Course Catalog

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PORTFOLIO (PL4075)

Under the supervision of the major advisor, students prepare a portfolio of at least 5 essays from their major courses, along with relevant work in other courses, and identify, evaluate and justify the personal focus of their work in an introductory essay. Examined orally by a panel of faculty.

PHILOSOPHY IN PARIS PODCAST (PL4090)

Students attend a selection of philosophy research seminars and conferences held in Paris during the semester including events in English. Students will prepare three episodes of a podcast called "Philosophy in Paris" in which they update listeners on new developments in the philosophy scene in Paris. This course combines experiential learning with digital literacy, requiring the acquisition of basic producing, editing and broadcasting skills for podcasts. The professor will brief students before the events and then debrief them. With advance planning students will complete some reading to prepare them for the events.

TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY (PL4091)

Topics vary by semester

THESIS WORKSHOP (PL4094)

Upon a successful thesis application students must complete the thesis workshop in which they develop their thesis proposal through the submission of a literature review, an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and a draft of the first chapter. Students will learn how to plan and execute a substantial research project with the professor's close supervision.

SENIOR PROJECT (PL4095)

A Senior Project is an independent study representing a Major Capstone Project that needs to be registered using the Senior Project registration form.
(Download: https://aupforms.formstack.com/workflows/senior_project)

FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN POLITICS (PO1011)

What is politics - the quest for the common good or who gets what, when, and how? We study what defines politics in the modern age: states and nations in the international system, collective action and representation in mass societies, trajectories of democracy and dictatorship, politics and development in the context of capitalism. The course will introduce the student to the concerns, the language and the methods of Political Science.

CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL POLITICS (PO1012)

This course examines key analytical and normative challenges of the present: global rebalancing and the emergence or reemergence of postcolonial states, uneven development, the role of culture in world politics, the future of the nation state, the global environmental imperative, mass forced and free migrations, the new landscape of armed conflict, the sources and implications of sharpening social divides, and the challenges to liberal-democratic theory and practice.

FIRSTBRIDGE IN POLITICS (PO1099)

Firstbridge courses are offered to degree seeking freshmen and registration is done via webform in pre-arrival checklist.

TOPICS IN POLITICS (PO1910)

Topics vary by semester

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (PO2003)

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.