A survey of seminal Western and Middle-Eastern (Christian, Gnostic, Islamic) thinkers from classical and late antiquity to the early Middle Ages, who articulated responses to the fundamental questions of classical and early Medieval politics and political philosophy, such as: What is justice? What is law? What is (civic) virtue? What is the best regime and political order? What is the best form of social organization? How can the problems of poverty and social injustice be solved? Themes and issues include: Justice and War; the Rule of Law and international relations in antiquity; ancient imperialism and tyranny; the types of government and causes of revolution; the virtue of the good citizen and the question of the best regime; Roman republicanism and the threat of Civil Wars. The purpose of the course is to familiarize students with the classical tradition of political philosophy and its evolution through Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The political ideas of Classical political philosophers will be compared with those of the later political thinkers of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by examining the evolution of political thought within the Christian, Gnostic and Islamic concept of state and society.

*Course content subject to change