PHILOSOPHY 371: 20th CENTURY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

(SPRING 1995)

 

THE FALL OF "MAN": RECENT CRITIQUES OF HUMANISM

 

Joel Anderson Office: Busch Hall 218 Tel. 935-4753

Office hours: Wed. 10-11; Fri. 12:35-1:30; and by appointment

 

THEME FOR THE COURSE

 

This course will focus on one of the central themes of 20th-century European thought, namely, the idea that attempts to derive guiding ideals from a conception of "human nature" or "man" or "humanity" are philosophically misguided and practically disastrous.

 

Throughout the course, we will be examining challenges to four central tenets of "humanism" (broadly defined):

* that there is a human essence

* that reason is "pure" and truth is absolute

* that increases in rationality lead to increases in freedom

* that human beings are autonomous and self-transparent subjects

These challenges take a wide variety of forms, including those of existentialism, fundamental ontology, critical theory, deconstruction, post-structuralism, feminism, and hermeneutics. And we will be exploring the differences and commonalities between these perspectives.

 

TEXTS FOR THE COURSE: (available at the campus bookstore)

 

* Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (New York: Philosophical Library, 1985)

* Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings, revised edition, ed. D.F. Krell (San Francisco: Harper, 1993)

* Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy, trans. A. Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982)

* The Foucault Reader, ed. Paul Rabinow (New York: Pantheon, 1984)

* Jürgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures, trans. F.G. Lawrence (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987)

 

There will be a Course Packet, available in mid-February from the Hi/Tec Copy Center (at the corner of Big Bend and Forest Park Pkwy.) It will cost $20-25.

 

Some additional readings will also be distributed in class during the semester, including worksheets for small groups discussions. If you are unable to pick them up in class, it is your responsibility to make sure that you get a copy. Copies will be available in the slot marked "371" in the Philosophy Dept. office (Busch 225), on your left as you walk in.

 

EVALUATION (Out of 100 points)

This course will emphasize reading difficult texts, and the assignments for are geared toward encouraging careful reading and facilitating good discussion.

There are no exams and no final paper. Instead, you will be required to write four short papers and prepare worksheets for five small group discussions.

 

Regular short papers (4 X 18 pts.): You will be required to write four three-page papers (about 800-1000 words each). These papers should focus on a close reading of the texts and a careful analysis of the arguments contained in them. Paper topics will be provided for each of the five themes of the course. Of the five, you must pick four on which to write your papers. If you write all five papers, the best four grades will count. One rewrite is permitted for each assignment, and your grade will be an average of the two grades.

 

Final short paper (18 pts.): In the last short paper -- also three pages -- you are asked to write a "manifesto", working out your own views about where humanism is headed by contrasting your position with those found in the final four readings for the course. This paper is mandatory.

 

Participation in small groups (10 pts.) During five sessions this semester, the class will be divided into small groups for discussion of a set of questions found on worksheets distributed in advance. The points you earn are based on your individual worksheet (up to 1 pt. each time) and your group's worksheet (up to 1 pt. each time). Partial credit will also be given. If you come to class without a completed worksheet, you will receive a 0 for the individual portion of the assignment and will be placed in a separate group.

 

Class participation: The course will involve a great deal of seminar-type discussions. This will only work if students come prepared for class (especially on the "discussion" days) and make regular and informed contributions to the discussion. Although no formal grade is given here, your performance can be decisive in borderline cases.

 

 

Ground Rules: Grades on late assignments will be reduced one full letter grade for each 24-hour period after the beginning of the class period on which they are due. You are required to do your own work. Collaborating on assignments constitutes plagiarism and if you are caught cheating in this way or turning in work that is not your own, you may fail the course and be subject to disciplinary action. The paper and the take-home must be typed, double-spaced, in accordance with the guidelines laid out in the "Style Sheet" (to be passed out with the assigned topics). All excuses must be documented (e.g., a note from a doctor).

 

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

 

"(P)" = Readings found in Course Packet

"(H)" = Readings found in class handouts

 

1/20: Introductory meeting: Overview, logistics, requirements.

 

1/23: Lecture on the paradigm of "humanism" and Nietzsche's early critique.

Samplings of humanist thought:

Pico della Mirandola, "On the Dignity of Man" (1487) (H)

Descartes, from Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) (H)

Hume, from Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748) (H)

Kant, from "What is Enlightenment?" (1784) (H)

Corliss Lamont, from The Philosophy of Humanism (1990) (H)

Nietzsche, from Twilight of the Idols, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and On the Genealogy of Morals (H)

 

 

EXISTENTIALISM, HUMANISM, AND METAPHYSICS

 

1/27: Lecture on Sartre's existentialist humanism.

[Begin reading Sartre, "Existentialism"]

Worksheet for small group discussion distributed.

 

1/30: Discussion of Sartre (Small Group Discussion #1)

Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism [is a Humanism]" and "Freedom and Responsibility," Existentialism and Human Emotions, pp. 9-59

Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness pp. 271-273; 310-321 (H)

 

2/3: Lecture on Heidegger's rejection of humanism as "metaphysical"

Heidegger, "Letter on Humanism" (first 20 pages in Basic Writings)

Topic for Paper #1 distributed.

