Spring 2016 Contemporary Civilization Mini-Core Course

Spring 2016 Contemporary Civilization Mini-Core Course

Socrates and the Legacy of Conscientious Citizenship
Michele Moody-Adams, the Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory

Wednesdays, March 23, April 6 and April 20 at 6:30- 8:30 p.m.

Socrates is often understood to have lived his life as a conscientious citizen: a fearless “gadfly” on the neck of his beloved Athens. We will explore the Platonic texts most often thought to support this interpretation of Socrates’ legacy. We will then consider some important 19th and 20th century attempts to emulate the Socratic ideal. The readings will allow us to ask about the advantages and disadvantages to any society of holding Socrates up as a model of citizenship, and to consider the costs to the individual who seeks to be a conscientious citizen in the Socratic mode. We will ask whether there might there be a duty to be a conscientious citizen, but also whether (and when) any such duty can be outweighed by other important social values.

Wednesday, March 23 | Socrates as an Exemplar of Conscientious Citizenship
Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, translated by G.M.A. Grube (Hackett Publishing; 1975) (Read all of the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and the Death Scene from Phaedo pp. 1-58)

Wednesday, April 6 | John Stuart Mill – “Philosophic Radical” or British Socrates?
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty Chs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 (pp. 88-162); and Utilitarianism, Chs. 1 and 2 (pp. 181-202) in Mill, Utilitarianism and On Liberty; edited by Mary Warnock (Blackwell Publishing, 2003).

Wednesday, April 20 | Socratic Citizenship in the lives of M. K. Gandhi and M. L. King
(1) Mohandas K. Gandhi, excerpts from Selected Political Writings (edited by Dennis Dalton; Hackett 1996): (a) excerpts on Satyagraha (pp. 47-57); (b) excerpts from Swaraj : Gandhi’s Idea of Freedom (pp. 97-151);

(2) Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Letter from Birmingham Jail [available as a pdf]