Explain how agriculture, surplus, cities, class formation, religion, and organized coercion shaped early political communities and states.
Compare Sophistic, Platonic, Aristotelian, Hellenistic, Ciceronian, and Roman legal approaches to justice, law, citizenship, property, and political authority.
Analyze how scriptural interpretation and Christian accounts of sin, equality, natural law, and divided authority informed arguments about obedience and government.
Evaluate how feudal obligation, customary law, kingship, universities, cities, commerce, and representation limited or redirected political power.
Distinguish competing treatments of slavery, property, usury, resistance, tyranny, and coercion across ancient and medieval political thought.
Explain how Marsilius, the Reformers, and Machiavelli recast consent, sovereignty, church–state relations, civic liberty, resistance, and reasons of state.
Freedom’s Progress examines how political thought developed from the material and social foundations of early communities through the transformations of ancient, medieval, and early modern Europe. The course connects agriculture, urbanization, hierarchy, and state formation to Greek debates over nature, convention, justice, citizenship, slavery, and the purposes of political life. It follows these questions through Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic philosophy, Cicero, Roman law, and Christian interpretations of authority. Augustine’s account of fallen humanity is contrasted with medieval traditions of natural law, customary restraint, reciprocal kingship, representation, and the common good. The course then explores universities, commerce, scholastic economics, church–state conflict, popular legislation, sovereignty, Reformation resistance, and Machiavellian statecraft. Throughout, it compares rival explanations of legitimate rule, coercion, property, equality, obedience, and liberty while showing how inherited ideas were adapted to changing institutions and conflicts.
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy · University College Dublin
Gerard Casey is an Irish philosopher and author known for his work in political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of religion, and libertarian thought.
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