19th Century Philosophy

 

 

Philosophy 307

Spring 2008

TR 12:25 pm – 1:40 pm

 

Rex Gilliland                                                                            

Classroom: EN D227

Office: Engleman D210                                                            

Phone: 392-6783                                                                                            

Office Hours: MW 3:15 – 4:45 pm, TR 1:40 – 2:40 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. Roger Scruton, Kant: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 978-0-19-280199-9, $9.95

5. 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 4 or 5 papers (minimum 20 full pages in total). Topics will be chosen in consultation with the instructor. Prompt and consistent attendance and informed participation in class discussion is expected. You are required to do the reading before class and to bring it with you.

 

Learning philosophy requires the careful discussion of philosophical issues in class. As a result, I weigh attendance heavily when determining final grades in borderline cases. Also, students who miss ¼ of the class sessions (7 absences) or more for any reason (including illness) will not pass the class. If you miss a class, I recommend that you make arrangements in advance to copy the notes of another student. Frequent tardiness and leaving early without permission are rude and disruptive to the rest of the class. It is your responsibility to arrange your schedule so that you don’t have any other responsibilities during class time. After the second occurrence, tardies and leaving early will be counted as absences.

 

All cell phones, music players, ear pieces/headphones, and other electronic devices must be turned off and put away during class time. I will consider requests to record the class or take notes on a computer (as long as the devices are only used for these purposes).

 

I strongly encourage students with disabilities, including invisible disabilities such as chronic diseases and learning disabilities, to discuss with me outside of class appropriate accommodations that might be helpful to them. A student’s disabilities must first be documented by the campus Disability Resource Center.

 

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.

 

Tips on Essay Writing

 

Key to Writing Errors and Abbreviations

 

Secondary Sources

 

 

 

Tentative Schedule

 

 

T 1/22              Introduction to course

 

            Kant’s Transcendental Idealism

 

R 1/24              Scruton, Kant Ch. 3-4 (Recommended: Ch. 1, 2, 5)

                        Topic: Summary of 1st and 2nd Critiques

T 1/29              Scruton, Ch. 6

                        Topic: Summary of the 3rd Critique

R 1/31              “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent”

(Recommended: Ch. 7-8)

                        Topics: History and progress

 

            Fichte’s Subjective Idealism

 

T 2/5                Fichte, selection from The Science of Knowledge

                        Topics: The dialectical method, and the act of self-creation

R 2/7                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                                     Kant Paper

 

            German Romanticism

 

T 2/12              Hamann, Metacritique on the Purism of Reason;

Recommended: Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man letters 3-6, 12, 14-15

Topic: Challenging the Enlightenment concept of universal reason

 

            Schelling and Hegel’s Absolute Idealism

 

R 2/14              Anonymous, “Oldest Programme for a System of German Idealism”;

Schelling, “Introduction to the Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature,” and “Outline of the Whole”

                        Topic: The organic conception of nature in absolute idealism

T 2/19              Schelling, selection from The Ages of the World

                        Topic: History as the revelation of God

R 2/21              Hegel, “Who Thinks Abstractly?” and selection from Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline

                        Topic: Dialectic and system                                                                               Hegel Diagram 1            Hegel Diagram 2

T 2/26              Hegel, “Master and Servant” from The Phenomenology of Spirit

                        Topics:  Social relations and labor

R 2/28              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 3/4                Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History cont.                                   Hegel and Schelling Paper

 

The Hegelian Legacy: Feuerbach and Marx

 

R 3/6                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 3/11              Marx, selections from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (“Critique of Hegel’s Dialectic and General Philosophy,” and “Alienated                       Labor”)

                        Topic: Property, sensuous human existence, and alienated labor

R 3/13              Marx, selections from The German Ideology (“The Materialist Conception of History,” “The Inevitable Victory of the Proletariat,” and “Ideology                      in General, German Ideology in Particular”) and The Communist Manifesto

                        Topic: History, communism and the class struggle                                              Marx Paper

 

T 3/18              Spring Break

R 3/20              Spring Break

(M 3/24           Deadline for Withdrawal)

 

            Philosophy of Science and Logic

 

T 3/25              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 3/27              Mill, “Inductions Improperly So Called,” and “The Ground of Induction” from

A System of Logic Bk. III, Ch. 3

                        Topic: The nature of logical induction

T 4/1                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 4/3                Peirce, “The Order of Nature,” and “Abduction and Induction”

                        Topic: Induction and the scientific method

T 4/8                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

 

Idealism’s Critics: A Return to Romanticism?

 

R 4/10              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 4/15              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 4/17              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 4/22              Kierkegaard, “The Rotation Method” from Either/Or

                        Topic: Historical change

R 4/24              Nietzsche, The Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life

                        Topic: The purpose and methods of the discipline of history

T 4/29              Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals essays 1-2

                        Topics: Noble and slave morality, Judeo-Christian conceptions of responsibility

R 5/1                TBA

T 5/6                Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals essays 2-3

                        Topics: Asceticism, ressentiment, the will to power, and the genealogical method of history

R 5/8                Nietzsche, selected aphorisms

                        Topics: The Übermensch, the death of God, and the eternal return                    Kierkegaard and Nietzsche Paper

 

Final Exam                 Th 5/15            12:45 – 2:45 pm