Syllabus: B384 (subject to change)

European Intellectual History II: Fall 2005

“The Long Revolution of the Enlightenment: Hegel to Foucault”

Section 25135

MW 2:30-3:45 LD 027

 

 

 

Professor Kevin Cramer                                                                        Cavanaugh 503M

317-278-7744                                                                                                                                                                                 Mon/Weds: 4:00-5:30

kcramer@iupui.edu                                                                               and by appointment

 

Required Texts

 

1.       Jan Goldstein and John W. Boyer, eds., Readings in Western Civilization, Vol. 8: Nineteenth-Century Europe (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1988).

2.       John W. Boyer and Jan Goldstein, eds., Readings in Western Civilization, Vol. 9: Twentieth-Century Europe (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1987.

3.       Robin W. Winks and Joan Neuberger, Europe and the Making of Modernity (Oxford University Press (2005)

4.       Robin W. Winks and R.J.Q. Adams, Europe: Crisis and Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2005)

 

Course Description

 

The intellectual history of the industrialized West has at its core the enduring conflict of modernity: the clash between the Enlightenment and its critics. This course examines this two-hundred year old conflict from the perspective of a wide variety of thinkers, from Hegel to Marx, through Weber and Freud, to Sartre, Arendt, and Foucault.  On the assumption that ideas motivate men, this course is designed as a history of those ideas that have had the most profound impact on social, political, and economic organization in the West. It begins with the bright promise of early nineteenth century liberalism to emancipate the individual, continues through socialism's attack on the failure to deliver on that promise, the disillusionment with the claims of reason following World War I, totalitarianism's promise to liberate the individual from the obligations of freedom, and concludes with the re-assessment of the Enlightenment's legacy following the cataclysm of World War II. This course will hopefully help us come to a better understanding of the major problem of our age, as defined by one of the thinkers we will study: "The contradiction between an apparently contented society and a deep current of discontent emerging mainly in irrational and ugly ways is our immediate and inescapable challenge."

 

Course Objectives

 

The aim of this course is to go beyond an introduction to the most influential ideas of our time to delve more deeply into these ideas in a seminar format based on lively discussion and debate, textual analysis, and written argument. The course is also designed to provide you with further practice in the skills required by the university's "Principles of Undergraduate Learning” (for details and further information on the PUL go to www.iupui.edu/~history/principlesundergradlearning.htm). Lectures and exams will introduce you to facts, concepts, themes, and terms that will allow you to understand the importance of this period while giving you the historical context for a better understanding of how your society and world works. The writing assignments, based on readings of primary sources, will enable you to develop your reflective, critical, and analytical abilities. In-class participation and discussion will enable you to sharpen your communication skills as well as your capability to efficiently and spontaneously summarize, categorize, interpret, and evaluate information. This part of the course also allows you to make a vital and necessary contribution to how topics and issues are brought into focus in each class. Lectures and exams will introduce you to facts, concepts, themes, and terms that will allow you to explain and contextualize the importance of these ideas while applying this knowledge to a better understanding of how your society and world works. The writing assignments, based on close readings of the texts, will enable you to develop your reflective, critical, and analytical abilities. As this course is a seminar, in-class participation and discussion will push you to sharpen your communication skills as well as your capability to efficiently and spontaneously summarize, categorize, interpret, and evaluate information. This aspect of the course also allows you to make a vital and necessary contribution to how topics and issues are brought into focus in each class.

 

Course Requirements

 

1.       Exam 1: 20%

2.       Exam 2: 20%

3.       Take Home Final Exam: 30%

4.       Participation: 15%

5.       Response Papers: 15%

 

Grading System

 

This course will use the standard 100-point grade scale. .

 

Course Policies

 

