Contemporary Civilization - CC1102y

Spring 2000: TR 11:00-12:50 in 424 Kent

TO FALL 1999 BULLETIN BOARD

TO SPRING 2000 BULLETIN BOARD

Contemporary Civilization Reader. Seventh Edition. (American Heritage)

Hume. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. (Hackett)

Rousseau. The Basic Political Writings. (Hackett)

Wollstonecraft. Vindications. (Broadview)

Kant. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. (Hackett)

Mill. On Liberty. (Hackett)

Smith. Wealth of Nations. (Hackett)

Marx. The Portable Karl Marx. (Penguin: Viking Portable)

Appleman, ed. Darwin. (Norton).

DuBois. The Souls of Black Folk. (Dover)

Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morality. (Cambridge)

Burke. Reflections on the Revolution in France. (Hackett)

The Federalist Papers. (NAL/Mentor)

Rossi, ed. Feminist Papers. (Northeastern UP)

Freud. Civilization and Its Discontents. (Norton)

*Søren Kierkegaard. Fear and Trembling. (Princeton)

*De Beauvoir. The Second Sex. (Vintage)

*Hayek. The Road to Serfdom. (Chicago)

*Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation. (Beacon)

*Rawls. A Theory of Justice. (Harvard)

*Rabinow, ed. The Foucault Reader. (Random House)

Most of these works are, or will soon be, available at the university bookstore and on reserve in Butler Library. The ones with asterisks have been ordered, and will shortly be in stock at Labyrinth Books. You are not obligated to buy them, because they will also be on reserve in Butler. Still, I would recommend buying those that you are interested in. (You will likely find better prices on line.) There will also be some additional readings, marked as "CCs" on the syllabus, which either be handed out to you or will be placed on reserve in Butler under my name.

N.B. I reserve the right to make slight alterations in the readings, perhaps adding an article here, or dropping one somewhere else.

18 January: Introduction. Kant. "What is Enlightenment?" CC Reader. 73-9.

20 January: Kant. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. 1-48.

25 January: Hume. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. 13-88.

27 January: Rousseau. "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality." In: Basic Political Writings 25-82.

1 February: Rousseau. "On the Social Contract." In: The Basic Political Writings. 141-227.

3 February: The American Revolution:

"The Declaration of Independence," "The Constitution of the United States." (Skim) In: CC Reader. 175-200.

"‘Remember the Ladies’: Abagail Adams vs. John Adams" and "Selected Letters from the Adams Family Correspondence" In: Rossi. Feminist Papers 7-15.

The Federalist Papers. Numbers 1, 6, 9, 10, 15, 47, 48, 49, 51.

"An Anti-Federalist Perspective: ‘Brutus’ III," In: CC Reader. 201-5.

8 February: The French Revolution:

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789," "Preface to the Constitution of 1793," "Anarchical Fallacies." CC Reader. 207-32.

"Declaration of the Rights of Woman." In: Wollstonecraft. Vindications. 378-92.

Burke. Reflections on the Revolution in France. 1-33, 41-5, 51-4, 59-94, 118-22, 140-51, 217-8.

10 February: Wollstonecraft. Vindications.

"Vindication of the Rights of Woman." Pages 117-97, 252-64, 277-88.

"Vindication of the Rights of Man." Pages 35-44, 53-7, 61-71, 76-82, 91-98.

Rousseau. "Sophie" From: Emile. CCs

15 February "Personhood and Equality":

Jefferson. "Selections from "Notes on the State of Virginia" and "A Declaration by the Representatives…," Douglass. "The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered." In: CC Reader. 233-69.

"Seneca Falls Convention," "The Akron Convention," "The Kansas Campaign of 1867" and Mill. "The Subjection of Women." In: Rossi. Feminist Papers. 196-238, 413-21, 426-9, 430-70.

17 February: Mill. On Liberty.

22 February: Smith. Wealth of Nations. 1-13, 17-22, 30-57, 67-83, 116-22, 127-31, 166-205.

24 February: Introduction: Hegel. Philosophy of History. "Introduction." CCs

29 February: Midterm.

2 March: Marx. "From ‘On the Jewish Question,’" "From The German Ideology," "Manifesto of the Communist Party" and "Marginal Notes to the Program of the German Workers’ Party (Section I)." In: The Portable Karl Marx. 96-114, 162-95, 203-41, 533-45. Rossi. Origins of the Family?

7 March: Marx. "From Economico-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," "From Value, Price and Profit," and "From Capital, Volume I: Preface, Chapters 1, 31 and 32." In: The Portable Karl Marx. 131-52, 394-432, 432-61, 478-93.

9 March Appleman, ed. Darwin.

"The Origin of Species." Introduction, Chapters 3, 4, 15.

"The Descent of Man." Chapters 2, 3, 6, 21.

14 March and 16 March: Spring Break. No meetings.

21 March: DuBois. The Souls of Black Folk. 1-35, 99-125.

DuBois. "The Souls of White Folk." In: CC Reader. 271-80.

"Excerpts from Plessy v. Ferguson."281-5.

Gobineau. "Selections from The Inequality of Human Races." CCs.

