CSCH 3014 The Conservative Tradition: Law, Politics & Philosophy
This course will examine the history, philosophy, and political and legal implications of what it means to be a conservative. After a brief introduction focusing on what conservatism means today, the course will look back to philosophical roots of modern conservatism, in the political thought of the ancient Greeks and Romans, with emphasis on Aristotle, Polybius, and St. Augustine, and of the early moderns and moderns, with emphasis on Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Burke, Bagehot, and Mill. Turning to conservatism in Britain and America, the course will focus on famous statesmen and jurists and their contributions to the conservative tradition, from Chief Justice John Marshall to Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Ronald Reagan. The course will aim to educate students about what have been and are considered to be conservative positions on issues of law and politics and to encourage them to come to their own views on such issues, views that are informed by a deeper knowledge of the philosophical and historical background that lies behind the positions taken.