Political Theory 101

Alex and Benjamin read Thomas Aquinas' De Regno, focusing on what Aquinas does with Aristotle's regime typology.

Alex and Benjamin talk about Iamblichus, and the strand of neo-Platonism that gets interested in theurgy. They compare Iamblichus with Plotinus. Is part of the soul in the realm of the intelligibles, or has all of it descended? The answer matters, politically. There's also some discussion of the religious politics of Emperor Julian, whose philosophical views were heavily influenced by Iamblichan i...

Edmund Wilson joins Alex and Benjamin to discuss James Harrington. They compare Harrington with Hobbes, discuss Harrington's influence on Marxism, and think about how Harrington is positioned in various accounts of the history of thought.

Alex and Benjamin discuss Marsilius of Padua's argument for the supremacy of the Holy Roman Emperor over the church. They get into the Fraticelli, disputes about whether priests can own property, and ideas of imperial consensus and collective knowledge.

Alex and Benjamin discuss a couple Quentin Skinner lectures, focusing mainly on his genealogies of the state and liberty.

Alex and Benjamin discuss Dante's political thought. They delve into divine right of kings theory, comparing it with other monarchical legitimation stories. There's Pope Boniface VIII, the Byzantines, and more.

In Alex's inaugural episode, we discuss the Timaeus and the relationship between Plato's metaphysics and his politics.

In Edmund's farewell episode, we discuss the September Group, including G.A. Cohen, Jon Elster, and Philippe Van Parijs. We discuss theories of history, the influence of Darwinian evolution on Marx, the differences between analytic and continental political theory, and the possibility of bridging that divide. Edmund and Benjamin will do one last Patron Q&A episode, and then Political Theory 101 wi...

Edmund and Benjamin discuss Tocqueville. They discuss his thoughts on both America and France, his contributions on civic education, civil society, equality, liberty, and so much more.

Andrew Osipov joins Benjamin and Edmund to discuss his thesis on the concept of representation. They discuss the many ways representation has been understood in recent decades.

Andrew Osipov returns to discuss Abbé Sieyès and the French Revolution. There's discussion of the evolution of the concept of representation and the nation, as well as comparisons with the American project.

Andrew Osipov joins Benjamin and Edmund to discuss Montesquieu's political thought. They focus on virtue & honor, monarchy and republicanism, and discuss some of the factors that led to the French Revolution.

Edmund and Benjamin discuss states of different sizes and different distributions of power among states. There's lots of discussion of polarity, hegemony, and other big ticket international relations ideas.

Edmund and Benjamin discuss more recent discussions of the relationship between politics and morality, positioning them in relation to some of the historical theories they've previously discussed.

Edmund and Benjamin discuss the changing understanding of currency, from the gold standard to Bretton Woods and even quantitative easing. They also spend some time debunking myths about Roman money in the 4th century...

Edmund and Benjamin discuss aesthetic theory and how it intersects with the political. Many Germans feature in this episode--Kant, Harder, Fichte, and so on.

Edmund and Benjamin are joined by Charlotte Newman for a discussion of the political potential of meditation and Buddhism. Charlotte has a YouTube Channel, 'Talking Calm', which you can find here: https://youtube.com/channel/UCeYZB54YTxPmDslkeMIg0xA

Edmund and Benjamin discuss different conceptions of liberty. They go beyond Isaiah Berlin's positive/negative distinction, examining republicans ways of thinking about the concept, its relationship to 'freedom', and some of the reasons why the emphasis has shifted over the centuries.

Edmund and Benjamin discuss the very different ways equality can be understood, including different units of comparison, currencies of justice, and distributive principles. They also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of equality as a radical paradigm.

Edmund and Benjamin return to the Frankfurt School, discussing the evolution of the theory of history as theorists incorporated more and more thoughts from Weber, Freud, and Heidegger. In the hands of the Americans, this process culminates in Habermas-influenced liberal accounts of deliberative democracy...

Edmund & Benjamin return to Max Weber! This time, we're discussing Weber's thoughts on the "immaturity" of the German bourgeoisie, along with the way Weber connected capitalism to religion.

Edmund and Benjamin put Marx's theory of alienation into conversation with Durkheim's theory of anomie, examining how we can't live with social roles or without them. This leads to a discussion of how social roles are reified, via Lukacs.

Edmund and Benjamin run through the history of utilitarianism, focusing both on its radical and conservative aspects and running through some of the problems utilitarians have grappled with. Featuring Sidgwick, Moore, Singer, and Parfit, among others...

We discuss reactions to economic change in the 18th century, conflicts with traditional understandings of virtue, and how theorists thought about the problem before Smith & Bentham came on the scene. To skip the full reading of Fable of the Bees, go to 25:30

We discuss the influence of theories of human nature on political theory, comparing and contrasting Hobbes, Hume, and Spinoza.