Introduction

Introduction Political Science 565

Poli Sci 565 • Office hours: MW, 1:20-2:20, North Hall 401 • agomez4@wisc.edu • Course website: adamgomez.wordpress.com/teaching/polisci565

Big Questions • What is the appropriate balance between state and federal power? • Is the United States a single nation or a confederation of states? • Who is, and who can be, an American? • What is an American? • How can the legacies of slavery be addressed? • What does it mean to be free? What does it mean to be equal? • What counts as power?

Two Kinds of Liberty • Ideal types, almost never encountered in pure form • Negative • Liberty is having no masters • Absence of constraint • Positive • Liberty is being your own master • Constraint can be used to help you act as you would if you had better understanding

Telos • The end of a thing as a part of that thing • Example: acorns & oak trees • Teleology (teleological) • Understanding a thing with its telos in mind • Linear movement toward the telos of a thing

Ideas Have Power • Two major political philosophies inform the structure of American government • liberalism & republicanism

Liberalism • Emphases: • Primacy of reason • Reason vs. passion, interest • Universal rights • Negative liberty • The market • Individuals

Republicanism • Emphases • Value of citizenship • Ties that bind citizens to state and vice versa • Community & communal identity • Positive liberty • Virtue and corruption (faction, interest) • Classicalist

Introduction

Introduction

Presentation Transcript

Introduction to introduction to introduction to … Optimization

INTRODUCTION/ INTRODUCTION

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Introduction