京都大学 京都大学

Political Science I-E2

Numbering Code U-LAS06 10016 LE42 Year/Term 2022 ・ First semester
Number of Credits 2 Course Type Lecture
Target Year All students Target Student For all majors
Language English Day/Period Wed.3
Instructor name TANGSEEFA，Decha (Center for Southeast Asian Studies Associate Professor)
Outline and Purpose of the Course Introduction
For this academic year, both Political Science I and II will be focusing on the political philosophy subfield. This subfield deals with perennial questions and basic problems in politics, which must continuously be examined and inquired, even though most members of political societies often consider them settled and no further arguments needed. Such questions, for example, are: What is a good life? What is a good political society? What is justice? What is power?

Toward the end of Political Science I and II, hopefully, students will: a) possess basic understanding of political philosophy, and will employ such knowledge as a guide to probe more deeply and sophisticatedly on the intertwining relations of three notions: youth, education and utopia; b) realize that the two introductory courses are very crucial not only for their quotidian lives, but also for each as a member of a political society as well as an earthling on this delicate yet fragile earth.

Issue and Approach
In general, the introduction to political philosophy taught in many countries has been dominated by the body of knowledge that only follows various traditions of the so-called “western worlds.” Hence, any attempts to discern basic political problems have predominantly been influenced by such traditions from such worlds. I myself have, to a large degree, been influenced by those traditions, too. Nonetheless, in order for our journey throughout this year to be broader, I have also chosen a few philosophical texts from some traditions of the “eastern worlds.” With limited time, however, we will be focusing only on two of the most important strands of the so-called “Chinese civilization”: classical Confucianism and classical Daoism. Altogether for this academic year, there will be three sets of issues:

Part 1: Love of Wisdom: An Answer for “What is Philosophy?”
Part 2: A Perspective on “Utopia”: Plato’s Republic
Part 3: Human Togetherness (?): Be(com)ing Humans, How should humans be?, and “The Political”

3.1 A Confucian View
3.2 Two Daoist Views
3.3 Social Contract Philosophies

While the first two parts are the contents of Political Science I, the third part is the focus of Political Science II. Students who intend to take only one of these two courses must be clear which tradition they would like to prioritize. If it is the “western”, they should take Political Science I. If it is the “eastern”, Political Science II is their choice.
Course Goals The two courses aim to enable students:

- To understand some traditions of political philosophy at the introductory level;
- To understand certain views of political philosophy regarding youth, education, and utopia;
- To pay attention, to think and to question our quotidian lives’ surroundings by employing perspectives from political philosophy.
Schedule and Contents In this course, close reading of the texts is the key method of learning. Students will be trained - at the introductory level -- how to read philosophical texts. We will, therefore, be reading parts of each text, keeping in mind that we will be probing more deeply and sophisticatedly on the intertwining relations of the three notions: youth, education and utopia.

Week 1:
- Introduction and Course Queries


Part 1: Love of Wisdom: An Answer for “What is Philosophy?”

Week 2:
- Life, Love and Wisdom:

Jostein Gaarder. 1996. Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy. Pp. 2-60.

Part 2: A Perspective on “Utopia": Plato’s Republic

Week 3:
- Republic. 327a-336a
Week 4:
- Republic. 336b-354c
Week 5:
- Republic. 357a-367e
Week 6:
- Republic. 368a-383c
Week 7:
- Republic. 386a-403c
Week 8:
- Republic. 403c-417b
Week 9:
- Republic. 419a-445e
Week 10:
- Republic. 449a-474c6
Week 11:
- Republic. 474c7-497a7
Week 12:
- Republic. 497a8-511e5
Week 13:
- Republic. 514a-541b
Week 14:
- Course Summary
Week 15:
- Feedback Session
Evaluation Methods and Policy There is NO exam in this course.

By midnight of every Sunday (from the first until the twelfth week), students will submit their homework: typewritten and not more than one page (A4).

Each week's assignment weights 10%. Throughout the semester, there will be 12 assignments, but each student's 10 best results will be used to calculate that student's final grade.
Course Requirements 1) Good level of English language ( TOEFL ITP score ≧525) is required (the full score is 677).
(For more information on how to convert the score, among others, see:
https://capman.es/sites/default/files/toefl_itp_official_score_report_soloinformativo.pdf)


2) Comparatively speaking, this course is both reading-intensive and writing-intensive. Thus, any students who plan to take too many courses in this semester will have a hard time fulfilling this course’s requirements.
Study outside of Class (preparation and review) Students will study each week's reading assignments before class time. Afterward, they will answer questions prepared by the instructor, then submit the answers by midnight of each Sunday. During class time, there will be two activities: a) discussing students' answers; b) lecturing by the instructor.
Textbooks Textbooks/References Plato Republic, C.D.C.Reeve, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.), ISBN:978-0872201361
The Republic of Plato, Allan Bloom, (Basic Books), ISBN:0-465-06934-7, (file:///Users/decha/Zotero/storage/FWC7RPLI/platos-republic-allan-blooms-translation-d6832249.html) (Accessed June 21, 2020)
The Key Texts of Political Philosophy: An Introduction., Thomas L. Pangle and Timothy W. Burns., (Cambridge University Press.), ISBN:978-0521185004
Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy., Jostein Gaarder, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux.), ISBN:978-0374530716
Related URL https://onlinemovie.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/movie_decha.html
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