Peter C. Mayer-Tasch, Ludwig Maximilians Universität

I think it makes sense to talk about beauty in one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) town(s) of the world. At the same time it makes sense to talk about power and politics in this wonderful town, which looks back on a glorious political history. As you probably know, the republic of Venice hat developed one of the most sophisticated political systems of the world, coined by the concept of checks and balances and inspired by the Aristotelian idea of mixed government, the so-called governo misto.

The course I am offering this semester intends to make clear that the perception and conception of beauty in many respects is nothing less than a non-political phenomenon. Throughout history there can be noticed an interdependence and interaction between art and politics. If adequately integrated beauty in all its appearances enhances the power of the powerful and balances the weakness of the weak. The reason for this is simple enough: Most people are longing for some kind of beauty. And even if their understanding of beauty may not be homogeneous, even if it may be dependent on the way they were brought up, on their education, cultural traditions and social affiliations – there is always a desire for beauty and an agreement about the importance of beauty. During some epochs of the European Culture – e.g. during the classicism of the late 18 th and the early 19 th century – by the leading voices of this epoch beauty, truth and goodness were considered as identical. Well aware of this correlation the ambitious and the mighty ones in society and politics have always tried to integrate beauty to a certain extent into their business-career – or government-strategies. The display of political power without some kind of aesthetic communication is nearly unthinkable. Let us e.g. think of the staging of rule in Athens, Rome, in the age ob absolutism, in the communist and fascist countries.

In our course we will try to find out in which different ways and forms in which beauty in general and the arts in particular were used to bring about or support political effects and intentions. In this view we will explore and discuss the social and political role of geomancy, architecture, landscaping, gardening, sculpture, painting, caricature, cabaret, theatre, music, dances, literature, poetry and – last, not least – symbolism as social and political tools.

As to the requirements of this course I want to mention that all participants should have not only a genuine interest but also a basic understanding of the phenomenon. They should be prepared and willing to participate in the discussions in an active manner. Students who only want to listen should rather make a different choice.

Evaluation
All participants will have to prepare and to present a paper about one of the topics of the course. The evaluation of this paper (15-20 pages) will add 40% to the final grade. Moreover they will have to hand out a precise outline of their paper (2-3 pages) which should contain the essence of their paper one week before the presentation of the paper to the course-leader. The evaluation of this outline will add 20% to the final grade. Finally the participants will have to pass a final exam (written in class). Within 1½ hour they will have to answer questions referring to the different topics of the course. The evaluation of this final exam will add further 40% to the final grade.

The general presentation of the topics by the Professor and the allocation of the papers to the students will take place during the first week of the courses. All participants will get a reading-list of books and articles which will facilitate the beginning of their research. However, for the rest they should be prepared to their own research on the topic of their papers.

Week 1: Introduction: The aesthetic concept of beauty
Week 2: The power of beauty in public life or: Art as mirror and tool of politics
Week 3: The role of political ecology, geomancy and aesthetics in locating castles, capitals and other settlements
Week 4: Architecture as an expression of political esthetics and symbolism
Week 5 Landscape gardening as display of power
Week 6: Sculpture as attendant of politics
Week 7: Painting and caricature as companions of politics
Week 8: Epic and lyric poetry as companions of politics
Week 9: Music as expression of the social and political state of mind
Week 10: Theatre, cabaret, and movies as political mouthpieces
Week 11: Religion and religious art; ceremonies and dances
Week 12: The role of symbolism
Week 13: The indissoluble alliance of power and beauty or: Art as documentation, apotheosis and criticism of social and political events

General Readings
Hampton, Jean (1997): Political Philosophy. Boulder.
Hause, Steven C. / Maltby, William (1999): Western Civilization: a history of European society. Belmont, CA.
*Koselleck, Reinhart (1988): Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society. Oxford.
*Levine, Andrew (2001): Engaging Political Philosophy: From Hobbes to Rawls. Oxford.
*O'Connor, Daniel J. (ed.): A Critical History of the Western Philosophy. New York.
*Perry, Marvin et al. (2000): Western Civilization: ideas, politics & society: To 1789. Boston.
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s.
*Russell, Bertrand [1946] (1996): History of Western Philosophy. London.

