POLI2611 · Political Science

Political Ambition

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Ambition is the lifeblood of political life. High ambition in particular -- the longing to have great power, to do great deeds, to acquire great honor and even immortal fame -- drives the most interesting political men, from the finest democratic statesmen to the worst ideological tyrants.But, as this suggests, political ambition is a complicated and ambiguous phenomenon. Is it, especially in its love of glory, a mark of greatness of soul or supremely selfish? How does the belief that one knows what should be done, or that one is most fit to rule (and therefore deserves to rule), fit with democratic equality? How does it lead one person to the greatest political actions and another to the most terrible?This course will seek to understand the phenomenon through reading (or viewing) and discussion of works of political philosophy, fiction, and memoir. Among the authors we are likely to read are Plato, Shakespeare, Lincoln, Douglass, Koestler, and Penn Warren.