Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL1025: Classical Political Thought

This module descriptor refers to the 2024/5 academic year.

Module Aims

The aims of this module are:

  • Historical – to introduce you to various important Classical political thinkers, their context, ideas, and relationships;
  • Philosophical – to critically explore the structure and coherence of the ideas studied and to enable you to reflect on their value for thinking about politics in our own time;
  • Methodological – to help you develop skills in the close-reading and interpretation of textual evidence, skills which have application in many areas of life, academic and otherwise.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate understanding of some of the central political theories of the Greco-Roman Classical world;
2. Demonstrate close engagement with primary textual evidence from the Classical political thinkers discussed;
3. Explain the significance of the relevant historical contexts for the interpretation and evaluation of these political theories;
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Demonstrate understanding of some major political-philosophical ideas of the Western tradition and awareness of their historical development;
5. Demonstrate skills in the interpretation of textual evidence and critical evaluation of political theories;
Personal and Key Skills6. Demonstrate skills in the explanation and critical evaluation of abstract ideas and arguments;
7. Demonstrate methodological skills in the interpretation of textual evidence.