Further Readings
I. Introduction: The origins - from the Greek Classic to the rise of Christianity
II. Introduction: From the Carolingian Renaissance until the late Middle Ages

1.Session: St Thomas Aquinas: the Christian rediscovery of Aristotle
Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae.
Thomas Aquinas: Summa contra gentiles .
Thomas Aquinas: De Regimine Principum .
Aspell, Patrick J. (1999): Medieval western philosophy: the European emergence. Washington, D.C.
Gilson, Etienne (1980): History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. London.
*Perry, Marvin et al. (2000): Western Civilization: ideas, politics & society: To 1789. Boston. Ch. 8, pp. 171-195.
Tarnoy, Knut E. (1985): Aquinas. In: O'Connor, Daniel J. (ed.): A Critical History of the Western Philosophy. New York. pp. 98-123.

2. Session: Niccoló Machiavelli: the political reasoning for the idea of the state
Niccoló Machiavelli: The Prince .
Niccoló Machiavelli: The Discourses .
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s. Ch. 8, pp. 212-243.
*Skinner, Quentin (1981): Machiavelli. Oxford.

3. Session: The concept of Utopia: Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella, Francis Bacon
Thomas More: Utopia .
Tommaso Campanella: City of the sun.
Francis Bacon: New Atlantis.
Davis; James C. (1981): Utopia and the Ideal society: in search of a definition. In: Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian writing 1516-1700. Cambridge. pp. 11-40.
Goodwin, Barbara (1983): The Politics of Utopia: A Study in theory and practice. New York.
Goodwin, Barbara (2001) (ed.): The philosophy of utopia. London.
Morrison, Alasdair (1984): Uses of Utopia. In: Alexander, Peter / Gill, Roger (eds.), Utopias. London. pp. 139-51.

4. Session: Jean Bodin: the legal complementation of the idea of the state
Bodin: On Sovereignty . (Cambridge Texts in the history of Political Thought. Edited and translated by. Julian H. Franklin. 1992.
Franklin, Julian H. (1963): Jean Bodin and the sixteen-century revolution in the methodology of law and history. New York / London.
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s. Ch. 8, pp. 212-243.
*Perry, Marvin et al. (2000): Western Civilization: ideas, politics & society: To 1789. Boston. Ch. 16. 377-409.

5. Session: The age of Enlightenment
Cassirer, Ernst (1955): The Philosophy of Enlightenment. Boston.
Koselleck, Reinhart (1988): Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society. Oxford.
*Perry, Marvin et al. (2000): Western Civilization: ideas, politics & society: To 1789. Boston. Ch. 18, pp. 428-460.
Sedgwick, Peter R. (2001): Descartes to Derrida: an introduction to European philosophy. Oxford. Ch. 1. Knowledge, Reason and Experience. Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. pp. 1-48.

6. Session: Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes: De Cive or The Citizen .
Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan .
Habermas, Jürgen (1974): The Classical Doctrine of Politics in Relation to Social Philosophy. In: Theory and Practice . pp. 41-82.
*Hampton, Jean [1986] (1999): Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition. Cambridge.
Kavka, Gregory S. (1986): Hobbesian moral and political theory. Princeton, N.J.
*Levine, Andrew (2001): Engaging Political Philosophy: From Hobbes to Rawls. Oxford. Ch. 1 Hobbes, pp. 1-54.
MacPherson, C.B. (1962): The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism. From Hobbes to Locke. London.
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s. Ch. 10, pp. 278-313.
*Perry, Marvin et al. (2000): Western Civilization: ideas, politics & society: To 1789. Boston. Ch. 17. pp. 410-427.

7. Session: John Locke and Charles de Montesquieu
John Locke: Two Treatises of Government .
Charles de Montesquieu: On the Spirit of the Laws .
*Levine, Andrew (2001): Engaging Political Philosophy: From Hobbes to Rawls. Oxford. Ch. 3 Locke, pp. 95-127.
MacPherson, C.B. (1962): The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism. From Hobbes to Locke. London.
Sedgwick, Peter R. (2001): Descartes to Derrida: an introduction to European philosophy. Oxford. Ch. 1. Knowledge, Reason and Experience. Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. pp. 1-48.
Yolton, John. W. (1956): John Locke and the Way of Ideas. Oxford.

