Government 262 - Early Modern Political Theory, 1500–1800

A study of Machiavellian power-politics and of efforts by social contract and utilitarian liberals to render that politics safe and humane. Topics considered include political behavior, republican liberty, empire and war; the state of nature, natural law/natural right, sovereignty and peace; limitations on power, the general will, and liberalism’s relation to moral theory, religion and economics. Readings from Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Smith and others; also novels and plays.