| Title: | Conservative Political Thought |
|---|---|
| Course Section Number: | PHI-219-01 |
| Department: | Philosophy |
| Description: | Conservatism has been part of the global political landscape for at least the past two centuries. Despite this, it is relatively little studied, little understood, and difficult to define. In this course, we will try to get a handle on conservatism's core principles with a focus on the historical and intellectual development of a unified Right-wing identity; we will pay particular attention to how this tradition was shaped by revolutionary upheavals in Europe in the nineteenth century and by the Cold War in the twentieth. After familiarizing ourselves with a few foundational figures (Burke, Knock, Oakeshott, Vogelin, and Hayek), we will read two texts in their entirety: George Nash's The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America (to understand the development of and tensions within the conservative tradition in the post-WWII U.S.) and Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed (to grasp how this trajectory is evolving in the twenty-first century). |
| Credits: | 1.00 |
| Start Date: | January 19, 2026 |
| End Date: | May 9, 2026 |
| Meeting Information: |
01/20/2026-05/07/2026 Lecture Tuesday, Thursday 01:10PM - 02:25PM, Center Hall, Room 215
|
| Faculty: | Busk, Larry |
Course Status & Cross-Listings
| Cross-list Group Capacity: | 20 |
|---|---|
| Cross-list Group Student Count: | 0 |
| Calculated Course Status: | OPEN |
| Section Name/Title | Status | Dept. | Capacity |
Enrolled/ Available/ Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PHI-219-01
(primary)
Conservative Political Thought |
OPEN | Philosophy | 20 | 0 / 20 / 0 |
|
PPE-228-01
(cross-listing)
Conservative Political Thought |
OPEN | Philosophy, Politics, Economic | 20 | 0 / 20 / 0 |