8. Session: The Utilitarians: Adam Smith
Smith, Adam: A Theory of Moral Sentiments .
Smith, Adam: The Wealth of Nations .
*Levine, Andrew (2001): Engaging Political Philosophy: From Hobbes to Rawls. Oxford. Ch. 4 Mill, pp. 128-177.
Rothschild, Emma (2001): Economic sentiments. Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment. Cambridge, Mass.
Vivenza, Gloria (2001): Adam Smith and the classics. The classical heritage in Adam Smith's thought. Oxford.

9: Session: Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract .
Jean Jacques Rousseau: Discourses.
Cassirer, Ernst (1955): The Philosophy of Enlightenment. Boston.
Levine, Andrew (1993): The general will: Rousseau, Marx, Communism. Cambridge.
*Levine, Andrew (2001): Engaging Political Philosophy: From Hobbes to Rawls. Oxford. Ch. 2 Rousseau, pp. 55-94.
Reisert, Joseph (2003): Jean-Jacques Rousseau. A friend of virtue. Ithaca.
Velkley, Richard L. (2002): Being after Rousseau. Philosophy and culture in question. Chicago.

10. Session: The theorists of the French Revolution
Copleston, Frederick (1994): A History of Philosophy. Vol: IX: Modern Philosophy. From the French Revolution to Sartre, Camus, and Levi-Strauss. New York.
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s. Ch. 11, pp. 316-348.
Tocqueville, Alexis de (1955): The Old Regime and the French Revolution. Translated by Stuart Gilbert, edited by A.P. Kerr. New York.

11. Session: Immanuel Kant and German Idealism
Immanuel Kant: Critique of Pure Reason .
Immanuel Kant: Critique of Judgement .
Allison, Henry (1996). Idealism and Freedom: Essays on Kant's Theoretical and Practical Philosophy. Cambridge.
Allison, Henry (2004): Kant's Transcendental Idealism: An Interpretation and Defense. London.
Höffe, Otfried (1995): Political Justice. Cambridge.
Sedgwick, Peter R. (2001): Descartes to Derrida: an introduction to European philosophy. Oxford. Ch. 1. Knowledge, Reason and Experience. Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. pp. 1-48.
*Perry, Marvin (2001): Western Civilization: A Brief History. Boston. Vol. II: From the 1400s. Ch. 13, pp. 368-387.

Peter C. Mayer-Tasch Doctorate in Law (Mainz), Diploma I in Comparative Law (Strasbourg), Diploma of the Bologna Center of the School for Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins), Diploma II in Comparative Law (Coimbra). Rektor of the Munich School of Political Science. Among his latest monographs are Über Prophetie und Politik . München 2000 and Jean Bodin: Eine Einführung , Düsseldorf-Bonn 2000. Editor, among other things, of Politische Ökologie. Eine Einführung , Düsseldorf 1998 and Porträtgalerie der Politischen Denker , Berrn-Göttingen 2003. Forthcoming: (with B.Mayerhofer) Die Himmelsleiter. Stufen zum Paradies , Frankfurt and Mitte und Maß als Leitbild des Humanismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart , München-Paderborn. Publications in other languages include: Guerilla Warfare and International Law in “Law and State“ Vol. 8 (1973) p.7–24; Ecologia y humanismo in “Humboldt 80“ (1983), p.13–23; (with B.M.Malunat) Le mouvement écologique allemand , in “Futuribles“ (June 1985) H. 89, p.94–98; International Environmental Policy as a Challenge to the National State in “AMBIO“ Volume XV (1986) H.4, p.240–243; (with F.Kohout), “Dal diritto fondamentale dell'uomo al diritto fondamentale della natura“ in P.Fois, La Garanzia dei Principi Fondamentali nell'Europa del Diritto , Sassari 1993; “Europe and the Atlantic Community in the Context of an Ecological World Order“ in O.Höll (ed.), Environmental Cooperation in Europe. The political dimension , Boulder-Oxford 1994; “Dall´hortus conclusus medievale al moderno "parco paesaggistico"“ in R.Colantonio, M.Lucchetti, A.Venturelli (ed.), Ambiente e invecchiamento , Milano 1999.