This course examines practical and theoretical attempts to create perfect (or more perfect) political communities in the United States. Each of these “more perfect unions” is designed purposefully with intention. Each of the communities we will study is based on a theoretical and practical understanding of human nature, human flourishing, division of labor, allocation of material goods, leadership, freedom, membership, responsibility, and relationship to the “outside.” None of the communities that we will study in this course are organic: they did not spontaneously develop out of necessity nor did they historically develop as a result of circumstance; rather, they are all constructed according to specific principles, with an identifiable beginning (and often end). We will study different examples of intentional or planned communities, each of which has a different theoretical and practical account of the best life.
PLAW 390 Utopias/Dystopias in Theory and Practice
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