Phil 263: Nineteenth Century Philosophy

MWF 8-8:50

Offered by Sara Bernstein (saraphil263@gmail.com)

Fall 2007

 

What is the relationship of philosophers to philosophy? What is the relationship of philosophy to history? Does history have a "logic", a "goal", or a structure? What patterns can we discern in the history of humanity? What is the human condition, and how does it relate to human history? This course will examine these questions through the lens of five nineteenth century philosophers (Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche), and through several contemporary thinkers (Sen, Ehrenreich, and Hoffer) who have utilized their ideas.

 

Texts:

 

Simon Critchley, Continental Philosophy: a Very Short Introduction

G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit

Amartya Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny

Robert Tucker (ed.), The Marx-Engels Reader

Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed

Soren Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Friedrich Nietszsche, The Nietszche Reader

Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

 

Optional, but strongly recommended: Robert C. Solomon, Continental Philosophy since 1750: The Rise and Fall of the Self

 

...and numerous others, available on e-reserve.

 

Course Requirements:

 

One paper, 4-5 pages, due Wednesday, September 26;                         20%

In-class midterm exam, Wednesday, October 17;                                    30%

One paper, 4-5 pages, due Monday, November 19;                               20%

Cumulative final exam, Wednesday December 12.                                 30%

 

See bottom for notes on extra credit.

 

Schedule

 

Continental Philosophy: What is it, why study it, and why do analytic philosophers usually run?

 

            August 20: Introduction: what are The Big QuestionsTM of the nineteenth century?

 

            August 22: Critchley, Continental Philosophy, "The Gap between Knowledge and Wisdom" through "Spectacles and Eyes to See With: Two Cultures in Philosophy"

 

            August 24, Critchley, Continental Philosophy, "Can Philosophy Change the World?" through "A Case Study in Misunderstanding"

 

            August 27: Critchley, Continental Philosophy, "Scientism vs. Obscurantism"

 

Does History Have a Purpose? (Round I)

 

            August 29: Kant, "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose"

 

            August 31: Kant (continued)

            Optional: Solomon, Continental Philosophy since 1750, "Kant and the German Enlightenment"

 

            Sep 3: Labor Day. No class.

 

Does History Have a Purpose? (Round II) (Or: The Self, The Absolute, The Spirit, The Subject, and other Gratuitously Capitalized Words)

 

            Sep 5: Fox, The Accessible Hegel, "On Being Human"    (e-reserve)

                        (Optional: Solomon, "Hegel and the Apotheosis of Self as Spirit" from Continental Philosophy since 1750)

 

            Sep 7: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Preface" (pp. 1-20)

 

            Sep 10: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Preface" (pp. 20-45)

 

            Sep 12: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Introduction" (46-57)

 

            Sep 14: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Lordship and Bondage" (104-111)

 

            Sep 17: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Lordship and Bondage" (111-120)

           

            Sep 19: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, "Lordship and Bondage" (120-138)

 

            Sep 21: Amartya Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, "Making Sense of Identity"

 

            Sep 24: Sen, Identity and Violence, "Civilizational Confinement"

 

            Sep 26: Sen, Identity and Violence, "West and Anti-West" and "Culture and Captivity"          PAPER #1 DUE.

 

Seeing Red

 

            Sep 28: Marx, "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right"

                        (Optional: Solomon, "After Hegel: Kierkegaard, Feuerbach, Marx" from Continental Philosophy since 1750)

           

            Oct 1: Marx, The Communist Manifesto, "Bourgeois and Proletarians"

 

            Oct 3: Marx, The Communist Manifesto, "Proletarians and Communists"       

 

            Oct 5: Marx, The Communist Manifesto, "Socialist and Communist Literature"

 

            Oct 8: Marx, The Communist Manifesto, "Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties"

 

            Oct 10: Marx, Das Kapital, "The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof"

 

            Oct 12: Marx, Das Kapital "Division of Labour and Manufacture"

 

            Oct 15: Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, "Serving in Florida"

 

            Oct 17: Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, "Scrubbing in Maine"             IN-CLASS MIDTERM.

 

            Oct 19: Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, "Selling in Minnesota"                       

 

Subjectivity is Truth!

           

            Oct 22: Kierkegaard, Either/Or, "Diapsalmata" and "Crop Rotation" 

 

            Oct 24: Kierkegaard, Either/Or, "Equilibrium between the Aesthetic and the   Ethical in the Development of Personality"

           

            Oct 26: Kierkegaard, continued                                                                                          EXTRA CREDIT #1 DUE.

           

            Oct 29: Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, "The Historical Point of View"

 

            Oct 31: Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, "The Speculative Point of View"

 

            Nov 2: Kierkegaard, continued

 

            Nov 5: Nozick, The Examined Life, "Stances"        (e-reserve)

 

One word: †bermensch.

 

            Nov 7: Nietszche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue

                        (Optional: Solomon, Continental Philosophy since 1750, "The Attack of the Self: Nietzsche and Nihilism")

 

            Nov 9: Nietszche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra,

            ŇOn the Teachers of Virtue", "On War and Warriors", "On Free Death," "On Self-Overcoming, "On Scholars," and "On Poets".

           

            Nov 12: Veteran's Day. No class.

 

            Nov 14: Nietszche, On the Geneology of Morals, First Essay, Section 11                    

 

            Nov 16: Nietszche, Beyond Good and Evil, "On the Prejudices of Philosophers"

 

            Nov 19: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, "The Free Spirit"                  PAPER #2 DUE.

           

            Nov 21: Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, "What is Noble?"

           

            Nov 23: Thanksgiving. No class.

 

            Nov 26: Nietzsche, continued

                        (Optional: Nehamas, "Beyond Good and Evil" from "The Self" in Nietzsche: Life as Literature)            (e-reserve)

 

            Nov 28: Hoffer, The True Believer, "The Appeal of Mass Movements" and "The Potential Converts"

 

            Nov 30: Hoffer, The True Believer, "Beginning and End"

 

            Dec 3: Hoffer, The True Believer (continued)

 

            Dec 5: Review.                                                                                              EXTRA CREDIT #2 DUE.

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 8-10 AM:       Final Exam.

 

A few notes concerning:

 

Plagiarism

 

Plagiarism is representing another person's work as one's own. Outside works must be clearly cited or placed in quotes. Any cheating will be handled according to the university's policy on academic dishonesty. Please see the UA Code of Academic Integrity for more information.

 

Extensions

 

Everyone is permitted one 24-hour paper extension. Extensions must be requested three days in advance.

 

Extra Credit

 

There will be two extra credit assignments involving the following books and movies:

 

Assignment 1:            V for Vendetta (film)

                                    1984, George Orwell

 

Assignment 2:            Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

                                    We the Living, Ayn Rand

 

The assignment will involve writing a paper which compares and contrasts the themes the books and film to the themes in the reading. Extra credit will be due on October 26 in class, and on December 5 in class. Up to five percentage points may be earned on each extra credit assignment.

 

Syllabus Changes

 

It is possible that topics will be added, removed, or changed on the syllabus. If this happens, it will be announced in class and on the website.

 

Ways to Reach Sara, or her Indistinguishable Robot Clone

 

Email (by far the best way to reach me): saraphil263@gmail.com

Department phone: (520) 621-3120 (during office hours)

Office Hours: MWF, 9-10, Social Sciences 130.