CONTEMPORARY CIVILIZATION
Spring Semester
Ernesto V. Garcia, Department of Philosophy
Class Meetings: TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:50 p.m., 325 PUP
E-mail address: evg4@columbia.edu
Office hours: Wednesday, 2:15-4:00 p.m., Graduate Student Lounge on the 3rd Floor, Philosophy Hall (or by appointment)
This class offers a broad survey of many of the most influential works in ethics, politics, religion, science, and philosophy in Western civilization. The second half of the course is divided into three main sections: (1) Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment thinkers, including discussion of the American and French revolutions; (2) 19th-century thought, including critiques of the modern liberal tradition; (3) 20th-century contemporary issues, including feminism, post-modernism as well as the politics of multiculturalism.
Course Textbooks
Books are available at Columbia University Bookstore and/ or Labyrinth Bookstore (112th and Broadway), while some readings noted above are available on the CC website at http://www.college.columbia.edu/core. The following editions are required:
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (Hackett)
Rousseau, Basic Political Writings (Hackett)
Kant, Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals (Hackett)
Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Modern Library)
The Federalist Papers (NAL/Mentor)
Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women (Dover)
Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford World Classics)
Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton)
Darwin, The Origin of Species (Penguin)
Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk (Dover)
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (Vintage)
Freud, Future of an Illusion (Norton) [Columbia University Bookstore]
Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton)
Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Vintage)
MacKinnon, Towards a Feminist Theory of State (Harvard)
Gutmann, ed., Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition (Princeton) [Labyrinth]
Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage)
Class grading
40% 2 Term Papers (4-6 pp. each) [with one re-write permitted]
40% Midterm and Final Exam
20% Class Participation which includes:
a. Weekly Reading Assignments [WRA’s] [10%]
b. Class Attendance and Discussion [5%]
c. Class Presentation [5% - involving a 20-30 minute presentation w/ 1 other student]
Attendance policy
Students are expected to attend all classes. University policy maintains that a student may be removed from class for more than three unexcused absences.
Week 1
T, Jan. 21
Kant, “What is Enlightenment?” [CC Web]
Th, Jan. 23
Rousseau, 2nd Discourse (complete)
F, Jan. 24
CC Course-wide Lecture, Lee Bollinger, “Democracy and Universities”, 11 a.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall [rescheduled]
Week 2
T, Jan. 28
Rousseau, Social Contract (omitting Book III, Chs. 3-8, and Book IV, Chs. 4-7)
Th, Jan. 30
Hume, Enquiry Concerning Principle of Morals, Chs. 1-4, Appendices 1,3
Week 3
T, Feb. 4
Hume, Enquiry Concerning Principle of Morals, Chs. 5-10 and Appendix 2
Th, Feb. 6
Kant, Groundwork, Preface, Section I (complete), Section II (up to p. 32)
Week 4
T, Feb. 11
Kant, Groundwork, Section II (pp. 32-48, reviewing pp. 30-32), and “On the Supposed Right to Lie”.
Th, Feb 13
American Revolution: Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Federalist, Nos. 1,9,10,15,17,31,39,49,51, 57 (all above in The Federalist Papers), and ***Anti-Federalist selections [***CC Web]
Week 5
T, Feb. 18
French Revolution: Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen, Preface to the French Constitution of 1793, Sieyes, “What is the Third Estate?”, Robespierre, “Moral and Political Principles…,” Bentham, “Anarchical Fallacies, and Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France [***CC Web]
Th, Feb. 20
Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Introduction, Chs. 1-4, 7, 9
Week 6
T, Feb. 25
Mill, Utilitarianism, Chs. 1,2,5;
Th, Feb. 27
Mill, On Liberty (complete)
Week 7
T, Mar. 4
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Introduction and Plan of the Work, Book I, Chs. 1-4, 7-8; Book II, Intro, Ch. 3; Book III, Ch. 1; Book V, Ch. 1, Pt. III, Article II.
Th, Mar. 6
Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity (xerox handout), Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question,” Theses on Feuerbach, and selections from the Economic-Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (“Estranged Labor”) and “Private Property and Communism”
Week 8
T, Mar. 11
Karl Marx, German Ideology, Pt. 1, Communist Manifesto and Capital, selections
Th, Mar. 13
MIDTERM
SPRING BREAK – March 17th-21st
Week 9
T, Mar. 25
Darwin, Origin of Species, Introduction, Chs. 3,4,14
Th, Mar. 27
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, Essays 1 and 2
Week 10
T, Apr. 1
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, Essay 3
Th, Apr. 3
Freud, Future of an Illusion, Chs. II-IX
Week 11
T, Apr. 8
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (complete)
Th, Apr. 10
Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk, Chs. 1-6,9,11,14, and “The Souls of White Folk”
Week 12
T, Apr. 15
Foucault, Discipline and Punish, Pt. 1; Pt. 3, Chs. 2-3
Th, Apr. 17
MacKinnon, Towards a Feminist Theory of State, Chs. 1-4, 6-7
Week 13
T, Apr. 22
MacKinnon, Towards a Feminist Theory of State, Chs. 8-13
Th, Apr. 24
Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition”, and replies by Susan Wolf and K. Anthony Appiah (all in Multiculturalism, ed. by Amy Gutmann)
Week 14
T, Apr. 29
Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, pp. 1-31, 119-123, and Nagel, “The Absurd” (xerox handout).
Th, May 1
Review Session