 1986. Pp. 3-36, 113-143. Required book
HC240.R67 1985
Blue square W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, “Creative Destruction,” in The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.      http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/CreativeDestruction.html Online Link
Blue square Waldron, Jeremy.  “Property.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/property/ Online Link
Self-Government (or Government by Consent)

Blue square Crick, Bernard R. Democracy: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Required book
JC421.C75 2002

Blue square Pipes, Richard. Property and Freedom. 1st ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.  Pp. 121-158.

Required book
JC605.P56 1999 also at: Law

Blue square Mandelbaum, Michael. Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Most Popular Form of Government. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007. Pp. xi-xviii, 1-135.

Required book
JC423.M35 2007

Blue square Christiano, Tom.  “Democracy.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democracy/

Online Link
Equal Treatment Under Law

Blue square Poggi, Gianfranco. The Development of the Modern State: A Sociological Introduction. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1978.  Pp. 101-113.

PDF at Chalk site
JN5.P630

Blue square Berman, Harold Joseph. Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983. Pp. 520-521; 527-539.

PDF at Chalk site
XXK150.B470 1983

Blue square Berman, Harold Joseph. Law and Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformations on the Western Legal Tradition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.  Pp. ix-xii; 1-5; 373-379.

PDF at Chalk site
K147.B47 2003
also at: Law

Blue square Epstein, Richard A. What Do We Mean By the Rule of Law? New Zealand Business Roundtable, 2005. Pp. 1-15.

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Barry, Brian M. Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001.  Pp. 3-17.

PDF at Chalk site
HM1271.B37 2001 also at: SSA 

Blue square Levy, Jacob T. "Liberal Jacobinism," a review essay of Brian Barry, Culture and Equality, Ethics 114(2), 2004, p. 328 only 

PDF at Chalk site

The Dark Side: Slavery, Racism, Empire, Inequality, Domination
(The class will choose one topic, either slavery and empire, but we may discuss others, as well. There will be a different weekly form for this one week. If we choose to focus on empire, then the short Howe book will be required.)

Empire

Blue square Howe, Stephen. Empire: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Required book
D217.H68 2002

Blue square Pitts, Jennifer. A Turn to Empire: The Rise of Imperial Liberalism in Britain and France. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.  Introduction and Conclusion.

PDF at Chalk site
JC359.P54 2005
also: Harper A-Level at Reg

Slavery

Blue square Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966.  Ch. 1, Pp. 3-28.

PDF at Chalk site
HT871.D26

Blue square Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Ch. 9, Pp. 175-192.

PDF at Chalk site
E441.D2495 2006 also at: Law

Blue square Davis, David Brion. Slavery and Human Progress. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.  Pp. xvii-xviii, 107-106.

PDF at Chalk site
HT861.D380 1984 also at: Law

Blue square Stark, Rodney. For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003. Chapter 4: "God's Justice: The Sin of Slavery," Pp. 291-365.

PDF at Chalk site
BL221.S747 2003.

Blue square Lincoln, Abraham. Second Inaugural Address.  March 4, 1865. http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnSecondInaugural.html

PDF at Chalk site
Online Link

Blue square Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Eugene D. Genovese. The Mind of the Master Class: History and Faith in the Southern Slaveholders' Worldview.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. 2-4, 28, 52-53, 69-70, 526-28, 565, 709.

PDF at Chalk site
F213.F69 2005

Liberty and Human Autonomy (or Human Independence)

Blue square Schneewind, J. B. The Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.  P. 483.

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Lindley, Richard Charles. Autonomy. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1986. P. 6.

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Christman, John. “Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy” excerpt, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/autonomy-moral/

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Berlin, Isaiah. Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty , Edited by Henry Hardy and Ian Harris. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Chapter on “Two Concepts of Liberty.”  Online only.
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/oso/private/content/politicalscience/9780199249893/p068.html#acprof-019924989X-chapter-4

Required book
Library has only the electronic version

Also available as:
Blue square Berlin, Isaiah. “Two Concepts of Liberty.” In Berlin, Isaiah. Four Essays on Liberty.  London: Oxford University Press.  (New ed. 2002.)

JC585.B498

Blue square Carter, Ian.  “Positive and Negative Liberty.”  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/

Online Link

Blue square Machan, Tibor R. Private Rights and Public Illusions. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1995. Pp. 62; 91 (just those two pages)

PDF at Chalk site
JC599.U5M2650 1995

Blue square Gaylin, Willard and Bruce Jennings. The Perversion of Autonomy: The Proper Uses of Coercion and Constraints in a Liberal Society. New York: Free Press, 1996. Pp. 4-11; 29-51.

PDFs at Chalk site (2 files )
JC599.U5G360 1996 also at: Law, SSA

Blue square Steven Wall, “Freedom as a Political Ideal,” Social Philosophy and Policy 20 (2), July 2003, Pp. 307-311; 333-334 (those interested in philosophy may wish to read the entire article, Pp. 307-334).

PDF at Chalk site

Scientific Inquiry

Blue square Watson, Peter. Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud. 1st American ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2005, pp. 328-330; 474-495 (Ch. 23: “The Genius of the Experiment”).

