2013 Topic: Canadian and American Political Thought: Topical Encounters

Transcription

1 Carleton University Fall 2013 Department of Political Science PSCI 5306 F North American Political Traditions 2013 Topic: Canadian and American Political Thought: Topical Encounters Thursdays 11:25am-2:25pm Please confirm location through Carleton Central Instructor: Dr. Robert Sibley Office: Loeb B643 Office Hours: Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tel.: (613) x Robert.Sibley@carleton.ca or robertsibley@gmail.com COURSE DESCRIPTON: To the discussion of those deep underlying intellectual, moral, and spiritual issues which have made such chaos of the contemporary world we Canadians are making very little contribution. So opined political scientist Frank Underhill after the Second World War. Is this still true (assuming it was in the first place)? Or would Underhill be pleased with what s happened to the Canadian intellectual landscape in the last half-century? One way to address that question is to set representative Canadian thinkers against some equally representative American thinkers, comparing the thinking of each group on a variety of topics. Such is the intent of this seminar. With George Grant, the best-known Canadian nationalist thinker, famous for his book Lament for a Nation, as our primary Canadian, representative, we consider a variety of Canadian and American theorists with a view to prompting a dialogue on various topical issues, including, among others, nationalism, liberalism, technology, and contemporary imperialism. Some of the primary thinkers against which we will set Grant include Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin. Others such as Charles Taylor, James Doull, Michael Ignatieff, Barry Cooper, Ian Angus, Brian Barry, James Ceaser and Francis Fukuyama, will make brief appearances. It must be emphasized that this seminar requires a lot of reading (and, presumably, some thinking),l but by the end students should possess a reasonable comparative grasp on some of the central political debates of our time as they pertain to North American political thought. REQUIRED TEXTS should be available at Carleton Bookstore, but I have placed a number of the needed books on RESERVE at the library. As well, many texts are available as e-books, and, presumably, students will be find essays through Carleton s library research facility by using the citations and references I ve provided below. Also, the Course Pack should be available at Carleton University Bookstore.

2 2 Janet Ajzenstat, The Once and Future Canadian Democracy: An Essay in Canadian Democracy, McGill-Queen s University Press, Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, Harmondsworth: Penguin, Arendt, Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought, enlarged edition, Penguin, David Cayley, George Grant in Conversation, CBC Ideas, Anansi Press, ISBN O George Grant, Lament for a Nation, The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, Ottawa: Carleton University Press, ISBN George Grant, Technology and Empire: Perspectives on North America, Anansi Press, ISBN Grant, Technology and Justice, Anansi Press, ISBN Grant, Time as History, edited and with an introduction by William Christian, University of Toronto Press, [1969] ISBN The George Grant Reader, edited by William Christian and Sheila Grant, University of Toronto Press, ISBN Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite: Nation-building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, Penguin, ISBN Ignatieff, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, Penguin, Robert Sibley, Northern Spirits: John Watson, George Grant and Charles Taylor Appropriations of Hegelian Political Thought, McGill-Queen s University, ISBN Leo Strauss, On Tyranny: The Strauss-Kojeve Debate, ed. Victor Gourevitch and Michael S. Roth, University of Chicago Press, 2000, ISBN Strauss, Natural Right and History, University of Chicago Press, ISBN Strauss, An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays by Leo Strauss, ed. Hilail Gildin, Wayne State University Press, ISBN Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, University of Chicago Press, 1952 ISBN Voegelin, Science, Politics and Gnosticism, intro. Ellis Sandoz, ISI Books, 2004.

3 3 Course Pack: Available at Carleton University Bookstore COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Seminar participants will be expected to contribute weekly to the discussion, demonstrating evidence of reflection on the assigned materials. Generally, depending on class numbers, each session will involve four presentations. Over the seminar each participant will be expected to give THREE minute seminar PRESENTATIONS on assigned sets of texts. Presentation assignments will be arranged during the first class on Sept. 5, hopefully. This should give students sufficient time to reflect on the material. Seminar participants will also be expected at the beginning of each class to submit a 2-3 page SUMMARY/COMMENTARY on the salient issues discussed by the class in the previous week s seminar. Please note, these summaries are not to be a reworking of the texts, but rather an attempt to attention to and grasp of the class discussion, albeit within the context of the material under study. Summaries will be read and returned ASAP. TERM PAPERS ARE DUE DEC. 3. LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED unless there are valid reasons for the lateness. See references below. Seminar Presentations: Worth 30% Seminar Summaries: Worth 30% Term Paper 40% (Topics to be discussed with the instructor.) CLASS SCHEDULE: Sept. 5: INTRODUCTION -- Thinking with George Grant General discussion of the course material, intention of the course, requirements, and doling out assignments. In Search of a Seminar Theme discussion of the following readings. Students are expected to HAVE read this material for the first class, and, therefore, prepared to discuss it with a view to considering an overarching theme for the seminar. John Burbidge, Hegel in Canada, Owl of Minerva, 25, 2, (1994): Ron Dart, Charles Taylor and the Hegelian Eden Tree: Canadian Compradorism, Clarion Journal of Spirituality & Justice, April 16, Available at David MacGregor, Canada s Hegel, Literary Review of Canada, (Feb. 1994): (Course Pack) Sibley, Northern Spirits, ON RESERVE

