Click here to see the Fall 2004 Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series.
Critical Foundations in an Anti-Foundational Age (Fall 2004)
8/30: Kant and Hegel (Adam Sutcliffe, History)
Kant Readings:
“Conjectures on the Beginning of Human History,” in H. S. Reiss, ed., Kant: Political Writings (1970), 221-34.
“Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose,” in K:PW, 41-53.
“Answer to the Question: ‘What is Enlightenment?'” in K:PW, 54-60.
Hegel Readings:
Extracts from Phenomenology of Spirit (Master / Slave Dialectic) from Norton .
Inaugural Address, Delivered at the University of Berlin (22 October 1818), in L. Dickey and H. B. Nisbet, eds., Hegel: Political Writings (1999), 181-5.
Extracts from Lectures on the Philosophy of History , in H:PW, 197-224.
Secondary reading (recommended)
Frederick Beiser, “The Enlightenment and Idealism,” in Karl Ameriks, ed., The Cambridge Companion to German Idealism(2000), 18-36.
9/20: Nietzsche (Melissa Orlie, Political Science)
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals . Selections: Preface, Essay I: sections 1-2, 6-7, 10-13; Essay II: sections 1-12, 16-18, 21-24; Essay III: sections 1-2, 7-21, 23-28 (pp. 15-23, 24-26, 31-34, 36-46, 57-63,57-79, 84-88, 91-96, 97-99, 106-43,145-63)
10/4: Weber, Geertz, and Interpretive Social Theory (Matti Bunzl, Anthropology)
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (pp. 12-31, 154-183)
Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” and “Religion as a Cultural System” in The Interpretation of Cultures
10/11: Western Marxism: Horkheimer, Benjamin, Lukacs, Adorno (Jed Esty, English)
Gyorgy Lukacs, “Realism in the Balance” in Norton
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in Norton
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, “The Culture Industry,” in Norton
Theodor Adorno, “On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening”
10/18: Structuralism: Saussure, Barthes, Levi-Strauss (Andrea Goulet, French)
Readings by Saussure, Barthes, and Levi-Strauss from Norton
Plus: Roland Barthes, “The Structuralist Activity”
Claude Levi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth”
10/25: Foucault (Mark Thompson, English and Comp Lit)
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1
11/8: Lacan (Nancy Blake, Comp Lit)
Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage,” “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious,” & “The Signification of the Phallus” in Norton
11/15: Feminism I: Beauvoir, Kristeva, Irigaray (Samantha Frost, ICR)
Simone de Beauvoir, “Chapter XI: Myth and Reality” (from Norton ) & “XXI: Women's Situation and Character” from The Second Sex
Julia Kristeva, “Approaching Abjection,” from Powers of Horror & “Might Not Universality be our Own Foreignness?” from Strangers to Ourselves
Luce Irigaray, “This Sex which is not One” & “The Power of Discourse and the Subordination of Women” from This Sex Which Is Not One & "I Want Love, Not War" (pp. 21-29), "Democracy is Love" (106-120) and "The Question of the Other" (pp.121-141) from Democracy Begins Between Two
12/1: Feminism and Queer Theory: Butler and Sedgwick (Stephanie Foote, English)
Selections from Butler and Eve Sedgwick in Norton
12/6: Postcolonial Theory: Said, Spivak, and Bhabha (Wail Hassan, Comp Lit)
Selections from Said, Spivak, and Bhabha in Norton