PDF at Chalk site
CB69.W38 2005 
Blue square Murray, Charles A. Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. New York: HarperCollins, 2003, Pp. 233-243. PDF at Chalk site
BF416.A1 M87 2003

Blue square Review of Bill Bryson, ed., Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society, The Economist January 21, 2010, 81.
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15328215

PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Nagel, Ernest, “Scientific Revolution” in Garraty, John A. and Peter Gay, eds. The Columbia History of the World. 1st ed.
New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Pp.681-84, 690-92.

PDF at Chalk site
Blue square “The Scientific Revolution, c. 1650: Introduction.” In Thackeray, Frank W. and John E. Findling, eds. Events that Changed the World in the
Seventeenth Century. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1999.  Pp. 115-120.		 PDF at Chalk site
Blue square DeKosky, Robert K.  “Interpretive Essay [on The Scientific Revolution, c. 1650].” In Thackeray, Frank W. and John E. Findling, eds. Events that Changed the World in the Seventeenth Century. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1999.  Pp. 121-136. PDF at Chalk site

Blue square Okasha, Samir. Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. 1-94.

Required book
Q175.O4555 2002

Books for course (in order of their use in the course)

 

CALL NUMBER

ISBN
Blue square Zinsser, William Knowlton On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. 30th anniversary, 7th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2006 (any edition is fine) PE1429.Z5 2006 ISBN-10: 0060891548 ISBN-13: 9780060891541
HarperCollins

Blue square Grayling, A. C. Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights that made the Modern Western World. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Walker & Co., 2007.  (Available online only; order from Amazon or similar supplier)

JC571.G73 2007

Available online (may not be in print)
ISBN-10: 0747592993
ISBN-13: 9780747592990
Bloomsbury Publishing

Blue square Warburton, Nigel. Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

JC591.W37 2009 at Law Library only.

ISBN-10: 0199232350
ISBN-13: 9780199232352
Oxford University Press

Blue square Mill, John Stuart. ‘On Liberty’ and other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989 and reprinted 1998. Chapter II, “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion.”

JC585.M740 1989 also at: Harper A-level in Reg

ISBN-10: 0521379172
ISBN-13: 9780521379175
Cambridge University Press

Blue square Zagorin, Perez. How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.  

BR1610.Z34 2003 also at: Law; Harper.

ISBN-10: 0691121427
ISBN-13: 9780691121420
Princeton University Press

Blue square Locke, John. Locke: Political Essays, Edited by Mark Goldie. Chapter: “A Letter Concerning Toleration.” Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1997.  Pp. 134-159 (Students specializing in political philosophy should be buy this book.)

    Or

Blue square Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration (Dover Thrift Editions)
(Students who are not specializing in political philosophy should buy the Dover Thrift Edition.  It is much cheaper.)

Regenstein will have the Cambridge book on reserve

JC153.L79 1997 also at Harper A-level in Reg; also available as electronic version 

ISBN-10: 0486424642
ISBN-13: 9780486424644
Dover Thrift Editions

Blue square Bernstein, William J. The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Pp. 7-90, 161-92. 

HC79.W4 B47 2004

ISBN-13: 9780071747042
McGraw-Hill

Blue square Rosenberg, Nathan and L. E. Birdzell. How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World. New York: Basic Books, 1986. Pp. 3-36, 113-143. 

HC240.R67 1985

ISBN-10: 0465031099
ISBN-13: 9780465031092
Basic Books

Blue square Crick, Bernard R. Democracy: A very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

JC421.C75 2002

ISBN-10: 019280250X
ISBN-13: 9780192802507
Oxford University Press

Blue square Mandelbaum, Michael. Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's most Popular Form of Government. New York: PublicAffairs, 2007. Pp. xi-xviii, 1-135.

JC423.M35 2007

ISBN-10: 1586486640
ISBN-13: 978-1586486648
PublicAffairs

Blue square Berlin, Isaiah. Liberty: Incorporating Four Essays on Liberty.  2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 2002.

JC585.B498 plus new edition

ISBN-10: 019924989X
ISBN-13: 9780199249893
Oxford University Press

Blue square Okasha, Samir. Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Q175.O4555 2002 at Crerar

ISBN-10: 0192802836
ISBN-13: 9780192802835
Oxford University Press
Pages on this Web site
Lipson Courses
Lipson talks
Home List of my courses
Vita
International Politics
Talks on Education & Honesty
Books by Charles Lipson
Talks by Charles Lipson Hard Questions in IR Theory
Courses offered
PIPES Workshop
International Relations Resources
World History& Politics
Reading, Writing, Plagiarism 15th-18th c. World Politics
How to Write a Thesis 19th c World Politics
Politics and Culture 20th c World Politics to 1945
Fun 20th c World Politics 1945-91
Talks on Global Issues
News Pages
 Big Wars: Ancient, Medieval, & Early Modern What's New about the New Economy?
World News
Values, Politics, and Culture
 The World America Made
Middle East News Core Western Values Political Threats to Global Prosperity
Headline News
Social Science Core
 Turning Points of the 20th Century
World News-Web Audio Power, Identity, Resistance Democracies in World Politics
Advice for students
  Israel's Challenges
How to Write a Thesis   China in World Politics
Getting a Good Recommendation   The Cold War
Law School: Advice on Applying   Why We Fought WW2
 
(c) Charles Lipson, 2012