POLI 380 - Hermeneutics and the Comparative Study of Politics

1 unit(s)

Considered by some to be a “new philosophy of science,” hermeneutics has become in recent years an increasingly established approach to social and political inquiry. This seminar seeks to explicate and critically examine hermeneutical principles in the context of the comparative study of politics. What are hermeneutical approaches to understanding institutional power relations, political practices, and the character and composition of cultures and societies? And what contributions, if any, might hermeneutics make to political explanation? This seminar focuses on these questions. Illustrative studies are drawn from the instructor’s familiarity with politics in the area widely characterized as “The Middle East.” Significant, original, and semester-long research projects are developed out of the empirical curiosities of the participants. Mr. Davison.

Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Not offered in 2012/13.

Courses numbered 310-319 are advanced courses that meet twice a week and are limited to nineteen students. These courses do not require permission of the instructor for sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have taken at least one previous political science course. These courses can meet the requirement for two graded 300-level courses but do not meet the requirement of one 300-level seminar during the senior year. Seminars in the 340s, 350s, 360s, and 370s are generally limited to twelve students and require permission of the instructor. Students taking seminars are expected to have taken relevant course-work at a lower level. The content of seminars can vary from year to year depending upon interests of students and instructors. Seminars might focus on topics too specialized to receive exhaustive treatment in lower-level courses; they might explore particular approaches to the discipline or particular methods of research; they might be concerned with especially difficult problems in political life, or be oriented toward a research project of the instructor. The thesis (POLI 300, POLI 301, POLI 302) and senior independent work (POLI 399) require permission of the instructor.