POL320 Y1Y/L0101: MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT Summer 2015 Instructors: Adrian N. Atanasescu and Igor Shoikhedbrod Emails: na.atananasescu@utoronto.ca igor.shoikhedbrod@utoronto.ca Office Hours: TBA Teaching Assistant(s): TBA COURSE DESCRIPTION This course examines some of the most influential thinkers and themes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Topics to be discussed include the debate between enlightenment and counter-enlightenment thinkers, as well the place of reason, tradition, and legitimate authority in modern politics. We will also interrogate the meaning of such modern concepts as liberty, equality, and solidarity, and trace the latent dynamics that threaten to turn these concepts into the opposite categories of domination, alienation, and nihilism. The main objective of the course is to shed light on the ambivalent nature of modernity. By putting these exceptional thinkers in dialogue with one another, we will also be able to identify those features of modernity that continue to shape contemporary politics. REQUIRED TEXTS The following required texts will be available at the University of Toronto Bookstore (214 College Street). All other readings will be posted on Blackboard. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Political Writings, Hackett. Immanuel Kant. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Cambridge University Press. Immanuel Kant. Political Writings, Cambridge University Press. Edmund Burke. Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford World Classics. G.W.F Hegel. Outlines of the Philosophy of Right, Oxford World Classics. Karl Marx. The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Tucker, Norton (Second Edition). John Stuart Mill. On Liberty and Other Essays, Oxford University Press. Friedrich Nietzsche. The Basic Writings of Nietzsche, Modern Library. 1
COURSE REQUIREMENTS Mid-term test 30% 3000 word paper (comparative essay) 30% Final exam 30% Tutorial participation 10% GUIDELINES FOR PAPERS 1. Late papers will be penalized 5 percent per day of lateness. 2. No extensions or make-ups will be granted on midterms or essays unless students have formal documentation explaining why they were unable to fulfill the requirements. Examples of formal documentation include medical notes from a certified physician that are validated by the University of Toronto. For more information, see the Verification of Student Illness or Injury website: http://www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca/ 3. Extensions and the writing of make-up exams will only be granted under extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances. Appropriate documentation must be submitted within one week of the missed course requirement. Any make-up tests will be written on the last day of the course. 4. Students should familiarize themselves with the university s policy on plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and will be dealt with accordingly. For further information, please see the University of Toronto s policy on plagiarism: http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/plagsep.html If you have any doubts about whether you are committing plagiarism, feel free to inquire with your instructors and/or teaching assistant(s). 5. Students will be expected to submit their course essays to Turnitin.com unless alternative arrangements are made in consultation with the course instructors. The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service are specified on the above mentioned website. 6. Students will be also required to submit a hard copy of their essay in lecture. 7. Should you have any legitimate concerns regarding assignment grades, you are welcome to submit a one page written explanation that specifies the reasons why you are contesting the grade (no later than three weeks past the date that you received your grade). Please note that the re-evaluation of an assignment may result in a higher or lower grade, or the grade may remain the same. 2
BLACKBOARD This course will use a Blackboard website on which you will find the syllabus, reading materials, assignments and other information relevant to the course. Check your University of Toronto email regularly to ensure that you receive any important announcements that are sent through Blackboard. COURSE OUTLINE Modernity as Politics of the Will. May 11 (M) 6-8pm J.J. ROUSSEAU May 13 (W) May 18 (M) May 20 (W) May 25 (M) May 27 (W) Lecture 1: Introduction and discussion of syllabus. Lecture 2: J.J. Rousseau: Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men ; Letter, Preface, Part 1. (Rousseau s notes included). Tutorials begin Victoria Day- No class. Lecture 3: J. J. Rousseau: Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among Men ; Part 2 (including notes). Lecture 4: J.J. Rousseau: On the Social Contract; Book I and Book II. Lecture 5: J.J Rousseau: On the Social Contract; Book III: chapter 15, Book IV: chapters 1, 2, 8. Will and Reason. The Age of Enlightenment. KANT June 1st (M) June 3 (W) June 8 (M) Lecture 6: Kant: An Answer to the question: What is Enlightenment? and Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. In Political Writings, pp. 54-60 and pp. 93-130. Lecture 7: The moral law. Kant. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 4:393-4:440. Lecture 8: The moral law. Kant. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 4:393-4:440. 3
Tradition and Reason. The Critique of Enlightenment HERDER June 10 (W) BURKE June 15 (M) June 17th (W) Lecture 9: J. G. Herder excerpts from Letters for the Advancement of Humanity (Blackboard) Lecture 10: Edmund Burke: Reflections on the Revolution in France, pp.1-53, 75-82, 95-97. Midterm test The Unprecedented Potential of Modern Freedom June 22 (M) June 26 (W) HEGEL June 29 (M) July 1st (W) July 6 (M) BREAK - no class BREAK - no class Lecture 11: Dialectic of Lordship and Bondage in Hegel s Phenomenology of Spirit (Blackboard). Absolute Freedom and Terror in Hegel s Phenomenology of Spirit (Blackboard). Canada Day - No class. Lecture 12: Preface to Hegel s Philosophy of Right, Introduction Par. 29-33, Abstract Right Par. 34-43. July 8 (W) Lecture 13: Ethical Life par 142-208, par 229-256, par 272-320. Contradictions of Capitalist Modernity and the Promise of Human Emancipation MARX July 13 (M) Lecture 14: Marx on the History of his Opinions pp. 3-6. Critique of Hegel s Philosophy of Right: Introduction pp. 53-65. On the Jewish Question pp. 26-46. Excerpts from The Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 pp.70-81. On James Mill (Blackboard). July 15 (W) Lecture 15: Theses on Feuerbach pp. 143-145. Excerpts from The German Ideology pp.146-155, 174-175, 193-200. 4
The Grundrisse: Production: Independent Individuals Eighteenth-Century Ideas pp.222-223. Capital Vol.1 From the Afterword to the Second German Edition pp. 299-302. Capital Vol.1 The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret thereof pp.319-322. July 20 (M) Lecture 16: Manifesto of the Communist Party pp. 473-491. Speech at the Anniversary of the People s Paper pp. 577-578. Reflections on the Civil War in France pp.629-642, 651-652. Critique of the Gotha Program pp. 525-541. Individuality and the Tyranny of the Majority J.S MILL July 22 (W) Lecture 17: Paper due at the beginning of class. Utilitarianism pp.136-142. On Liberty, Introductory and Chapter 1. July 27 (M) Lecture 18: On Liberty, Chapters 2 and 3. Modernity s Assault on Greatness and the Horror Vacui NIEZSCHE July 29 (W) August 3 (M) Lecture 19: The Parable of the Madman in The Gay Science (Blackboard). Genealogy of Morals, Preface and Essay #1, pp.451-492. Civic Holiday - No class August 5 (W) Lecture 20: Beyond Good & Evil, Preface and Aphorisms# 1-16, 60-62, 199-203. Zarathustra s Prologue in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Blackboard). August 10 (M) REVIEW & CONCLUSION 5