19th Century Philosophy
Philosophy 307L
Spring 2006
TR 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
Rex Gilliland
Classroom: EN B304
Office: Engleman D210
Phone: 392-6783
Office Hours: MW 3:15 – 4:45 pm, TTh 12:15 – 1:15 pm, and by appointment.
Email: gillilandr1@southernct.edu
Course Description: Is historical development linear and predictable, or does it tend to surprise us with unexpected twists and turns? If the latter is the case, to what extent can history be explained? This is one of the central philosophical issues in the 19th century, which is hardly surprising given the tumultuous political and economic changes that were occurring. In this course, we will examine the major figures and debates in this period of western philosophy. The course will start by looking at Kant’s influence, and will then turn to German Romanticism and Idealism as well as Marx’s Historical Materialism. Next, we will turn to debates about the nature of the scientific method, the history of science, and the relation between the sciences, and finally to the critiques of German Idealism found in Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Special attention will be paid to the various conceptions of history that emerge and their implications for theories of nature, culture, and individual human agency.
Texts:
1. G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History, trans. Leo Rauch (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1988). ISBN 0-87220-056-6, $7.95
2. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life, trans. Peter Preuss (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980). ISBN 0-915144-94-8, $6.95
3. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, trans. Maudemarie Clark and Alan J. Swensen (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998). ISBN 0-87220-283-6, $12.95
4. All other readings will be available for printout on the SCSU Library Electronic Reserves.
Grading: Attendance and
Class Participation 20%
Papers 80%
A+ 97-100; A 93-96;
A- 90-92; B+ 87-89; B 83-86; B- 80-82; C+ 77-79; C 73-76; C- 70-72; D+ 67-69; D
63-66; D- 60-62; F 0-59
The majority of your grade will be based on 5 or 6 papers (minimum 20 full pages in total). Topics will be chosen in consultation with the instructor, and there is the possibility of combining two of the assignments into a longer paper.
Prompt and consistent attendance and informed participation in class discussion is expected: After the second absence, your final grade will be reduced. (Tardies, leaving early, and excused absences will count as half-absences.) You are required to do the reading before class and to bring it with you to class.
I strongly encourage students with disabilities, including invisible disabilities like chronic diseases and learning disabilities, to discuss with me after class or during my office hours appropriate accommodations that might be helpful to them.
For guidelines on writing a philosophy paper, see: www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/humanities/philosophy.shtml or www.princeton.edu/~jimpryor/general/writing.html.
Key to Writing Errors and Abbreviations
Tentative Schedule
T 1/24 Introduction to course
Kant
R 1/26 The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles on “Nineteenth-Century Philosophy” and “Immanuel Kant” (accessible online through the SCSU Library website, password required)
<http://0-www.rep.routledge.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/>
Topic: Summary of 1st and 2nd Critiques
T 1/31 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Kant’s Aesthetics and Teleology <http://www.iep.utm.edu/k/kantaest.htm>
Topic: Summary of the 3rd Critique
R 2/2 “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent”
Topics:
History and progress Kant Paper
Guidelines
German
Romanticism
T 2/7 Hamann, Socratic Memorabilia 2nd section;
and Schleiermacher On Religion 2nd speech
Topics: Intuition, faith, and empiricism
German
Idealism
R 2/9 Fichte, selection from The Science of Knowledge
Topics: The dialectical method, and the act of self-creation
T 2/14 Fichte, Addresses to the German Nation 1st and 7th addresses;
and Anonymous, “Oldest Programme for a System of German Idealism”
Topics: The formation of a people, and the systematic conception of philosophy
R 2/16 Schelling, “Essentials of the Philosophy of Art” from System of Transcendental Idealism, and “Concerning the Relation of the Plastic Arts to Nature”
Topics: The unconscious in art, the relation of intellect to nature
T 2/21 Schelling, “Concerning the Relation” cont.,
and selection from The Ages of the World
Topic: History as the revelation of God
R 2/22 Hegel, “Fragment of a System,” and “Who Thinks Abstractly?”
Topic: Dialectic and system
T 2/28 Hegel, selection from Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline,
and
“Master and Servant” from The
Phenomenology of Spirit
Topics: The negative, and social relations
R 3/2 Hegel, selection from Introduction to the History of Philosophy,
and Introduction to the Philosophy of History
Topic: Historical progress as the concretion of the idea of freedom
T 3/7 Hegel,
Introduction to the Philosophy of History
cont. German Idealism Paper
Guidelines
The Hegelian Legacy: Feuerbach
and Marx
R 3/9 Feuerbach, selection from The Essence of Christianity;
and Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, and Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction
Topics: Humanistic materialism, practical activity
T 3/14 Marx,
selections from Economic and Philosophic
Manuscripts of 1844
Topic: Property, sensuous human existence, and alienated labor
R 3/16 Marx,
selections from The German Ideology
and The Communist Manifesto Marx Paper Guidelines
Topic: History, communism and the class struggle
T 3/21 Spring Break
R 3/23 Spring Break
(M 3/27 Deadline for Withdrawal)
Philosophy
of Science and Logic
T 3/28 Comte, “The Nature of the Positive
Philosophy,” “The Hierarchy of the Sciences,” and “Statical and Dynamic Laws”
from The Positive Philosophy
Topics: Positivism, the social sciences
R 3/30 Mill, “Inductions Improperly So Called,” and “The Ground of Induction” from
A System of Logic Bk. III,
Topic: The nature of logical induction
T 4/4 Mill, “Human Nature as a Subject of Science,” and “Elucidations of the Science of History” from A System of Logic Bk. IV, Chs. 3, 10-11
Topic: The status of the social sciences
R 4/6 Peirce, “The Order of Nature,” and “Abduction and Induction”
Topic: Induction and the scientific method
T 4/11 Dilthey, “Patterns and Meaning in History,” “Types of World-view,” and “An Introduction to the Human Sciences”
Topic: Is history a science or part of the humanities? Is science merely a worldview? What is the role of interpretation in human inquiry?
Philosophy of
Science Paper Guidelines
Idealism’s Critics: A Return to
Romanticism?
R 4/13 Schopenhauer, “The Will as Thing-in-Itself,” and “Character and Motivation” from The World as Will and Representation vol. 1
Topics: Representation and will
T 4/18 Schopenhauer, “Virtue and Renunciation,” “The Incommunicable,” and “On the Primacy of the Will in Self-Consciousness” from The World as Will and Representation vols. 1-2
Topic: Redemption through the negation of the world in self-denial
R 4/20 Kierkegaard, “Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical?” and “Is there a duty to God?” from Fear and Trembling
Topics: The leap of faith
T 4/25 Kierkegaard,
“The Rotation Method” from Either/Or
Topic: Historical change
R 4/27 Nietzsche,
The Advantage and Disadvantage of History
for Life
Topic: The purpose and methods of the discipline of history
T 5/2 Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals essays 1-2
Topics: Noble and slave morality, Judeo-Christian conceptions of responsibility
R 5/4 Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals essays 2-3
Topics: Asceticism, ressentiment, the will to power, and the genealogical method of history
T 5/9 Nietzsche, selected aphorisms
Topics: The Übermensch, the death of God, and the eternal return
Final Exam T 5/16 10:15 am – 12:15 pm Kierkegaard and Nietzsche Paper Guidelines