4 4 Sept. 12: NATIONALISM -- Grant s Lamentation Grant, Lament for a Nation. Ajzenstat, The Once and Future Canadian Democracy, 3-69 and David Cayley, George Grant in Conversation, Barry Cooper, A imperio usque ad imperium: The Political Thought of George Grant, in George Grant in Process: Essays and Conversations, Toronto, 1978, Gad Horowitz, Conservatives, Liberalism and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 32, 2, (1966), (Also available in The Development of Political Thought in Canada: An Anthology, Katherine Fierlbeck, editor, Broadview Press, 2005), David Peddle and Neil Robertson, Lamentation and Speculation: George Grant, James Doull and the Possibility of Canada, Animus, 7 (2002), Sibley, Northern Spirits, Sept. 19: NATIONALISM and IDENTITY Grant s Anguish Grant, Canadian Fate and Imperialism, in Technology and Empire, Grant, Have we a Canadian Nation? in Collected Works of George Grant, Vol. 1, University of Toronto, James Doull, The Philosophical Basis of Constitutional Debate in Canada, Philosophy and Freedom: The Legacy of James Doull, edited by David G. Peddle and Neil G. Robertson, University of Toronto Press, ON RESERVE Janet Ajzenstat, The Political Nationality, in The Canadian Founding: John Locke and Parliament, McGill-Queen s, 2007, Ian Angus, The Social Identity of English Canada, in A Border Within: National Identity, Cultural Identity and Wilderness, McGill-Queen s, (1997), Chap. 2, ON RESERVE Barry Cooper, Did George Grant s Canada Ever Exist? in George Grant and the Future of Canada, ed. Yusuf K. Umar, Calgary, 1992, Cooper, Western Political Consciousness, in Political Thought in Canada, ed. Stephen Brooks, Irwin Publishing, 1984, Horowitz, Tories, Socialists and the Demise of Canada, etc. in H.D. Forbes, ed., Canadian Political Thought, Oxford, 1985, Robert Martin, A Lament for British North America, in Rethinking the Constitution: Perspectives on Canadian Constitutional Reform, Interpretation and Theory, edited by Anthony A. Peacock, (Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 1996): Peddle and Robertson, Freedom and the Tradition: George Grant, James Doull and the Character of Modernity, in Athens and Jerusalem, Sibley, Northern Spirits,

5 5 Sept. 26: THE MALAISE OF LIBERALISM Grant and Taylor: An imaginary encounter Grant, The George Grant Reader, (esp. The Triumph of the Will ). Grant, English-Speaking Justice, Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity. Sibley, Northern Spirits, Frank Underhill, Some Reflections on the Liberal Tradition in Canada, in Canadian Political Thought, edited by H.D. Forbes, Oxford University Press, Oct. 3: LIBERALISM AND MODERNITY -- Grant and Strauss (and Kojeve) Grant, Tyranny and Wisdom, in Technology and Empire, Strauss, On Tyranny, Alexander Duff, Response to the Strauss-Kojeve Debate: George Grant s Turn from Hegel to Christian Theism, in Athens and Jerusalem, H.D. Forbes, George Grant and Leo Strauss, in George Grant and the Subversion of Modernity, ed. Arthur Davis, University of Toronto Press, 1996, Michael Gillespie, George Grant and the Tradition of Political Philosophy, in By Loving Our Own, Carleton Universty Press, 1990, Grant Havers, Leo Strauss s Influence on George Grant, in Athens and Jerusalem, Robert Pippin, Being, Time and Politics: The Strauss-Kojeve Debate, History and Theory, 2, (1992), Pippin, The Modern World of Leo Strauss, Political Theory, 20, 3, (Aug. 1992), Sibley, Northern Spirits, and Oct. 10: MODERNITY AND HISTORY Grant, Strauss and Arendt Arendt, The Concept of History in Between Past and Future, Arendt, The Meaning of Revolution, in On Revolution, Grant, Time as Historical Process, Nietzsche and Time as History, in Time as History, 3-15 and Strauss, Natural Right and the Historical Approach, in Natural Right and History, (This essay is also available in Strauss, An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays by Leo Strauss, ed. Hilail Gildin, Wayne State University Press, (1975), Strauss, The Three Waves of Modernity, in An Introduction to Political Philosophy, Ronald Beiner, Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss: the Uncommenced Dialogue, Political Theory, 18, 2, (May 1990), Steve Buckler, Coming Out of Hiding: Hannah Arendt on Thinking in Dark Times, The European Legacy, 6, 5, (2001),

