2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

POL 317 - The Politics of Evil


This course is an exploration of the origins, nature, and meaning of evil in a political context. It will examine instances of political evil, particularly those committed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, through a theoretical lens. Students will read seminal philosophers and theologians who have shed light on this topic, including Augustine, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Freud, Niebuhr, Morgenthau, Buber, and Arendt. The course will also explore the implications of the debate about evil between social and evolutionary psychologists. A particular focus will be given to totalitarianism, a manifestation of political evil that has assumed many forms since the early twentieth century. Other themes may include colonialism, genocide, terrorism, and war.
Lecture
Credits: 3