PLSI 3030: Political Philosophy and Thought

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PLSI 3030
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a political science course for undergraduate or graduate students by Michael Ault at California State University, Bakersfield. The open textbook provides access to original source material on the Classics of Moral and Political Philosophy. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to save students money and utilize online resources that are free. Most students access the open textbook in PDF files that I will make available to students in my Canvas course.

PLSI 3030: Political Philosophy and Thought
Brief Description of course highlights:  In this course, we will explore the foundational works of political, moral, and social philosophy, spanning both ancient and modern times and encompassing multiple worldviews and perspectives. We will delve into the writings of seminal thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Foucault, and Rawls, as well as contemporary voices that challenge and expand upon these traditional views. This journey will cultivate essential skills such as deep reflective reading, questioning, curiosity, and openness. You will learn to critically analyze texts, engage with complex ideas, and articulate your thoughts in a clear and persuasive manner. By embracing diverse perspectives and fostering a spirit of intellectual curiosity, you will be better equipped to understand and address the pressing political issues of our time.

Political philosophy studies questions about power, justice, rights, law, and other issues related to governance and justice. It seeks to understand the principles that underpin political systems and the ethical foundations of political authority.

Through this study, we aim to explore how societies organize themselves, how power is distributed and exercised, and what constitutes a fair and just society.

Student population: Using Canvas’ AI summary, I created a summary of students from PLSI 3030 in the Fall 2025, which is a fairly representative sample of the students who have taken the course over the past 3-5 years.

“The students in this discussion come from diverse backgrounds. Many attended local high schools in Bakersfield, CA and the surrounding areas, while others are from different parts of California as well as out-of-state locations. Ethnically, the group appears to be fairly diverse, with students mentioning Mexican, Hispanic, and immigrant backgrounds. The group seems to be evenly split between male and female students, and the majors represented include Political Science, Pre- Law, and Global Politics.”

Learning or student outcomes:  By the end of this course, you will be able to:
1. Understand Key Concepts: Grasp fundamental concepts in political philosophy, including power, justice, rights, law, and governance.
2. Analyze Philosophical Texts: Critically read and interpret major philosophical works, understanding their historical context and relevance.
3. Evaluate Political Theories: Compare and contrast different political theories and their implications for modern governance.
4. Formulate Arguments: Develop and articulate your own philosophical arguments regarding political and social issues.
5.  Apply Philosophical Ideas: Apply philosophical principles to contemporary political debates and real-world scenarios.

Syllabus and/or Sample assignment from the course or the adoption:  
1. Comparing Political Philosophy and Political Theory.pdf
2.  US Military Force Against Civilian Protesters - A Moral Dilemma in Democracy .pdf

Instructor Name - Dr. Michael Ault
Political science professor at California State University, Bakerfield.  https://www.csub.edu/~mault/CSUB/__Home__.html Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.
PLSI 1018: American Government and Politics
PLSI 3010: Sophomore/Junior Research Methods Experience (Research Methods I)
PLSI 328: Media, Propaganda, and Public Opinion
PHIL/PLSI 3030: Political Philosophy/Thought
PLSI 3150: American Political Philosophy
PLSI 380: Research Methods II (older catalog)
PLSI 481: Directed Research (Research Methods III older catalog)
PLSI 3770: Special Topics
PLSI 317: The Presidency
Older Catalog
PLSI 320: Social Movements and Political Power
PLSI 477: Voices of Dissent
PLSI 477: The Politics of Novel and Film
PLSI 477: CSUB Travel and Study: Vietnam and Cambodia

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching  I am the author or co-author of articles appearing in American Politics Research, The British Journal of Political Science, International Area Studies Review, and Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice. I was also an invited co-editor for a special edition of Peace Review dedicated to “Subcultures and Political Resistance.” I have contributed chapters to Food Policy in International Context; Reason, Reflection and Analysis: An Introduction to Political Science; and The Eye of the Storm.

I have worked as a Principal Author, Co-Principal Investigator, and Research Analyst (and twice as a Composer/Director/artist/DJ under the pseudonym The Phim Project) for community-based organizing, fundraising, and applied research projects in Massachusetts, Kenya, and California. I have also been the lead on Travel and Study Abroad Program to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand where I led 17 students on a two week travel and study program.

