Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
From 1900 to 1920, American progressives such as Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and John Dewey argued for an "organic" view of society against the natural rights, atomistic individualism, and limited government of the 19th century. Understand the role, effects, and issues raised by progressivism and new liberalism in America, including the welfare state.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
No one has done more to give both a historical and a systematic philosophical defense of modern republicanism in the postwar period than Jürgen Habermas. Explore his philosophy of communication, as well as his arguments for liberal republicanism and social democracy against philosophical and theoretical attacks by conservatism, Nietzschean "will to power," and postmodernism.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
German philosopher Karl Marx's critique of capitalism and vision of communism went unapplied until 1917 in Russia. By 1980, approximately one-third of the world's population lived in countries adhering to his work. Explore Marx's basic claims (formulated in conjunction with Friedrich Engels), which represented the most powerful version of socialism and the greatest threat to liberal capitalism.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Investigate the sources of judicial authority that underlie our legal system, and the judicial system's organization according to three types of legal cases. Learn about the structure of the federal court system, comprising three types of federal courts. Conclude with a detailed look at the Supreme Court, how a case gets to the Supreme Court, and how cases are heard and adjudicated.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Observe how a congressional bill originates, and how legislators formally submit a bill. Then follow the various stages through which a bill is acted upon by the House, the Senate, by presidential review, and the process of ultimate adoption into law. Finally, learn about the "cloture rule," a mechanism that forces bills to a vote, and the strategic tactic of filibustering in the Senate.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Define "public opinion," in its various forms, both individual and aggregate. For the measuring of public opinion, note the difference between the theory of the "wisdom of crowds," and what's called "groupthink." Explore the sources of individual opinion and political identity. Then look at what polls are and what they do, highlighting the polling controversy of the 2016 presidential election.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Does politics demand behavior that is ethically immoral? Do the ends justify the means? Explore the legacy of Niccolò Machiavelli, the first modern political philosopher and political scientist, who broke with the classical virtue politics of Plato, Aristotle, Rome, and medieval Christianity, establishing a new order of political thought that focused on politics in the real world.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Where do the political terms "right" and "left" come from? Find out here, in a lecture that explores powerful 19th-century thinkers on both sides of the spectrum, whose reactions to the polarizing French Revolution helped pave the way for more extreme conservatism and anarchist socialism that lasted throughout the century.
89) Books That Matter: The Federalist Papers: Episode 12,The Future of the United States Constitution
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
What does the future look like for America's democratic republic? As you've seen, one of the most important trends has been the gradual increase in federal power, but the tension between federal and state power remains. Is there still a future for republican government? What might a Second Constitutional Convention look like? And would we want to find out?
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
As the Enlightenment's greatest champion of equality, Swiss writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau endorsed the social contract - but his ideas differed from Hobbes and Locke in critical ways. Here, examine Rousseau's legacy and thought, which sought to structure modern civil society in a way that might recapture what he saw as the independence and equality of primitive society.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Take a nuanced look at libertarianism, starting with the views of novelist Ayn Rand, who defended laissez-faire and espoused a philosophy of "objectivism." Then turn to the work Anarchy, State, and Utopia, in which philosopher Robert Nozick provided a libertarian rebuttal to Rawls, laying the groundwork for future disagreements over the welfare state.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Modern political philosophy emerged, along with the rise of modernity, out of medieval feudalism. Delve into the history of politics leading up to 16th-century Europe, including the development of ancient political organization, the ideas of Plato and Aristotle - the first Western political theorists - and the contributions of medieval philosophy, such as the notion of "just war."
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Is it just for one man to drive a luxury car and eat at expensive restaurants while another goes homeless and hungry? Consider such questions of justice as you explore the views of John Rawls, whose 1971 A Theory of Justice became the most famous justification of welfare liberalism in the late 20th century.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
As context, begin by looking into the nature of governments, and the major types of government. Consider why governments exist and how major political theorists have viewed the roles of government. Examine the founding of the United States and the creation of the Constitution through the lens of "collective action theory," which helps explain why the US government is structured as it is.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Delve into the factors that underlie the extreme partisan polarization of current US politics. Define what polarization is, as distinct from partisanship. Focus on three main sources of polarization, and explore how and why polarization tends to self-perpetuate. Examine false assumptions about polarization, its dangers, and consider how possible reforms might break the cycle.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Inspired by the commercial success of Holland and England, a number of 18th-century intellectuals argued that a society of self-interested producers is good, despite its flaunting of traditional, classical, and Christian virtues. Investigate these thinkers, including Voltaire and Adam Smith, who each believed commerce promotes liberty, peace, and prosperity.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Neoliberals and economic conservatives disagree widely on many points, but they share a common enemy: expansive, progressive government. See the two paths conservatism took in the post - WWII world and examine the thought these camps produced - all of which serves as background for today's arguments about government and economy.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Study the system of federalism, where sovereign power is divided between the national and state governments. Trace the history of federalism in the United States, as it checks government power, and allows for the resolution of political conflicts. Note how the balance shifted in the 20th century, from greater state authority to a much-expanded power of the federal government.
Publisher
Divided Films
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
In part one, Diane Guerrero travels to Houston, Texas to investigate the effect of the state's anti-sanctuary Senate Bill 4 and discovers some of the most vulnerable victims of this anti-immigrant era -- the victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence.In part two, Nick Offerman travels to the coal country of eastern Kentucky to investigate the collapse of the coal industry and meets voices calling for a different future. While there he learns...
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
Although the "old" left declined in the West after WWII, Frankfurt School thinker Herbert Marcuse was able to help create what was sometimes called a Freudian left through a psychological reinterpretation of Marxism. Delve into the New Left of the 1960s and Marcuse's ideas, which critiqued capitalism's seduction of society through the welfare state and culture industry.
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