210059 SE BAK8: Theory history: canon and feminist reflections (2025S)

The engagement with the history of political theory leads to a deeper understanding of the concepts that characterise today's thinking about politics. Feminist thinkers have devoted themselves to the history of political theory in order to better understand the genesis of central political concepts (such as state, citizenship, government, power, domination, legitimacy, society, etc.) on the one hand, and to transform them and develop a new understanding of politics itself on the other. A central moment of feminist interventions in the canon, whether liberal, Marxist, anarchist or radically democratically informed, is always the dichotomy between the public and the private, which is deeply rooted in the history of political thought. In this seminar, we will ask ourselves to what extent an examination of the canonical texts of the history of political theory from a feminist perspective is fruitful in order to problematise this dichotomy and where it meets its limits. To this end, we read canonical texts from the history of political theory and analyse feminist re-readings. The course will focus on the critical handling of theory-relevant texts, argumentation structures, theses, questions and definitions of terms. We will contextualise texts of the canon and (feminist) counter-canon, work out their topicality and practical relevance and ask about their theoretical foundations. This will teach and practise skills in dealing with theoretical argumentation and political-theoretical texts, as well as their application to current (feminist) debates as central competences in the field of political science.