Course List

What is the Good Society, one that is fair and just and best satisfies the aspirations of its people? The question has been a fundamental quest of philosophy, religion and political theory for millennia. In this seminar we will consider six alternative versions of a Good Society, specifically Plato's Republic, Exodus, the New Testament, the Koran, Marx and Communism and Constitutional Democracy. Throughout the course, we will use the term society to describe governance, faith or ideology, and relations among those who live within a society and with those outside of the society. We will study each articulation of a Good Society within the context of the culture in which it originated. We will conclude the seminar by asking each student to write and present a paper describing her, his or their version of the Good Society.