This course is a demanding but rewarding introduction to some of the classics of political and economic thought over the last two centuries. The emphasis is on
1. reading and understanding the primary texts themselves,
2. understanding the socio-political contexts in which they were written, and
3. forming your own narrative of the history of thought in this area.
The seminar’s central question is: How have past thinkers theorised the relationship between capitalism and democracy? Its ultimate objective is to help you in grappling with contemporary debates around capitalism and democracy. Once you have surveyed, summarised, and understood past debates, you are better placed to identify what is new and what is not, which arguments have been made before and in which contexts, and how to separate genuinely new positions from old arguments in new guises.
- Lehrende(r): Maximilian Krahé