The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas

Discussing political philosophy's continuing influence in the world; its major concepts, including democracy, republicanism and liberalism; moral realism versus moral relativism; how the history of modern political thought evolves through the ages.

Modern political philosophy emerges out of medieval feudalism; the history of politics leading up to 16th-century Europe; the development of ancient political organization; the ideas of Plato and Aristotle; the contributions of medieval philosophy.

The legacy of Niccolo Machiavelli, the first modern political philosopher and political scientist; breaking with the classical virtue politics of Plato, Aristotle, Rome and medieval Christianity; establishing a new order of political thought.

The first version of social contract theory by Thomas Hobbes, who bases his view on moral relativism and a pessimistic state of nature; why the people must give up control to the sovereign in order for society to function, according to Hobbes.

John Locke and his notion of the state of nature and the social contract; reinterpreting civic republicanism in terms of the preservation of property; following the arguments he presents in his Second Treatise on Government and Letter on Toleration.

Swiss writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau endorses the social contract, but his ideas differ from Hobbes and Locke; examining Rousseau's legacy and thought, which seek to recapture what he sees as the independence and equality of primitive society.