I serve on the International Board of Directors for Touching Lives International, an extended grass-roots, non-profit project located in Mombasa, Nairobi, and Kimilili, Kenya, addressing AIDS, orphans, breast cancer awareness, and education issues. Under my supervision, several former CSUB students have held graduate-level internships in Kenya with Amina Ridhwani, the Founder and Chairwoman of Touching Lives International.

In addition to my graduate work, I have also studied at the European Consortium for Political Research in Social Science in Essex, England, and the Ashtanga Research Institute in Mysore, India. I received a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas, a Master’s degree from the University of Dallas (political philosophy), and two B.A. degrees from CSU, San Bernardino (economics and political science).

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title:  Source material is located at Project Gutenberg. Their mission is:  “The Project Gutenberg Mission Statement, by Michael Hart

Brief Description:  By using the material from Project Gutenberg, I have assembled the readings into an eBook reader for students.  The mission of Project Gutenberg is simple: To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. This mission is, as much as possible, to encourage all those who are interested in making eBooks and helping to give them away. In fact, Project Gutenberg approves about 99% of all requests from those who would like to make our eBooks and give them away, within their various local copyright limitations.

Project Gutenberg is powered by ideas, ideals, and by idealism. Project Gutenberg is not powered by financial or political power. Because we are totally powered by volunteers we are hesitant to be very bossy about what our volunteers should do, or how to do it. We offer as many freedoms to our volunteers as possible, in choices of what books to do, what formats to do them in, or any other ideas they may have concerning “the creation and distribution of eBooks.”

Project Gutenberg is not in the business of establishing standards. If we were, we would have gladly accepted the request to convert an exemplary portion of our eBooks into HTML when World Wide Web was a brand new idea in 1993; we are happy to bring eBooks to our readers in as many formats as our volunteers wish to make.

In addition, we do not provide standards of accuracy above those as recommended by institutions such as the U.S. Library of Congress at the level of 99.95%. While most of our eBooks exceed these standards and are presented in the most common formats, this is not a requirement; people are still encouraged to send us eBooks in any format and at any accuracy level and we will ask for volunteers to convert them to other formats, and to incrementally correct errors as time goes on.

Many of our most popular eBooks started out with huge error levels–only later did they come to the more polished levels seen today. In fact, many of our eBooks were done totally without any supervision–by people who had never heard of Project Gutenberg– and only sent to us after the fact.

We want to continue to encourage everyone to send us eBooks, even if they have already created some without any knowledge of who we were, what we were doing, or how we were doing it.

Everyone is welcome to contribute to Project Gutenberg. Thus, there are no dues, no membership requirements: and still only the most general guidelines to making eBooks for Project Gutenberg. We want to provide as many eBooks in as many formats as possible for the entire world to read in as many languages as possible.

Thus, we are continually seeking new volunteers, whether to make one single favorite book available or to make one new language available or to help us with book after book. Everyone is welcome here at Project Gutenberg. Everyone is free to do their own eBooks their own way.?

 Please provide a link to the resource  
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=political+philosophy

Authors:
Plato’s The Republic, The Apology
Aristotle’s Politics.
Machiavelli’s The Prince
Hobbes’ The Leviathan
Locke’s Second Treatise on Government
Rousseau’s Discourse of in the Origin origin of Inequality Among Men
Marx’s Communist Manifesto
Wollstonecrafts A Vindica0on of the Rights of Women
Pateman’s The Sexual Contract
Mill’s The Racial Contract

Student access:  Students access the open textbook from my Canvas course. I have extracted each chapter, and I provide a PDF formatted document for each chapter.

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  Since these resources are free and OpenSource, I no longer use the textbook, Classics in Moral and Poli0cal Philosophy by Steven Kahn, which costs New $96.27; Used $34.99

License*: License information for each of the resources can be found here: www.gutenberg.org/policy/permission.html 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  I wanted to save students money on their textbooks, as well as cultivate my own resources for the course.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?  I consulted with our PLSI Association’s sources of “public domain” and OER resources and conducted my own web searches.

Sharing Best Practices: These resources are an excellent way to introduce students to material as well as providing them with a free resource that does not create burdens or barriers for lower- income students.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned.  The experience has largely been positive both for me, the instructor, as well as the students. I have used these resources many times, and I survey students on their efficacy of the course materials at the end of each semester.