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Political Science and International Relations
Ancient and Medieval Political Thought

Ancient and Medieval Political Thought

Code	15463
Year	3
Semester	S1
ECTS Credits	6
Workload	OT(15H)/TP(45H)
Scientific area	Ciência Política
Entry requirements	Not applicable.
Learning outcomes	This curricular unit aims to enable students to : - identify the main texts, ideas, themes and currents of ancient and medieval political thought; - understand the intellectual context of these texts, ideas, themes and currents, as well as their influence on the history of Western political thought; - reflect on the relevance of ancient and medieval political thought to contemporary experience; - prepare and discuss oral texts on specific themes of ancient and medieval political thought.
Syllabus	1 Introduction 1.1 Political thought in archaic Greece and its institutional context 1.2 The transition to the classical period 2 Plato 2.1 Justice and its intrinsic value 2.2 The ideal regime and the education of rulers 2.3 The characterization of bad regimes 3. Aristotle 3.1 Defining the disciplinary fields of ethics and politics 3.2 The notions of the good life, the polis and the community 3.3 The different types of regime and their evaluation 3.4 The role of education 4 The Hellenistic period 4.1 Epicurean “contractualism” 4.2 Stoic cosmopolitanism 5 Augustine of Hippo 5.1 The Augustinian reading of the history of Rome and the relationship between political history and providence 5.2 The city of God and the earthly city 5.3 The relationship between authority and sin 5.4 The desire for peace 6 Thomas Aquinas 6.1 The rediscovery of Aristotle 6.2 The definition of the best regime 6.3 The definition of law and its various types
Main Bibliography	Fundamental works: – AGOSTINHO, Santo, A cidade de Deus, 2 vols., Lisboa, Gulbenkian, 2000 [library code: CA-1.0-AGO]. – AQUINAS, Thomas, Political Writings, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002 [SC-5.3-00863]. – ARISTÓTELES, Política, Lisboa, Vega, 1998 [CA-1.0-ARI]. – LONG, A.A., & SEDLEY, D. N., The Hellenistic Philosophers, vol. 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987 [CA-192-00102]. – PLATÃO, A república, 9.ª edição, Lisboa, Gulbenkian, 2000 [CA-1.0-PLA] Support works: – ARNAS, Pedro, El pensamiento político en la Edad Media, Madrid: Fundación Ramón Areces, 2010 [CA-176-00683]. – BURNS, J. H. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought c.350–c.1450, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008 [french translation: CA-176-00148]. – ROWE, Christopher, and SCHOFIELD, Malcolm (eds.), The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000 [CA-176-00183].
Teaching Methodologies and Assessment Criteria	The subject is mainly theoretical and reflective in nature, which translates into two types of class: some classes will be mainly lectures and introductions to topics; other classes will be more practical and will mostly involve interpreting texts, commenting, dialoguing, clarifying doubts and debating. The final grade results from the combination of: 1) two tests [“frequências”] (30%+35%) 2) two 2-3 page reports on fundamental or accompanying works, which will then be the subject of an oral discussion (10%+10%); 3) oral participation, interest, care in study and tasks, assessed according to the direct observation method (15%).
Language	Portuguese. Tutorial support is available in English.