POL 297 - Special Topics in Political Philosophy

FDR: SS2 (except for 297H)
Credits: 3 in fall and winter, 4 in spring
Prerequisites: First-year or sophomore standing or instructor consent. A seminar in political science for students at the introductory or intermediate level. Topic, hour, and instructor are announced prior to registration. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2014 topic:

POL 297H: A Course About Nothing (4). An introduction to contemplative inquiry and practice. We distinguish contemplative traditions that established academies and the universities in the West from the various forms of mindfulness practices in American popular culture. Students hone their critical thinking skills by cultivating secular mind-body disciplines vouchsafed by the latest research in sciences of mind and brain. This course introduces students to contemplative studies, one of the fastest growing and innovative disciplines in the university today. Ashtanga, Bikram yoga, and spin are integrated into time-honored traditions of learning in higher education. (HU) Velásquez.

Winter 2014 topic:

POL 297: Special Topic in Political Philosophy: Commerce, Capitalism, Compassion (3). Open to all classes and majors. A reading of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations (WN) and The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS). We revisit the “Adam Smith Problem” by comparing and contrasting his “selfish” economic actor as it allegedly appears in the WN with Smith’s “compassionate” moral actor as it appears in the TMS. We then consider current findings in neuroscience that illumine the ways in which rationality is itself emotional, and the self social and socially constituted. Might contemporary science show that Smith did not have a “Adam Smith Problem?” (SS2) Velásquez. Winter 2014