Government 364 - SEMINAR IN POLITICAL THEORY

Political theory is speculative: to theorize about politics, we must be capable of imagining how things might be otherwise, whether in the future or today. One popular arena for such an exercise can be found in science fiction, much of which is dedicated to imagining how human society might be constructed, and particularly, how advances in technological capacity might affect that organization. While the specific technologies suggested in such work might not be available now (or perhaps ever), the speculative exercise undertaken by such works can help us to better understand the possibilities of the present and help us gain a better understanding of how to organize political communities. This course will take up the intersection between academic political theory and popular science fiction, using works by authors including Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ursula Le Guin and Isaac Asimov to examine the ways in which we might use the body of science fiction literature to expand our political imagination.

Topic: Science Fiction and Political Theory: Imagining Human Expansion. Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores