This course would explore the ideas and institutions that influenced and formed political establishments in Europe and America. We will read primary source documents, including excerpts from Aristotle and Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine, Pope Leo XIII, John Locke, and American state papers (Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist writings, and the U.S. Constitution). We would seek to understand from whence our modern political ideas arose and how they compare to political ideas proposed by Catholic tradition.
This course would explore the ideas and institutions that influenced and formed political establishments in Europe and America. We will read primary source documents, including excerpts from Aristotle and Plato, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine, Pope Leo XIII, John Locke, and American state papers (Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist writings, and the U.S. Constitution). We would seek to understand from whence our modern political ideas arose and how they compare to political ideas proposed by Catholic tradition.
Course Materials: The instructor will provide primary source texts in pdf format free to students.
Homework: Students read assigned texts. The instructor will assign and grade two short essays each semester.