GENEDU 1103 · Power and the Lie: Truth in Political Life

Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

Do the strong always do what they can? The Melian Dialogue and the realist tradition, with the historian who started it.

1. Module 1

   Thucydides the Man and His Method

   Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

   The question

   Thucydides refuses to moralise. He shows what happened and says nothing about whether it was right. Does this refusal make the moral questions harder or easier — and is the silence itself a judgement?

   Outcome

   The student can describe Thucydidean method and explain why showing without judging is harder than it sounds.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 The Method Statement Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 1.2 Herodotus vs Thucydides Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion
2. Module 2

   The Funeral Speech: What Athens Claims to Be

   Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

   The question

   Pericles says Athens is democratic, open, brave, and beautiful. Then the plague arrives and destroys the city Pericles described. Thucydides places speech and plague back-to-back without comment. What does the juxtaposition do that commentary would not?

   Outcome

   The student can catalogue the Funeral Speech's claims and explain how the plague tests them.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 The Claims of Athens Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 2.2 Essay: The Juxtaposition Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
3. Module 3

   The Melian Dialogue: Power Without Justice

   Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

   The question

   The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must. Is this a description, a threat, or a confession? Read the Melian Dialogue in full. Reconstruct both arguments. Decide who is right.

   Outcome

   The student has read the Melian Dialogue and can reconstruct both arguments without caricature.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Read the Dialogue Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 3.2 Essay: Who Is Right? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
4. Module 4

   The Sicilian Catastrophe: Athens Destroyed

   Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

   The question

   Athens sent its greatest fleet to Sicily and lost everything. Is this Thucydides's answer to the Melian argument — power claiming to be irresistible, then proving to be self-destructive? Or is that reading too neat for a historian who refuses neat readings?

   Outcome

   The student can evaluate whether the Sicilian catastrophe constitutes Thucydides's judgement on Athenian imperialism.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 4.1 Sicily as Answer Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
5. Module 5

   Realism Then and Now

   Led by Thucydides Simulacrum

   The question

   The tradition from Thucydides to Machiavelli to Kissinger claims that international relations are governed by power, not justice. Is this political realism a description of how the world works — or a prescription for how it should?

   Outcome

   The student can trace the realist tradition and take a defended position on whether realism describes or prescribes.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 5.1 The Thucydidean Tradition Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 5.2 Final Essay: Description or Prescription? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion