Teaching

Department of Political Science, Stanford University

Teaching at Stanford University; photograph by Misha Bruk

Photo by Misha Bruk.

Undergraduate

POLISCI 131L/ETHICSOC 131S

Modern Political Thought: Machiavelli to Marx and Mill

This course is an introduction to the history of Western political thought from the late fifteenth century through the nineteenth century. We will consider the secularization of politics, the changing relationship between the individual and society, the rise of consent-based forms of political authority, and the development and critiques of liberal conceptions of property. Thinkers covered will include: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Burke, Mill, and Marx.

COLLEGE 102

Citizenship in the 21st Century

Citizenship is not just what passport you hold or where you were born. Citizenship also means equal membership in a self-governing political community. We will explore some of the many debates about this ideal: Who is (or ought to be) included in citizenship? Who gets to decide? What responsibilities come with citizenship? Is citizenship analogous to being a friend, a family member, a business partner? How have people excluded from citizenship fought for, and sometimes won, inclusion? These debates have a long history, featuring in some of the earliest recorded philosophy and literature but also animating current political debates in the United States and elsewhere.

Graduate

POLISCI 432R

Selections in Modern Political Thought

This graduate-level seminar explores selections from the canon of Western political thought from the late fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. Throughout the course, we will engage in close textual readings of individual thinkers and consider some of the larger questions raised by political modernity. The theme of the course differs from year to year. All MA and Undergraduate Students will need a permission code to enroll.

These are the courses I teach most frequently. I do, however, occasionally teach other courses as well. For the latest offerings, check the listings here.