 

2/6: Discussion of "Letter on Humanism"

Finish Heidegger, "Letter on Humanism," Basic Writings, pp. 213-265

 

2/10: Discussion of Derrida, "The Ends of Man"

Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy, pp. 111-136.

SHORT PAPER #1 DUE

 

 

RATIONALITY AND THE LOSS OF FREEDOM

 

 

2/13: Lecture and Discussion: Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology"

Heidegger, Basic Writings, pp. 308-341.

Interview with Heidegger, "Only a God Can Save Us Now" (H)

 

2/17: Lecture on Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno

Max Weber, from The Protestant Ethic (rationality's "iron cage") (H)

Worksheet for small group discussion distributed.

 

2/20: Discussion of Horkheimer & Adorno (Small Group Discussion #2)

Adorno & Horkheimer, from Dialectic of Enlightenment, pp xi-xvii, 3-42 (P)

[Recommended: Habermas, Phil. Discourse of Mod., pp. 106-119; 126-130]

 

2/24: Lecture and Discussion: Habermas's critique of one-dimensional rationality

Interview with Habermas (H)

Jürgen Habermas, "Science and Technology as 'Ideology'" (P)

Topic for Paper #2 distributed.

 

2/27: Lecture on Michel Foucault

Paul Rabinow, "Introduction" to The Foucault Reader, pp. 3-29.

 

3/3: Discussion of Michel Foucault on "discipline" and "bio-power"

From The Foucault Reader: "Truth and Power" (interview) (51-67 only)

"The Birth of the Asylum" (pp. 141-167); "Docile Bodies" (pp. 179-187), "Panopticism" (206-213)

SHORT PAPER #2 DUE

 

»» SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK SPRING BREAK ««

 

TRUTH AND POWER

 

3/13: Lecture on Nietzsche and Foucault: the "genealogy" of "truth"

Questions for small group discussion distributed.

 

3/17: Discussion of Nietzsche and Foucault (Small Group Discussion #3)

Nietzsche, from "On the Service and Disservice of History for Life" (P)

Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (P)

Foucault, "Truth and Power" (cont.) & "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History", The Foucault Reader, pp. 67-100.

Topic for Paper #3 distributed.

 

3/20: Discussion of Jürgen Habermas's Critique of Foucault

Foucault, from The Order of Things (H)

McCarthy, Introduction to Philosophical Discourse of Modernity

Habermas, "The Critique of Reason as an Unmasking of the Human Sciences: Michel Foucault" & "Some Question concerning the Theory of Power: Foucault Again", Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, pp. 238-293

Foucault, "Politics and Ethics: An Interview", Foucault Reader, 373-380.

 

3/24: Discussion of Jürgen Habermas's "Communicative" Alternative

Habermas, "An Alternative Way out of the Philosophy of the Subject: Communicative versus Subject-Centered Reason" (PDM, pp. 294-326)

SHORT PAPER #3 DUE

 

REASON, LANGUAGE, AND TRADITION

 

3/27: Lecture on Hans-Georg Gadamer

Translator's introduction to Truth and Method (P)

"Forward to the Second Edition of Truth and Method" (P)

 

3/31: Discussion of Gadamer's hermeneutics (Small Group Discussion #4)

Gadamer, from Truth and Method (rev. ed.), pp. 265-284; 291-307 (P)

Topic for Paper #4 distributed.

 

4/3: Discussion of the Gadamer-Habermas debate

Habermas, "The Hermeneutic Approach" [a review of Truth and Method] (P)

Gadamer, "The Scope and Function of Hermeneutical Reflection" (P)

 

4/7: Discussion of the Gadamer-Derrida "encounter":

Gadamer, "Text and Interpretation" (P)

Derrida, "Good Will to Power: Three Questions to Gadamer" (P)

Gadamer, "Reply to Derrida" (P)

SHORT PAPER #4 DUE

 

DIFFERANCE AND "THE FEMININE"

 

4/10: Lecture on Derrida

"Interview with Jacques Derrida" (P)

 

4/14: Discussion of Derrida, "Différance" (Small Group Discussion #5)

Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy, pp. 3-27.

Ferninand de Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (H)

Topic for Paper #5 distributed.

 

4/17: Lecture on Lacan and French feminism; Discussion of Derrida & le féminin

Susan Sellars, from Language and Sexual Difference (P)

"Interview with Luce Irigarary"

Derrida, from "Choreographies" (an interview) (H)

Derrida, from "Women in the Beehive: A Seminar" (H)

 

4/21: Discussion of différance, metaphysics, and le féminin

Simone de Beauvoir, from The Second Sex (H)

Luce Irigaray, from "This Sex Which is Not One" (H)

Luce Irigaray, from "When Our Lips Speak Together" (H)

Hélène Cixous, from "The Laugh of the Medusa" (H)

Julia Kristeva, from "Desire in Language" and "Women's Time" (H)

SHORT PAPER #5 DUE

 

 

AFTER HUMANISM: END OR TRANSFORMATION?

 

4/24: Concluding Discussion, Part I:

Habermas, "Themes of Postmetaphysical Thinking" (P)

David Wood, "Beyond Deconstruction?" (P)

 

5/1: Concluding Discussion, Part II:

Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut, "The Return of the Subject" (P)

Francois Lyotard, from The Inhuman (H)

 

FINAL SHORT PAPER ("MANIFESTO") DUE