PSC 262, 263 - Utopia & Its Critics

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 263).
An examination of utopianism and realism as contrasting modes of political thinking. By examining the works of thinkers such as Plato, Thomas More, Bellamy, and Morris, the course will consider the meaning, justifications, and functions of utopian thought, both as a blueprint for a just society and a genre of social criticism. The course will consider anti-utopian or realist thinkers such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes who insist on a sober assessment of power as the basis of political and social order.