Observe Dr. Gianna Englert, a 2021 Golden Mustang Award winner, instruct the 30-50 students enrolled in her PLSC1360: Introduction to Political Theory II class. This undergraduate class session will focus on Hobbes' Leviathan with a mix of introductory lecture and discussion. To learn more about this course, please see the description below. Note: only one person may register to observe this class session. You will receive the classroom location after registering.

Course description: This course is an introduction to texts and themes in political theory. We will study the writings of preeminent thinkers in Western political thought from roughly 380 BCE to the mid-twentieth century in order to consider some of the most fundamental but enduring questions of politics. Some of these questions, in particular, will guide our study: What is the best way to organize and govern a society? What is the most just? The most equal? The most free? Are these the same things? Is democracy the best answer to all of these questions, and if so, why? What are the virtues, benefits, and limits of democracy? This course will also introduce students to many of the authors and writings that have shaped Western political thought. Each of the thinkers we will study has a distinct way of thinking about politics. Beginning with Plato’s Apology, we will consider what is novel, important, even – and especially – wrongheaded about a given author’s approach. We will evaluate and analyze political arguments and concepts and ask whether insights from the past can address problems in the present. Students will develop skills in constructing and presenting written arguments, both in papers and essay exams.