Spring 2004

Professor:               Alan Schrift
Office:                     Steiner 311
Office Phone:          3161
Office Hours:           M, W 2:30 4:00, and by appointment

Syllabus

Required Texts

Karl Marx:                The German Ideology
Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals
Sigmund Freud:       An Outline of Psychoanalysis
                                Civilization and its Discontents
Michel Foucault:      The History of Sexuality, Volume One
Judith Butler:          Gender Trouble

In addition to these texts, a packet of xeroxed material is available from the bookstore.

Course Objectives

We will begin by examining several key texts of the 19th and early 20th Century by Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, texts that lay the groundwork for the “Critique of Ideology” that evolved in the late 20th Century into the interdisciplinary field of “Cultural Critique.” In the second half of the semester, we will focus on a selection of essays or short works that, in one way or another, draw upon some combination or fusion of the critical perspectives of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, paying particular attention to representatives of the Frankfurt School (Adorno, Reich, Benjamin, Arendt), structuralism (Althusser), and poststructuralism (Foucault, Mouffe, Butler, Deleuze and Guattari).

Course Requirements

Final grades will be determined on the basis of overall class participation and the following requirements [percentage of final grade in brackets]:

    1. Midterm/Short paper: in response to questions provided; 56 pages. [25%]
          Due: Before Spring Break

    2. Final paper: topic of student’s choice, in consultation with instructor; 15 pages. [40%]
          Due: December 18.

    3. Class Presentation: each student will be responsible for presenting a summary of one of the assigned readings           after Fall Break. Depending on class size, these presentations may be done in groups of two students.           [15%]

    4. Position Papers: each week, submit on Tuesday a onepage typed comment on some aspect of the reading of            that week. These papers will be graded, and will be figured into your class participation grade component.            [10%]

    5. Class Participation. [10%]: In addition to participating in class, you will be asked to submit a discussion question by 10:00am to the class “Bulletin Board” on the web at http//web.grinnell.edu/courses/phi/s04/phi268-01/

ATTENDANCE: You are expected to attend class. Although attendance normally will not be taken, more than three unexcused absences will result in a lowering of your grade for the class participation component. More than SIX unexcused absences will result in failure of the course.

LATE POLICY: Written assignments which are submitted late will be penalized one letter grade for each 24 hours late. Papers submitted more than 48 hours late will NOT be accepted. Exceptions to this policy will be made only for medical reasons.

PHILOSOPHY 268: Tentative Course Outline

Meeting:

Class	Date	Assignment -
1	Jan. 20	Introduction -
2	Jan. 22	HEGEL: “Self-Consciousness” from Phenomenology of Spirit (E-reserve) -
3	Jan. 27	MARX: German Ideology, pp. 37-68
4	Jan. 29	German Ideology, pp. 68-95
5	Feb. 3	MARX: “Theses on Feuerbach,” pp. 121-123
6	Feb. 5	Selections from Capital (E-reserve)
7	Feb. 10	NIETZSCHE: “On Truth and Lies in a Non-moral Sense” (E-reserve) On the Genealogy of Morals, Preface and Essay One
8	Feb. 12	On the Genealogy of Morals, Essay Two
9	Feb. 17	NIETZSCHE: On the Genealogy of Morals, Essays Two and Three
10	Feb. 19	On the Genealogy of Morals, Essay Three
11	Feb. 24	FREUD: An Outline of Psychoanalysis, pp. 9-46 (skim 49-78)
12	Feb. 26	An Outline of Psychoanalysis, pp. 79-97 Dream Interpretations & Other Selections (E-reserve)
13	Mar. 2	FREUD: Civilization and its Discontents, Chap. I-IV (pp. 10-63)
14	Mar. 4	Civilization and its Discontents, Chap. V-VIII (pp. 64-112) Ricoeur: “The Critique of Religion” (E-reserve)?
15	Mar. 9	Adorno: “Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda” (E-reserve)
16	Mar. 11	Reich: Selections from The Mass Psychology of Fascism (E-reserve)
	MIDTERM DUE
	Mar. 12 — Mar. 29 SPRING BREAK
17	Mar. 30	Lyotard: “Discussions, or Phrasing ‘after Auschwitz’” (E-reserve)
18	Apr. 1	W. Benjamin: “Theses on the Philosophy of History” (E-reserve) Arendt: “Men in Dark Times” (E-reserve)?
19	Apr. 6	Bataille: Selection from The Accursed Share, Vol. One (E-reserve) “The Notion of Expenditure” (E-reserve)
20	Apr. 8	Althusser: “Ideology and State Apparatuses” (E-reserve)
21	Apr. 13	Foucault: History of Sexuality, pp. 1-73
22	Apr. 15	Foucault: History of Sexuality, pp. 75-159
23	Apr. 20	Deleuze-Guattari: Selection from Anti-Oedipus (E-reserve)
24	Apr. 22
25	Apr. 27	Butler: Gender Trouble, pp. 1-34
26	Apr. 29	Butler: Gender Trouble, pp. 35-78
27	May 4	Butler: Gender Trouble, pp. 79-149 Preface to Gender Trouble (vii-xxvi) and Preface to Bodies that Matter (E-reserve)
28	May 6	Mouffe: “Democratic Politics and the Question of Identity” (E-reserve) “Democratic Citizenship and the Political Community”(E-reserve)
	May 10 PAPERS DUE