Topic #1: Liberalism and its CriticsnnContemporary American democracy is often seen as part of the “liberal tradition” politicalnnthought. In this class, our representatives of liberalism have been Locke and Mill (but later thinkers likennDewey, and Berlin also relate). However, a number of thinkers, beginning with Plato and running throughnnMarx, Nietzsche, and Schmitt, have been highly critical of liberalism.nnThis essay asks you to answer several questions: first, what is liberalism? How do we define it,nndrawing on our texts? Second, what are some of the major critiques of liberal political thought, and hownnpersuasive are they? Does liberal philosophy remain compelling in late modernity?nnnTopic #2: The Ancients and the ModernsnnMachiavelli argued that ancient political thought and religion had been otherworldly andnnobsessed with utopian “imagined republics.” Taking this observation as our starting point, this essay asksnnyou explicate the differences between ancient and modern political thought. Do they start from differentnnassumptions about human nature? Do the moderns face a different set of political questions, or do theynnanswer the enduring questions differently?nnFinally, evaluate the relationship between these two modes of political thought are the ancientsnnin the moderns compatible? Is one approach superior to the other? Make an argument for how we shouldnnapproach this relationship.nnnTopic #3: Modernity and FreedomnnMany modern thinkers (especially Rousseau and Marx) argue that, for a variety of reasons,nncontemporary society makes us both less happy and less free. How do they make this paradoxicalnnargument? What thinkers offer a more optimistic account of modernity? This essay asks you to evaluatennthis debate and come to a conclusion about what we can learn from it.