Political Science

This course surveys the intellectual and philosophical criteria for political leadership as they were established by past thinkers. Some of the intellectual material addressed may include the assessment of Pericles by the ancients, Plato's nations of philosophical rule, Aristotle's conception of class rule, Plutarch's biographies, Marcus Aurelius reflections, Machiavelli's counsels, Marx's critique of bourgeois rule, Lenin's conception of vanguardism, Weber's observations regarding charisma and Gramsci's defence of the organic intellectual. Throughout the course the standards set in the past are applied to current political leaders, and the concerns raised by contemporary intellectuals like Christopher Lasch and Neil Postman are broached and assessed. (Students cannot earn credit for this course and POLS 3463).