POL2002F - Political Theory

Course Outline:

The course examines the social theories of modernity or the role of the post-Enlightenment Scientific Revolution in the formation of the theory of the subject. Against this backdrop, we examine how Descartes goes about establishing the existence of the subject and then we will examine some of the different forms assumed by the new subject (including colonial, democratic, fascist, and totalitarian forms). When it comes to colonial modernity, we will consider the effects of the modern episteme in the history of colonialism and the modes of resistance assumed by the anti-colonial subject and the 'post'-colonial subject.