Make up exams will only be offered in cases of documented dire emergency. As participation in seminar discussions is part of your final grade, attendance is important. As a matter of good faith, please keep me informed as far in advance as possible of circumstances that will force you to miss class. Lecture outlines, writing assignments, exam reviews, and other important information and course material will be posted on Oncourse, so check it regularly. An A-range grade evaluates work that goes substantially beyond the formal outlines of the assignment by showing marked originality, creativity, and strength of argument, organization, and conception. A B-range grade evaluates work that fulfills the assignment with noticeable, but not thorough, attention paid to these ideas. Such work might also include flawed reasoning and organization as well as stylistic problems (sentence structure, spelling, vocabulary, use of scholarly conventions, etc.).  A C-range grade evaluates work of genuine effort that largely fulfills the assignment but displays substantial weaknesses in several of the above areas. D-range work is evaluated as meeting the bare minimums of the assignment in a perfunctory fashion. Obviously, an F grade indicates complete failure to fulfill the assignment. You are graded and evaluated according to my evaluation and judgment of your participation in class, your willingness to ask questions (there are no stupid questions), the quality of your preparation for, and fulfillment of, assignments, and your willingness to risk thinking analytically and originally. You are not graded for "effort" and merely showing up each day. If you are having problems fulfilling the requirements of the course contact me sooner rather than later. Jennifer Thompson in the Student Advocate Office is also available when you need help finding information or dealing with issues that affect your attendance and academic performance. The Student Advocate’s office is in UC 2002. Ms. Thompson can also be reached at 278-7594 and via email at stuadvoc@iupui.edu. The Student Advocate website can be found at http://www.life.edu/advocate.

 

Academic Misconduct

 

Plagiarism is usually defined as the deliberate theft of someone else's work and passing it off as your own. But inattention, ignorance of scholarly citation conventions, and sloppy note taking can also be construed as plagiarism, even if it is unintentional. Cutting and pasting from web-based sources is plagiarism. The penalty for plagiarism is an automatic failing grade for the course. Please consult the IUPUI Campus Bulletin for further guidelines and information on plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. For details and further information, also see “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct at www.jaguars.iupui.edu/handbook/2002/academicmisconduct.html.

 

Administrative Withdrawal

 

A basic requirement of this course is that you will actively engage with your peers and instructor during class and conscientiously prepare for and complete all assignments. If you miss more than half our class meetings within the first four weeks of the semester without contacting me, you will be administratively withdrawn from the class. Our class meets twice per week; thus if you miss more than four classes in the first four weeks, you may be withdrawn, which will make room for students on the waitlist. Administrative withdrawal may have academic, financial, and financial aid implications. Administrative withdrawal will take place after the full refund period, and if you are administratively withdrawn from the course you will not be eligible for a tuition refund.

 

Other Important Information

 

  • This course is designed as a seminar, therefore regular attendance is important (and it also effects your participation grade). For the same reasons tardiness and leaving class early will also be noted. Over three unexcused absences will adversely affect your overall participation grade.
  • Lecture outlines will be posted on Oncourse no later than the day before the lecture.
  • Bring your source anthologies to class.
  • Learning to take effective notes is a skill rewarded by heightened comprehension, increased retention of information, and good grades; the recording of lectures is therefore prohibited barring special circumstances.
  • As part of your preparation for each class you must submit (on the day of the discussion) a "Response Paper" answering one of the questions for that day’s seminar. These papers must be typed and be a minimum of two pages in length; they will be returned with comments and a grade). You must submit eight of these response papers: four before the mid-term and four after. Late submission of these papers will lower your participation grade.
  • The two books on European history are intended to provide necessary historical background and context and should be read accordingly (start now). It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the essential historical background (which will also be covered in the lectures) of the ideas we are discussing. You will not be tested on the textbook material, but failure to discuss the necessary historical background in your exams will be penalized.
  • The exams are based on close reading and analysis of excerpts from the primary texts.. Exam format and review guides will be posted on Oncourse.

 

 

 

 

 

Class Schedule

 

I.                   The Nineteenth Century: Reason and Revolution

 

Week One

1.       Introduction (W 8/24): "Goals, Objectives, Syllabus"

 

Week Two

2.       Lecture 1 (M 8/29): "Enlightened Social Engineering: Liberalism and Socialism"

3.       Seminar 1 (W 8/31): G.W.F. Hegel

Readings: "G.W.F. Hegel on the Family, Civil Society, and the State" (Readings, vol. 8, 129-154).

 

Monday, September 5: No Class (Labor Day)

Wednesday, September 7: No Class (instructor at conference)

 

Week Three

4.       Seminar 2 (M 9/12): J.S. Mill

5.       Seminar 3 (W 9/14): Alexis de Tocqueville

Readings: J.S. Mill and Harriet Taylor, "Essays on Marriage and Divorce" (Readings, vol. 8, 106-121); Alexis de Tocqueville, "Recollections" (Readings, vol. 8, 220-241).

 

Week Four

6.       Seminar 4 (M 9/19: Karl Marx

7.       Seminar 5 (W 9/21): Friedrich Schleiermacher and Ludwig Feuerbach

Readings: Karl Marx, "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" (Readings, vol. 8, 242-266); Friedrich Schleiermacher, "On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers" (Readings, vol. 8, 288-297) and Ludwig Feuerbach, "The Essence of Christianity" (Readings, vol. 8, 322-336).

