Graduate Seminar in Political Theory

POLI70601 Graduate Seminar in Political Theory 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 7 Clara Sandelind Unit coordinator Miriam Ronzoni Unit coordinator Politics 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 Analytical political theory is a fundamentally dialectic, dialogical discipline: the best way of putting an argument to the test is to see whether it can survive the critical scrutiny of other theoretically trained scholars and students.  Our conviction is that this is one of the fundamental skills that post-graduate students in political theory must learn in depth: figuring out how to play the dialectical game at both ends – namely by learning, on the one hand, what is a good, helpful, fair way of probing someone else’s argument; and, on the other, how to revise one’s views, their presentation, or both on the basis of powerful challenges.  To reflect this two pronged approach, the course will be split into five two-week periods. Each two-week period will consist of a traditional ‘Methods’ class in week one, and an innovative ‘Applied Exercise’ in week two.Week 1 Methods Class: During the first week in each two-week period we will discuss with students a number of set readings on method in political theory. These sessions will cover the fundamental methodological disputes occurring within analytical political theory, as well as introduce students to a number of methods and techniques they may choose to employ to construct and test their own substantive arguments.Week 2 Applied Exercise: During the second week in each two-week period we will meet with students on two separate occasions.  First, earlier in the week, there will be a one hour ‘preparatory’ session in which the module convenor(s) will discuss with students a paper that has been pre-circulated by an invited speaker. This could either be a piece of work in progress which the speaker will present, or a published piece of work (the session with the speaker can then either be a Q&A on the published piece, or a work in progress piece strongly linked to the published one, and for which the published one constitutes background reading). Second, later in the week, students will attend a seminar where the invited speaker will deliver the paper (these seminars will also be attended by other members of staff and PhD students).  Students will then ask the questions that they have worked on in the preparatory session.  In the preparatory session we will help students formulate their questions and reflect on the methods used both by the paper giver in writing the paper and by themselves in critiquing the paper.  In the seminar itself, a portion of time at the beginning will be reserved for students on the course to probe the speaker on their paper, asking their pre-prepared questions and developing them in light of the speaker’s responses (around 15-20 minutes). After that, the floor will open up to all attendees.  Given that this will be an event with a pre-circulated paper, the guest speaker will not deliver the paper, but give a 10 minute presentation at maximum, with almost the entire time devoted to Q&A, thus allowing us to focus on the methodology of discussing and probing a political theory argument.The course thus focuses on methods and research training in two different (and complementary) ways:<ul><li style="margin-left:32px;">First, by focusing on methodological options and methodological disputes (in the fortnightly methods seminars);</li><li style="margin-left:32px;">Second, by focusing, in a “learning by doing way”, on the fundamentally dialectical enterprise of probing a substantive argument (in the fortnightly sessions critiquing and discussing the invited speaker’s paper).</li></ul>The week-by-week structure will therefore be as follows (roughly; subjects of the methods classes and their order TBC):Week 1: Two hour seminar: Intro and Conceptual Analysis vs Normative Theorizing  Week 2: One hour preparatory seminar followed by ninety minute guest speaker seminar.  Week 3: Two hour seminar: Intuitionism vs Theory Building  Week 4: One hour preparatory seminar followed by ninety minute guest speaker seminar.  Week 5: Two hour seminar: The Role of Thought Experiments  Week 6: One hour preparatory seminar followed by ninety minute guest speaker seminar.  Week 7: Two hour seminar: Reflective Equilibrium  Week 8: One hour preparatory seminar followed by ninety minute guest speaker seminar.  Week 9: Two hour seminar: Ideal vs Non-Ideal Theory  Week 10: One hour preparatory seminar followed by ninety minute guest speaker seminar.       The course unit aims to:<ul> <li>Introduce students to the most important methodological disputes in analytical political theory and understand them</li> <li>Introduce students to a range of methodologies employed in analytical political theory and understand them.</li> <li>Help students adjudicate among these methods, and employ them by critically analysing examples of the latest work in political theory – not just by discussing specific pieces academic work, but also by engaging directly with their authors.</li> <li>Introduce students to the fundamental dialectical nature of political theory/philosophy, where asking questions, probing and challenging someone’s work, revising one’s thinking on the basis of one’s reaction to challenges etc. is essential to the construction of sound, rigorous arguments.</li> <li>Build students’ confidence and sharpen their capacity for critical thinking and dialectic engagement by encouraging them to critically engage with the authors of the academic pieces they have previously analysed in class.</li> <li>Sharpen students’ critical thinking and analytical skills.</li> <li>Gain a better understanding of how to present a political theory paper.</li></ul> The preparatory sessions will be accompanied by an online discussion forum to be set up on Blackboard, to which students will participate in the run up to the sessions (after the text has been circulated). 0 Other 100% Critical Reflection-700 words 25% In class engagement summaries (500 words) 25% Essay 1800 words 50%   N <ul> <li> Blau (ed.), Methods in Analytical Political Theory, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).</li> <li> D. Leopold and M. Stears (eds.), Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (Oxford: OUP, 2008).</li> <li> Jo Wolff, “Analytic Political Philosophy”, p. 795-822 in Beaney ed. The Oxford Handbook to the History of Analytic Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).</li> <li> M. Timmons, 1987, ‘Foundationalism and the Structure of Ethical Justification’, Ethics, 97 (1987): 595-609.</li> <li> Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, ‘Thought Experiments’ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thought-experiment/</li> <li> Sally Haslanger, “Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them to Be?” in Resisting Reality, 221–47 also in Noûs, 34: 31–55.</li> <li> James, A. ‘Constructivism, Intuitionism and Ecumenism’, in Olsaretti, S. ed. The Oxford Handbook on Distributive Justice, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).</li></ul> Seminars 20 0 130 Timetable