Why Politics Is Messy

Catalog description

What's the relation between truth-seeking and the political realm? Is that relation necessarily hostile? Are truth and politics incompatible? How might the nature of the political realm undermine truth and foment hatred in the age of social media? This course explores why there may be a necessary tension between seeking the truth ("philosophy" in the broadest sense) and political expediency. It measures that tension through the study of historical, philosophical, and political literature that addresses the conflict between human reason and political community, and then examines that conflict as it has played out in the modern, relatively democratic political landscape of America. As you prepare to step out into the world, this course will help you decide if the most serious political conflict is that between left-right ideologies, or is instead the quarrel between truth-seekers in any society and the very nature of society itself. Senior standing required.