6 6 James W. Ceaser, The American Context of Leo Strauss s Natural Right s and History, Perspectives on Political Science, 37, 2, (Spring 2008), James Ceaser, The American Context of Leo Strauss s Natural Right and History, Perspectives on Political Science, 37, 2, (Spring 2008), Dick Howard, Reading Hannah Arendt s On Revolution after the Fall of the Wall, no date, n.p. William Carey McWilliams, Leo Strauss and the Dignity of American Political Thought, The Review of Politics, 60, 3, (1997), Vivasvan Soni, Classical Politics without Happiness? Hannah Arendt and the American Revolution, Cultural Critique, 74, (Winter 2010), Nathan Tarcov, Leo Strauss: Critique and Defense of Liberalism, delivered at the Conference on Leo Strauss: Religione e Liberalismo, Fondazione Maga Carta, Rome, May 13, (Course Pack) Thomas G. West, Leo Strauss and the American Founding, The Review of Politics, 53, 1 (Winter 1991), Oct. 17: MODERNITY AND TECHNOLOGY Grant and Voegelin: An Attempted Dialogue Grant, The Minds of Men in the Atomic Age and The George Grant Reader, 51-58; ; and Thinking about Technology, and Research in the Humanities, in Technology & Justice, and 35-77l. Voegelin, Introduction, and Gnosticism The Nature of Modernity, in The New Science of Politics, 1-26 and Ian Angus, Grant s Critique of Technology, in A Border Within, ON RESERVE Murray Jardine, Eric Voegelin s Interpretation of Modernity, A Reconsideration of the Spiritual and Political Implications of Voegelin s Therapeutic Analysis, in The Review of Politics, 57, 4, (Autumn 1995), John Von Heyking and Barry Cooper, A Cow is Just a Cow: George Grant and Eric Voegelin on the United States, in Athens and Jerusalem: George Grant s Theology, Philosophy and Politics, edited by Ian Angus et al, Toronto, 2006, Oct. 24: TECHNOLOGY AND MODERNITY Grant, Arendt and Voegelin: Toward a Dialogue Grant, In Defence of North America, in Technology and Empire, Grant, Nationalism and Rationality, Technology and Modernity in The George Grant Reader, and Grant, The Uses of Freedom: A Word and Our World, Queen s Quarterly, 62 (1955), Arendt, What Is Freedom? The Crisis in Culture and The Conquest of Space and the Stature of Man, in Between Past and Future, , and Voegelin, Gnosticism The Puritan Case and The End of Modernity, in The New Science of Politics, and ; and

7 7 READING BREAK Nov. 7: TECHNOLOGY AS ONTOLOGY -- Notes for a Grant-Voegelin Exchange Grant, Value and Technology, The Computer Does Not Impose on Us the Ways It Should Be Used, in The George Grant Reader, Grant, Temporality and Technological Man and Time as Mastery, in Time as History, and Voegelin, Hegel A Study in Sorcery, in Published Works, , Vol 12, The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, ON RESERVE Voegelin, Ersatz Religion -- Mass Movements in Our Time, in Science, Politics & Gnosticism, Nov. 14: EMPIRE AT THE END OF HISTORY Grant, Empire Yes or No? in The George Grant Reader, Grant, Ideology in Modern Empires, Perspectives on Empire, Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite, Ignatieff, The Lesser Evil, Lars Rensman, Europeanism and Americanism in the Age of Globalization: Hannah Arendt s Reflections on Europe and America, European Journal of Political Theory, 5, 2, (no date), Francis Fukuyama, The End of History? The National Interest, (Spring 1989), n.p. Robert Nisbet, Hannah Arendt and the American Revolution, Social Research, 44, 1, (Spring 1977), Leonard R. Sorenson, Leo Strauss and the Defense of Western Civilization, The European Legacy, 13, 2, (2008), Sibley, Northern Spirits, Chaps. 4, 5, 8, 9, 25, 26. (I refer regularly to John Watson s, The State in Peace and War, It will be ON RESERVE.) Nov. 21: PHILOSOPHIZING IN A NEW AGE OF IMPERIALISM Grant, Nietzsche and the Ancients, in Technology & Justice, Grant, Nietzsche: Revenge and Redemption, in Time as History, Grant, Leo Strauss and Political Philosophy, in Athens and Jerusalem, Ian Angus, Athens and Jerusalem? A Critique of the Relationship between Philosophy and Religion in George Grant s Thought, Journal of Canadian Studies, 39, 2, (Spring, 2005), Barry Cooper, George Grant and the Revival of Political Philosophy, in By Loving Our Own,

