PLST 204: LIBERAL TRADITION
Spring 2027 · Section 001 · CRN 26704
The city-states of ancient Greece (5th – 4th c. BCE) and the Roman Republic (3rd – 1st c. BCE) were political communities in which individual citizens necessarily played active and crucial roles in the formation and direction of the state. Citizens undertook these functions by utilizing the opportunities to address the citizen body, to listen along with fellow citizens to public, communal speech, and thereby to deliberate with fellow citizens to make official, binding communal decisions. This course focuses on the institutions and contexts of citizen speech, dialogue, deliberation, and decision-making. It considers the theoretical frameworks for citizen speech as put forward by leading contemporary thinkers. It looks at specific, famous cases in both Greece and Rome; and it assesses what citizenship meant in these contexts. The course concludes with a look at citizenship and civic speech in the Roman Empire (1st c. BCE – 2nd c. CE) and at certain paradigms of citizenship in modern, western-style democracies. Readings for the course are selected from the ancient primary sources for this subject matter, all in English translation. The course is conducted as a combination of lectures and seminar-style discussion. Students will submit two papers and offer one oral presentation during the semester. Cross-list: CLAS 204.
- Credits
- 3
- Instructors
- Harvey Yunis