Learning outcomes

General knowledge of modern and contemporary social and political philosophy (with forays into the ancient and medieval periods). Understanding of philosophical concepts. Ability to mobilise them in a reflexive and critical manner in order to decipher contemporary issues. The student will be able to understand the difference between social and political. The student will be able to understand the meanings of the notion of democracy (and the way in which the term demos is used in different political philosophies). He/she will be able to grasp the epistemological specificities of a so-called critical theory as well as the difficulties it may pose. He/she will master the role played by the notion of conflict in social and political philosophy. Finally, he/she will have been made aware of the anthropological foundations that determine the major conceptions of social and political philosophy.

Content

Introduction: Social philosophy vs. political philosophy Part 1: Democracy, power and philosophy Semantic evolution of the term democracy from Antiquity to the present day (drawing of lots, direct democracy, elective democracy,...); Typology of political regimes according to Aristotle. Figures of anti-despotism in philosophy; The status of power in Michel Foucault's work (Surveiller et punir; La volonté de savoir); The democratic paradox according to Jacques Rancière. Part 2: Genealogy of modernity Machiavelli (The Prince), Hobbes (The Leviathan), Spinoza (The Political Treatise), Locke (The Two Treatises of Civil Government). Part 3: Critical theory The critical theory of the Frankfurt School (Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse); The contemporary renewal of critical theory (Honneth).

Assessment method

Oral examination. One question on the subject and one question on one of the texts seen in the course.

Sources, references and any support material

Bruno Latour, Où atterrir? Comment s'orienter en politique , La Découverte, 2017. Jacques Rancière, Aux bords du politique , Paris, Gallimard, Folio-Essais, 2004. Axel Honneth, La société du mépris : Vers une nouvelle Théorie critique , La découverte, 2008. In addition, a selection of excerpts from works seen in the course is available on WebCampus (Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Marx,...).

Language of instruction

Français