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Introduction To Western Political Thought

Prof. Mithilesh Kumar Jha · IIT Guwahati

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About

One of the major objectives of this course is to introduce the students to the key debates and ideas in Western political thought. It is hoped that familiarity with the ideas or concepts of some major western political thinkers will help the students to understand different perspectives and approaches to state, politics, government, sovereignty, citizenship and so on. It is also hoped that this course will enable the student to make sense of and interpret the major developments and key debates in the political debates and discussions in any contemporary society and polity.

Intended audience: UG and PG students of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sciences, and Engineering

Lectures

Week 1: Introduction

  1. Lec 1: General Outline and Method YouTube
  2. Lec 2: Method: Text and Context YouTube

Week 2: Plato

  1. Lec 3: Intro & Justice YouTube
  2. Lec 4: State and Philosopher King YouTube
  3. Lec 5: Communism of Wives and Property & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 3: Aristotle

  1. Lec 6: Intro & Ethics or Virtue YouTube
  2. Lec 7: Politics & His Ideal State YouTube

Week 4: Aristotle and Machiavelli

  1. Lec 8: Aristotle - III: Citizenship, Views on Revolution & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube
  2. Lec 9: Machiavelli - I: Intro & Virtu and Fortuna YouTube

Week 5: Machiavelli

  1. Lec 10: Machiavelli - II: Politics, Violence, and Religion YouTube
  2. Lec 11: Machiavelli - III: Republicanism & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 6: Hobbes

  1. Lec 12: Hobbes - I: Intro & Human Nature YouTube
  2. Lec 13: Hobbes - II: The Leviathan or Sovereign YouTube
  3. Lec 14: Hobbes - III: Political Obligation & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 7: Locke

  1. Lec15: Locke - I: Intro, State of Nature & Natural Rights YouTube
  2. Lec16: Locke II: Limited Government YouTube
  3. Lec17: Locke - III: Right to Dissent & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 8: Rosseau

  1. Lec 18: Rousseau - I: Intro & Social Contract YouTube
  2. Lec 19: Rousseau - II: General Will & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 9 : Kant

  1. Lec 20: Kant - I: Intro & What is Enlightenment? YouTube
  2. Lec 21: Kant - II: Morality, Autonomy & Freedom YouTube
  3. Lec 22: Kant - III: Kingdom of Ends & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 10 : Hegel

  1. Lec 23: Hegel - I: Intro & Freedom YouTube
  2. Lec 24: Hegel - II: Civil Society & State YouTube
  3. Lec 25: Hegel - III: Rights & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 11 : Marx - I

  1. Lec 26: Marx - I: Intro & Historical Materialism YouTube
  2. Lec 27: Marx - II: State & Class YouTube
  3. Lec 28: Marx - III: Views on Politics, Communism & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Week 12 : Mill

  1. Lec 29: Mill - I: Intro, Utilitarianism & Subjection of Women YouTube
  2. Lec 30: Mill - II: On Liberty, Representative Government & Critical Assessment of his Thought YouTube

Syllabus and materials

At NPTEL, as the course publishes them.

Credits and licence

Institution
IIT Guwahati
Department
Humanities and Social Sciences
Teacher
Prof. Mithilesh Kumar Jha
Level
Undergraduate
Language
English
Subjects
Society and politics
Source
NPTEL
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA, as NPTEL states it. Non-commercial use only. NPTEL's terms
Attribution
NPTEL states: "Distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike / CC BY - NC - SA", beside a BY-NC-SA badge.
Who can watch
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