First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-21)
Topic
Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
Instructors
Timothy Gordon Charlebois
Meeting Info
Scott Hall 212: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
The ‘late' modern period of political thinking, spanning the late 18th- to early 20th-centuries, followed the legacies of Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, and continued their investigations into the politics behind enlightenment, tradition, history, and progress. This course explores this late modern period of political thinking through close readings of three influential works from the Western canon of political theory: selected writings by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of Morals," and Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and its Discontents." Analyzing the way these thinkers both converge and diverge in their attempts to grapple with the modern condition, this course will investigate and problematize the characteristics of ‘modernity', the political problems it gave rise to, and the conclusions drawn by each of the three core thinkers. Of particular interest will be their investigations into the themes of power, violence, freedom, subjection, oppression, emancipation, democracy, and the state.
Learning Objectives
(1) To gain a comprehensive knowledge of the late modern period of political thinking, in particular, the writings of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud;
(2) To be able to comprehend complex theoretical texts, with an emphasis on understanding their main political ideas, commitments, histories, and goals; (3) To be able to communicate, written and verbally, a comprehensive and critical understanding of complex political ideas; (4) To be able to relate political problems of the late modern period to contemporary politics.
Teaching Method
Attendance & Participation (20%)
Reading Response Papers (3 x 20% = 60%)
Final Comparative Paper (20%)
Evaluation Method
Attendance & Participation (20%)
Reading Response Papers (3 x 20% = 60%)
Final Comparative Paper (20%)
Class Materials (Required)
(1) Marx, Karl. Selected Writings. Edited by Lawrence H. Simon. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994. ISBN: 9780872202184;
(2) Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. Translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale. New York: Vintage, 1989. ISBN: 9780679724629;
(3) Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Edited and translated by James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. ISBN: 9780393304510
Class Attributes
WCAS Writing Seminar