Introduction to Political Thought · Political Science
lots of reading that can be done on sparknotes or just taken from common knowledge if you know your political philosophy.
Not too bad - a book every week or so. Not easy reads, but Zebrowski goes over a lot of the important parts in class. Take home midterm and final. Fairly straightforward - choice of questions. Lecture attendance is mandatory.
one five page paper, midterm & final (neither very difficult)
Lots of reading, but he makes you want to do it.
Honestly guys, this class is not worth it. Take CC instead - you'll learn more, and you'll get a professor who lectures, instead of just reading out of books and droning on. In my opinion, Colby didn't bring anything to the texts, and didn't encourage thinking, encouraging students to spit back his opinions (one of the questions on the final was what he had thought about someone) on the poorly formatted texts.
Not really my area of interest in political science (took this course to fulfill a major requirement) but Martha Zebrowski managed to make it bareable. Great sense of humour - even at 9am - and she really knows her stuff. Workload more than manageable - a book every week or so and a take-home midterm and final. i know some people in the class felt grading on the first exam was a little harsh, but she was more that willing to meet with students to discuss how to improve and really seemed to take that improvement into consideration in the final grade. Lecture attendance is compulsory, but there were no discussion sections.
Enjoyable class, engaging professor, and a reasonable work load. Despite what was said in previous reviews, I feel that I learnt a lot. Definitely recommend the class, for poli-sci majors and non-majors.
Really a fantastic instructor. I highly recommend any class he teached - he is engaging, always extremely well-prepared, outstandingly enthusiastic. Fair grader.
There is a lot of reading, though you can cram with ONLY his lecture notes and do just as well. As a previous reviewer said, he basically wants you to regurgitate verbatim what he includes in his notes.
2 papers: mid-term/final (45% each). Reading: Plato (Republic), Aristotle (Politics), Machiavelli (The Prince), Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke (Second Treatise), Kant (What is Enlightenment?, Idea for a Universal History, Perpetual Peace) Rousseau (The Social Contract), Marx (Communist Manifesto, German Ideology), Mill (On Liberty)