3P10 Political Texts – Eight Greats

Tutor/Facilitator Douglas Adeney

When
Date: on/from Wed 22 Jul 2026 to end year
Frequency: weekly
Class time: 10:00-11:30

Delivered F2F

Where
Betty Day Community Centre, Hall

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Other information

Who should govern, and on what principles?  What is the rightful extent of individual liberty, and of private property?

This course is a brief introduction to eight classic texts in political philosophy, each of which addresses at least some of the above questions:

  • Plato, Republic
  • Aristotle, Politics
  • Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
  • John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract
  • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto
  • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

In each case a few pages of notes will be provided by email in advance.  They will include excerpts and some brief commentary on key points.

TUTOR: Douglas has Philosophy degrees from Monash University (MA) and the University of St Andrews, Scotland (PhD).  He taught philosophy at Melbourne State College and then for many years at the University of Melbourne.  He has been joyfully involved at U3APP since 2018.

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