Introduction

This course provides an overview of the development of moral and political theory from the Enlightenment to the brink of the twenty-first century. In light of the emergence of the ideals of individual self-assertion and political freedom, examined in the first semester of Contemporary Civilization, this semester of the sequence begins by following the evolution of those ideals in the moral theory of the Enlightenment and in the political theory of the age of democratic revolutions. It then turns to the nineteenth-century debates over the institutional (especially economic) form the new democratic commitments should take as well as to the problem of their extension beyond white men. The course concludes with studies of challenges to the project of Enlightenment in European modernism and of the fate of the Enlightenment in the contemporary world. Is the present a fully enlightened age or, as Immanuel Kant suggested of his time, only an age of potential enlightenment? On the continuation and future of this project of Enlightenment, with the background established by these texts, each student can then take a stand.

There is no question: there is much reading demanded by this course and it is mostly hard. This semester, like the first one, is as much about learning to read anew as it is about philosophy and social theory. A crucial, if not the crucial, skill you will gain from this class is the ability to take on a complex, densely argued text and to give a meaningful sketch of the author’s views. But even more than in the first semester, the course challenges you not simply to learn every author’s view but also to develop your own.

CC Home Page

http://www.college.columbia.edu/core

Course Discussion Page

https://courseworks.columbia.edu

Required Texts

The following texts are available at Columbia University Bookstore, Labyrinth Books, and elsewhere. The stores may bundle them together and offer a discount. I have also listed the publisher and ISBN for each in case you should want to order them online. You should always bring the text(s) under discussion to class.

David Hume, An Enquiry into the Principles of Morals (Hackett), ISBN # 0915145456

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Basic Political Writings (Hackett), 0872200477

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge), 0521626951

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Modern Library), 0679783369

G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (Hackett), 0872200566

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Penguin), 0140447601

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford World’s Classics), 0192833847

Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader (Norton), 039309040X

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (Broadview), 1551113376

W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of the Black Folk (Dover), 0486280411

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (Vintage), 0679724621

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton), 0393301583

Do NOT buy the books (part of the CC box or set) by Edmund Burke and Virginia Woolf.

The following books, required for this CC section only, are at Labyrinth Books locally:

Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (Penguin), 0140444491

Catharine MacKinnon, Only Words (Harvard), 0674639340

John Rawls, Justice as Fairness (Harvard), 0674005112

Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Democracy Realized (Verso), 1859840094

Discussion of Course Requirements

Final Grade

The final grade in this class is computed as follows:

Attendance/Participation/Quizzes 30%

Papers 40%

Midterm Exam 10%

Final Exam 20%

Attendance/Participation

As the focus of the course is discussion of the texts with one another, attendance is mandatory. If you have a good reason to be absent, say so — if possible, in advance. All absences matter; but, in accordance with college policy, four or more unexcused absences will severely affect your grade in this class.

Simply attending without speaking, however, will lead to a relatively poor attendance/participation grade. Participation in discussion is also mandatory, and your grade will suffer if you never talk in class or contribute too rarely.

This section has a website. It includes a discussion list. Web posts are highly encouraged for everyone and I will take them into consideration when assessing grades (especially for those shy about speaking in person, though nothing can replace participation in class).

Reading Quizzes

In order to test your reading, on six occasions during the semester I will ask you to take out a piece of paper and compose a summary, of the length of a short paragraph, of the assignment for the day. You will be graded according to one criterion: whether your response makes clear that you did the reading. I will drop the worst grade on these quizzes in calculating your final grade.

Papers

You may write either two 6-7 page or three 4-5 page papers. Once you commit to one “track” or the other, you have to stick with it. Mastery of the texts and of basic writing skills will lead to a good grade; exceptional clarity, elegance, insight, or creativity will lead to a superior grade. I will hand out topics by e-mail as the course progresses. You are encouraged to meet with me to discuss your papers in advance of the due date. You are welcome to revise any papers with a grade of C+ or below. Plagiarism: please don’t. Think of the consequences if you are discovered. On the syllabus below, the due dates for the two-paper track are indicated with numbers (i.e., Paper 1 and 2); those for the three-paper track are indicated with letters (i.e., Paper A, B, C).

Exams

The midterm and final exams will consist of short-answer or essay questions or (most likely) both.

Syllabus

The materials marked with an asterisk (*) are supplements available on the CC website; you will need to print them out so that you have them on paper in class.)

Jan. 17: Introduction

The Ideal of Autonomy

Jan. 19: David Hume, An Enquiry into the Principles of Morals, 13-82

Jan. 24: Immanuel Kant, Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, Parts I-II (= pp. 1-53)

Jan. 26: Hume and Kant cont’d

Autonomy in Politics

Jan. 31: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Basic Political Writings, 25-81, 141-78, 190-208, 220-27

Feb. 2: *Kant, “What Is Enlightenment?”; two passages by Kant on Rousseau to be handed out; Rousseau, Basic Political Writings, 141-78, 190-208, 220-27

Economy, Society, Democracy

Feb. 7: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, pp. xxiii-32, 62-97, 299-301, 360-80, 407-12, 819-846

Feb. 9: G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History, pp. 3-6, 10-56, 62-7, 85-6, 90 + additional text

Feb. 9: Paper A Due

Feb. 14: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. I, Introduction; Part 1, chap. 4; Part 2, chaps. 6-7, parts of chap. 9; optional: Part 2, chap. 8 (= pp. 11-26, 68-71, 269-305, 335-36, 343-52; optional: 305-23)

Feb. 16: Tocqueville, Vol. II, Preface; Part 1, chaps. 1-2, 5, 20; Part 2, chaps. 1-2, 4-5, 8-13, 15, 17; Part 2, chap. 19; Part 4, chaps. 1-3, 6-8 (= pp. 489-503, 510-18, 572-76, 583-89, 591-600, 609-26, 630-35, 641-45, 775-83, 803-22)

Feb. 21: John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (entire)

Feb. 21: Paper 1 Due

Feb. 23: Midterm

Feb. 28: Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 143-45, 53-4, 70-79, 146-55

March 2: Marx, 469-500, 302-12, 319-29, 344-61, 431-38

Identity and Discrimination

March 7: W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of the Black Folk, v-vi, 1-67, 99-113, 127-31, 155-65

March 9: Catharine MacKinnon, Only Words (entire)

March 9: Paper B Due

SPRING BREAK

The Challenges of Modernism to Enlightenment

March 21: Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 39-108, 145-47

March 23: NO CLASS

March 28: Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, chaps. 4-5, 15 (= pp. 144-201, 379-98), plus additional text on handout

March 30: NO CLASS

April 4: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals, Essays 1 and 2

April 4: Paper 2 and C Due

April 6: Nietzsche, excerpts from Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The Gay Science, handouts

April 11: Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (entire)

From the Past to the Future of Enlightenment

April 13: NO CLASS -- PASSOVER

April 18: John Rawls, Justice as Fairness, Preface, §§ 1-3, 6-7, 11-18, 21, 23-31, 41, 47, 49, 52, 55, 57-9 [= pp. xv-xviii, 1-9, 14-24, 32-66, 74-7, 80-111, 135-8, 153-7, 158-62, 176-9, 184-8, 189-98]

April 20: Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Democracy Realized, 1-29, 52-84, 133-9, 163-9, 204-60, and “Empowerment and Vulnerability,” to be handed out

April 25: Rawls and Unger cont’d

April 27: Conclusion