23 March: Søren Kierkegaard. Fear and Trembling. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1983. "Preface," through "Problema II." 5-81.

DRAFTS TO BE RETURNED

28 March: Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morality. Essays One and Two. 1-71.

PAPER #1 DUE

30 March: Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morality. Essay Three. 72-128.

4 April: Freud. "Readings on Sexuality and Personality" CC Reader. 287-346.

6 April: Freud. Civilization and Its Discontents.

11 April: Existentialism: 

Sartre. "Existentialism and Humanism" and "Marxism is a Humanism." CCs

Camus. "The Myth of Sisyphus." CCs

13 April: De Beauvoir. The Second Sex. 267-327, 679-732.

18 April: One of:

Karl Popper. The Open Society and Its Enemies. CCs.

F. A. Hayek. The Road to Serfdom. CCs.

Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation. CCs

20 April: John Rawls. "Justice as Fairness." In: A Theory of Justice. 3-117. CCs.

25 April: Michel Foucault. "What is Enlightenment?" and "Discipline and Punish." In: Paul Rabinow, ed. The Foucault Reader. CCs.

DRAFTS OF PAPER #2 DUE

27 April: No assignment (counting on us falling behind at some point)

EDITED DRAFTS RETURNED

1 May: SECOND PAPER DUE IN MY OFFICE BY 5:00

5 May: Final Exam. 12:30-3:30.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 

1. ATTENDANCE: The whole of CC is designed such that you all have the opportunity to meet and discuss the readings. If you fail to attend, you harm not only yourself but also your classmates. For this reason, more than two unexcused absences will lower your grade. Also note that four unexcused absences are sufficient grounds for dropping you from the course. Last semester I was lenient on this, but will not be so this semester. You have been warned.

2. PARTICIPATION: CC courses are discussions, not lectures. This means that your active and informed involvement in the class is crucial. You are expected to do the readings carefully and think about them before class, such that your participation in the discussion is intellectually stimulating. I expect everyone to come with at least three questions/comments on the readings for each session. These may be points with which you particularly agreed, with which you particularly disagreed, or points that made no sense to you. As the moderator, I reserve the right to call on you at any time and ask you to present one of your prepared comments.

3. PRESENTATIONS: Twice during the semester, you will be expected to team up with another student to act as sort of chairpeople for the session. This entails an especially careful reading of the materials and the assumption of a more leading role in the class - both answering questions raised by the class and presenting topics for discussion.

4. PAPERS: In accordance with the sentiment of the people (and perhaps benevolence and utility as well), there will be two 5-7 page papers this semester. Again, creativity and intellectual suppleness will be rewarded. Going further than comparing/contrasting two authors is the first step in this. Better papers will address a theme, contain material from several texts, and have an argument (i.e. not just X says this, Y says that). Authorial intrusion is certainly permitted, as long as the paper remains rooted in the texts we read. The first paper should cover material from the Enlightenment to Marx (i.e., up through the 7 March session), the second from Hegel to the end. I encourage you to talk to me about your topics. N.B. If you use Hegel or Marx in the first paper, you can't use him/them in the second (unless you gain my permission by showing that you'll be doing something completely different with him/them).

5. POSITION PAPERS: Again, fully in accordance with the General Will, there will be three position papers. These will be 1-2 pages in length and will contain your responses to the text for the day. They are due on the day we discuss the material in class. The first one must be in my hands no later than the 15^th of February, and the second no later than the 30^th of March. This is to avoid the inevitable backlog caused by the human disposition toward procrastination. As with the precis last semester, you may turn in more than three, and I will count only the three highest grades.

6. MIDTERM: The midterm will cover the material through Smith, and will be organized in the following manner: a) choose eight of twelve quotations, and tell me the author and work; b) choose four of those eight, and tell me in a blue-book page or two the significance of the relevant quotation for the work in question and its broader significance; c) answer one of two essay questions.

7. FINAL: The final will have the same format as the midterm. Parts a) and b) will cover only materials read after the midterm cutoff, but the essay questions -- you will have to choose two out of four -- will be cumulative.

8. GRADE CALCULATION:

Class Participation: 30%
Papers 2 X 10%
Position Papers 10%
Midterm: 15%
Final: 25%

10. PREPARING FOR CLASS: Most of the works we’ll be reading are difficult. Therefore I would advise leaving a reasonably large amount of time for preparation. Some things (say, perhaps Kant) you may need to read more than one time. I have tried to keep the more difficult readings shorter where possible. I strongly recommend marking the texts where important arguments are made, or where you violently agree or disagree with the author (or if he/she seems to be making no sense). Assuming you purchase them, these books are your property - mark them up. When paper time comes, you may very well find that the questions and ideas you scribbled in the margins add up to a theme you might address. A good idea is to both mark the text for important or valuable passages, but also take notes on a separate pad of paper. After reading a text, however, your job isn’t done. The only way to be prepared for class, and for this to be a lively and intellectually exciting experience, is to sit and think about the arguments both as you read them and after you have finished. Take the time to digest the work, think about what you agree with or disagree with, and why this is the case. From here, coming up with three things to say should be a piece of cake. Then all you have to do is show up, and talk about what’s on your mind.