What is a good life? How should we live together with others? When and how is the use of power justified? These fundamental questions of how human relations should be structured and managed have a long and important history, and continue to engage people today in the quest to overcome authoritarianism and tyranny. By focusing on some of the most important and influential political thinkers over the last two and a half millennia, this course will examine how they both introduced and addressed the fundamental questions of politics. We will see how these thinkers not only have an enduring legacy in the fields of domestic politics, security and international relations, but also how they have helped shape our view of the world today.