8 8 Lisa Disch, How Could Hannah Arendt glorify the American Revolution and revile the French? European Journal of Political Theory, 10, 3, (2011), James M. Rhodes, Philosophy, Revelation and Political Theory: Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, The Journal of Politics, 49, 4, (Nov. 1987), Sandoz, The Philosopher s Vocation: The Voegelinian Paradigm, The Review of Politics, 71, 1, (2009), Steven B. Smith, Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Case of Leo Strauss, The Review of Politics, 71, 1, (2009), Nov. 28: IN THE MEANTIME, WAITING FOR THE GODS? Eric Voegelin, Wisdom and the Magic of the Extreme, in Published Essays, , Vol. 12, The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, ON RESERVE William Christian, The Magic of Art, in By Loving Our Own, Ronald Beiner, George Grant, Nietzsche and the Problem of a Post-Christian Theism, in George Grant and the Subversion of Modernity, Ellis Sandoz, Gnosticism and Modernity, Republicianism, Religion, and the Soul of America, University of Missouri, 2006, Sandoz, Medieval Rationalism or Mystic Philosophy: The Strauss-Voegelin Debate, in Republicianism, Religion, and the Soul of America, Grant Havers, Between Athens and Jerusalem: Western Otherness in Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt, The European Legacy, 9, 1, (2004), Gilles Labelle, Can the Problem of the Theologico-Political Problem be Resolved? Thesis Eleven, 87, (Nov. 2006), Dec. 5: SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION For consideration: Is there a distinctive Canadian political philosophy comparable to peculiarly American political thought? What are some of the distinctive features of Canadian political thinking in relation to American thought? Are Canadians unconscious Hegelians? Would Frank Underhill be pleased? ---- Academic Accommodations The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students with Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical conditions, and impairments in mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring academic

9 9 accommodations in this course, please contact PMC at or for a formal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact your PMC coordinator to send me your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term, and no later than two weeks before the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring accommodation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with me to ensure accommodation arrangements are made. Please consult the PMC website for the deadline to request accommodations for the formally-scheduled exam (if applicable). For Religious Observance: Students requesting accommodation for religious observances should apply in writing to their instructor for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event. Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the student and the instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic disadvantage to the student. Instructors and students may contact an Equity Services Advisor for assistance ( For Pregnancy: Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. Then, make an appointment to discuss your needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is anticipated the accommodation will be required. Plagiarism: The University Senate defines plagiarism as presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one s own. This can include: reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one s own without proper citation or reference to the original source; submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else; using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment; using another s data or research findings; failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another s works and/or failing to use quotation marks; handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs. Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course s instructor. The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They include a mark of zero for the plagiarized work or a final grade of "F" for the course. Oral Examination: At the discretion of the instructor, students may be required to pass a brief oral examination on research papers and essays. Submission and Return of Term Work: Papers must be handed directly to the instructor and will not be date-stamped in the departmental office. Late assignments may be submitted to the drop box in the corridor outside B640 Loeb. Assignments will be retrieved every business day at

10 10 4 p.m., stamped with that day's date, and then distributed to the instructor. For essays not returned in class please attach a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you wish to have your assignment returned by mail. Please note that assignments sent via fax or will not be accepted. Final exams are intended solely for the purpose of evaluation and will not be returned. Grading: Assignments and exams will be graded with a percentage grade. To convert this to a letter grade or to the university 12-point system, please refer to the following table. Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale A C A C A C B D B D B D- 1 Grades: Final grades are derived from the completion of course assignments. Failure to write the final exam will result in the grade ABS. Deferred final exams are available ONLY if the student is in good standing in the course. Approval of final grades: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by an instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean. Carleton Accounts: All communication to students from the Department of Political Science will be via official Carleton university accounts and/or culearn. As important course and University information is distributed this way, it is the student s responsibility to monitor their Carleton and culearn accounts. Carleton Political Science Society: The Carleton Political Science Society (CPSS) has made its mission to provide a social environment for politically inclined students and faculty. Holding social events, debates, and panel discussions, CPSS aims to involve all political science students at Carleton University. Our mandate is to arrange social and academic activities in order to instill a sense of belonging within the Department and the larger University community. Members can benefit through numerous opportunities which will complement both academic and social life at Carleton University. To find out more, visit or come to our office in Loeb D688. Official Course Outline: The course outline posted to the Political Science website is the official course outline.