One of the newest forms of communication ‐ the CD‐ROM ‐ now provides a college level introduction to the oldest of civilization’s problems: the political organization of human communities. Introduction to Politics presents course materials used by Dr. Robert H. Webking at the University of Texas at El Paso. Rather than discussing government structures, Webking tackles the reasons people create, support, or oppose government. To illustrate his points, Webking uses materials from classical Greek and Roman drama and philosophy, a novel by Melville, and the basic texts of American government. The result is an excellent teaching tool designed to make the user think seriously about society and government and the individual’s role with these structures.
The disc, designed with Cesar Torres of the Multimedia Teaching and Learning Center of Texas‐El Paso, loads easily into IBM compatible PCs. While no print documentation is included, considerable on‐screen help assists users in navigating through the material. 8MB of RAM is recommended for proper operation, but the disc worked well on a 4MB machine.
The course material appears in four parts. Section one covers the individual’s relationship to and conflicts with the larger political community, highlighted through Sophocles’s Antigone, Plato’s Apology, and segments of Aristotle’s Politics. Part two covers the goals of politics as illustrated in Plutrach’s biography of Lycurgus of Sparta and Aristotle’s Politics. Section three covers law and justice using Politics, Plato’s Crito, and Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. The disc ends with a discussion of American democracy using the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers, and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Each section includes sections from the above texts, the instructor’s comments, study guides, and related materials used to illustrate Webking’s point.
The user accesses each section by clicking on the appropriate line of the course outline screen. Opening screens for each section includes links to on‐screen navigation instructions. Within the text are colored links to the assigned reading of related materials. The related materials include text, visual materials, and audio and video clips. The product also includes true/false, multiple choice, and short answer questions covering presented materials. Overall quality of the materials is excellent; and navigation between screens is a simple matter of clicking on the well‐presented button or link.
While obviously designed for a specific instructor’s class, this CD‐ROM also stands as an excellent textbook on the philosophy behind political behavior. It will interest librarians and political science teachers with its content and easy use. I recommend it to those academic libraries supporting political philosophy courses.
