American Political Thought
Engage key texts that have helped shape the political idea – and political ideals – of America.
Students will engage in close study of the principal political writings of John Locke, the seventeenth-century British philosopher whose views on political liberty helped shape the U.S. Constitution. They will examine the foundations of the modern tradition of freedom, including natural freedom and equality, limited government, the right to property, religious toleration, and the proper education of free citizens.
Images: Sir Gotfrey Kneller, Portrait of John Locke, 1697 | True Platforme and Manner of the Sitting in the Lower House of Parliament, 1625, British Library
Peter Berkowitz on liberal democracy
Faculty
Peter Berkowitz
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies and writes about, among other things, constitutional government, conservatism and progressivism in America, liberal education, national security and law, and Middle East politics.
Peter Berkowitz
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies and writes about, among other things, constitutional government, conservatism and progressivism in America, liberal education, national security and law, and Middle East politics.
He is the author of Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation (Hoover Institution Press, 2013); Israel and the Struggle over the International Laws of War (Hoover Institution Press, 2012); Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism (Princeton University Press, 1999); and Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist (Harvard University Press, 1995).
He is the editor of seven collections of essays on political ideas and institutions published by the Hoover Institution: Renewing the American Constitutional Tradition (2014); Future Challenges in National Security and Law (2010); The Future of American Intelligence (2005); Terrorism
He taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at George Mason University School of Law from 1999 to 2006, and political philosophy in the department of government at Harvard University from 1990 to 1999. He holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, an M.A. in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. in English literature from Swarthmore College.
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The State of Nature
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What is “the natural condition of mankind”?
- What is the law of nature?
- What does the state of nature teach about human nature?
- What does the state of war teach about the state of nature and human nature?
- What is property, how is it acquired, how is it preserved, and how does it benefit humanity?
The Origins and Ends of Government
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What is paternal power, how is it justified, and how far does it extend?
- How do commonwealths come into existence and by what principles are they constituted?
- What is prerogative and what are its limits?
- How are commonwealths dissolved?
Locke’s Second Treatise Cont’d
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
See questions from previous assignments.
Religion and Toleration
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What is “the business of true religion”?
- How does Christianity teach toleration?
- What is “the business of civil government”?
- How far does the duty of toleration extend and what does it require?
- Is Locke’s denial of toleration to Catholics and atheists consistent with his principles?
- How is religious toleration connected to other forms of toleration?
Education
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
- What, for Locke, is the primary goal of education?
- Toward what virtues, or virtue, is Lockean education directed?
- Why are tutors necessary?
- Why does Locke stress the “love of reputation”?
- In what sense is courage or fortitude “the guard and support of the other virtues”?