 

Week Five

8.       Seminar 6 (M 9/26): Ernest Renan

9.       Seminar 7 ((W 9/28): Friedrich Nietzsche

Readings: Ernst Renan, "The Life of Jesus" (Readings, vol. 8, 336-351); Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Gay Science" (Readings, vol. 8, 405-408).

 

Week Six

10.   Lecture 2 (M 10/3): "Whither Progress?"

11.   Seminar 8 (W 10/5): Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Readings: Marx and Engels, "Four Letters on the Materialist Interpretations of History" (Readings, vol. 8, 470-477).

Exam 1 Format and Review Guide posted on Oncourse

 

Week Seven

12.   Seminar 9 (M 10/10): Eduard Bernstein and Rosa Luxemburg.

13.   Exam 1 Review (W 10/12)

Readings: Eduard Bernstein, "Evolutionary Socialism" (Readings, vol. 8, 501-518) and Rosa Luxemburg, "Mass Strike, Party, and Trade Unions" (Readings, vol. 8, 519-538).

 

II.                The Twentieth Century: Ideology and Violence

Week Eight

14.   Exam 1 (M 10/17)

15.   Seminar 10 (W 10/19)): The Futurists and Friedrich von Bernhardi.

Readings: "The Futurist Manifestos" (Readings, vol. 9, 6-16) and Friedrich von Bernhardi, "Germany and the Next War" (Readings, vol. 9, 55-69).

 

Week Nine

16.   Seminar 11 (M 10/24): Max Weber and Sigmund Freud

17.   Seminar 12 (W 10/26): Rudolf Hilferding and Walther Rathenau

Readings: Max Weber, “Between Two Laws” (Readings, vol. 9, 151-155) and Sigmund Freud, “Thoughts for the times on War and Death” (Readings, vol. 9, 155-175); Rudolf Hilferding, "A Co-Partnership of Classes?" (Readings, vol. 9, 87-102) and Walther Rathenau, "Germany's Provisions for Raw Materials" (Readings, vol. 9, 117-132).

 

Week Ten

18.   Lecture 3 (M 10/31): "Totalitarianism: The Flight from Freedom"

19.   Seminar 13 (W 11/2): Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini

Readings: Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf" (Readings, vol. 9, 191-218) and Benito Mussolini, "The Doctrine of Fascism" (Readings, vol. 9, 219-232).

 

Week Eleven

20.   Seminar 14 (M 11/7): Joseph Stalin

21.   Seminar 15 (W 11/9): Antonio Gramsci, Julien Benda, Arthur Koestler

Readings: Joseph Stalin, “The Foundations of Leninism” (Readings, vol. 9, 233-251; Antonio Gramsci, "The Prison Notebooks" (Readings, vol. 9, 318-333), Julien Benda, "The Betrayal of the Intellectuals" (Readings, vol. 9, 333-341) and Arthur Koestler, "The God That Failed" (Readings, vol. 9, 352-367.

Exam 2 Format and Review Guide Posted on Oncourse

 

Week Twelve

22.   Seminar 16 (M 11/14): Friedrich von Hayek

23.   Exam 2 Review (W 11/16)

Readings: Friedrich von Hayek, “The Road to Serfdom” (Readings, vol. 9, 433-445).

 

Week Thirteen

24.   Exam 2 (M 11/21))

 

Thanksgiving Recess (no class): 11/23-11/27

 

Week Fourteen

25.   Lecture 4 (M 11/28): "Failure of the Enlightenment Project?"

26.   Seminar 17 (W 11/30): Jean-Paul Sartre

Readings: Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism is Humanism" (Readings, vol. 9, 482-503).

 

Week Fifteen

27.   Seminar 18 (M 12/5): Hannah Arendt

28.   Seminar 19 (W 12/7): Michel Foucault and Raymond Williams.

Readings: Hannah Arendt, "On Humanity in Dark Times: Thoughts about Lessing" (Readings, vol. 9, 560-583); Michel Foucault, "The Subject and Power" (Readings, vol. 9, 583-592) and Raymond Williams, "The Long Revolution" (Readings, vol. 9, 592-624.

Take Home Final Exam Format and Review Guide Posted on Oncourse

 

Week Sixteen

29.   Final Exam Review (M 12/12)

 

Take-home Final Exam due at 5PM in my office, Thursday, December 15