3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Despotism, authoritarianism, autocracy, dictatorship: the terms for tyranny are legion. But what exactly do we mean by tyranny, and how are we to understand it? This seminar will explore what literature, philosophy, and political theory, ancient and modern, have to say about both this (protean) concept and its many historically charged avatars. A deeper look into the history of “tyranny” reveals unexpected complexities, from affirmative uses of the term to radical critiques. To better understand this complex history and what it is we mean when we oppose political repression today, we will read classic works from political theory, philosophy, and literature (e.g. Plato’s “Apology of Socrates,” “Republic” VIII-IX; Xenophon’s “Hiero”; Livy’s “Ab Urbe Condita” 1-2; Seneca the Younger’s “De Clementia”), early modern (e.g. Machiavelli’s “Prince”; La Boétie’s “On Voluntary Servitude”; Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”; Schiller’s “Fiesco”) and modern works (e.g. Strauss on Xenophon, followed by Kojève’s Commentary; Arendt’s “Origins of Totalitarianism”).