The History of Western Political Thought

Discover the history of western political thought through a survey of some of the most important figures in the tradition. Examine the origins of political philosophy in ancient Greece through Aristotle’s most important works—Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. Explore the ways in which Aristotle’s thought was taken up by Christianity through a brief examination of central articles in St. Thomas Aquinas’s “Treatise on Law”. Witness the breakdown of Aristotelian and Thomistic political philosophy in modernity through the Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. Then uncover the development of classical liberalism and social contract theory in the writings of the 17th century English philosopher John Locke. Finally study the birth of American political thought from the perspective of one of the most perceptive observers of American political life—Alexis de Tocqueville.