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Arlene W. Saxonhouse

Professor
Ph.D., Yale

7757 Haven Hall
(734) 764-6389
awsaxon@umich.edu

Research Interests:


Professor Saxonhouse's research focuses on ancient and early modern political thought. Her previous publications studied how attention to gender enriches our understanding of the political thought of the ancient theorists, how the debts that Hobbes's political thought has to the thought of Machiavelli help us understand the theoretical bases of modern political thought, and how careful readings of the ancient theorists provide previously unexplored insights into the possibilities and limits of democratic theory. Her recent book looks explores how the practice and interpretations of free speech in ancient Athens illuminate contemporary concerns with freedom of speech.  Her current work continues the study of how ancient political theory contributes to democratic theory especially with regard to questions of accountability and leadership.

Selected Publications
Books

  • Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens, Cambridge University Press (2006)
  • Athenian Democracy: Modern Mythmakers and Ancient Theorists (University of Notre Dame Press, 1996)
  • Hobbes's Three Discourses: A Modern Critical Edition of Newly Identified Works by the Young Thomas Hobbes, edited with Noel B. Reynolds (University of Chicago Press, 1995)
  • Fear of Diversity: The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greek Thought (University of Chicago Press, 1992)
  • Women in the History of Political Thought: Ancient Greece to Machiavelli, (Praeger Series in Women and Politics) 1985.
Articles/Chapters
  • "Freedom, Tyranny and the Political Man: Plato's Republic and Gorgias, A Study in Contrasts," in The Blackwell Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought, edited by Ryan Balot (forthcoming 2007).
  • "Exile and Re-Entry: Political Theory Yesterday and Tomorrow," in Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, ed. John Dryzek, Bonnie Honig, and Anne Phillips (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 844-58.
  • "Another Antigone: Euripides' Phoenician Women and the Emergence of the Female Political Actor," Political Theory (August 2005). 33:472-94
  • "Corruption And Justice: The View from Ancient Athens" Corruption: Public and Private, ed. John Kleinig and William Hefferman. Rowman & Littlefield. (2004), Pp. 25-51.
  • "Democracy, Equality and Eide: A Radical View from Book 8 of Plato's Republic," American Political Science Review, 1998, (92: 273-283).
  • "Texts and Canons: The Status of Great Books in Political Theory," in The State of the Discipline, ed. Ada Finifter (Washington, American Political Science Association, 1993) pp. 3-26.
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