Spring 2020: Great Thinkers

Finish Apology in Plato’s Five Dialogues.

Multi-media assigned:

BBC In Our Times: Socrates

1. Plato, Phaedo, 93-110

Recommended:

1. Professor’s podcast lecture on The Phaedo (covers the entirety)
2. Tim Connolly, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “The Phaedo.”
3. John Protevi, “Outline of The Phaedo.”
4. Another excellent outline by Dr. Sean Coughlin.

1. Aristotle, Politics, I, chapters 1-5
2. Handout by professor. (I will print out and bring to class)

Recommended: BBC, In These Times, “Aristotle’s Politics”

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Aristotle: Politics.”

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Aristotle’s Political Theory.”

Quiz: Plato’s Phaedo (10 pts., take home): In the Phaedo, Socrates gives three arguments for the immortality of the soul. Quickly provide them. Then tell the reader why Socrates gives these arguments. What is the relation of the soul to the body? Begin with a clear thesis statement about the relation of the soul and the body in the Phaedo, then go through the three arguments, noting any problems you see with them. Then end by describing how this relates to the type of philosophy Socrates does, that is, why is philosophy a preparation for dying?

Aristotle, Politics, I, chapters 6-end.

1. Aristotle, Politics, III, 1-4;  Book IV 1-4.
2. Aristotle, Politics, VII, 1-3, 8-10.

1. Rousseau, Discourse on the Arts and Sciences
2. Professor’s Handout on the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.
3. Quiz: Aristotle’s Politics. (5 pts., in class)

1. Read Rousseau, Second Discourse on the Origins of Inequality (part I)
2. Professor’s Reading Notes for the Second Discourse. (Distributed in class)

Recommended:

1. Professor’s Youtube Video for the Second Discourse (with biography).
2. Partially Examined Life, “Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality” (Youtube).
3. “Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Handouts: Andrea C. and Shelby D.

1. Rousseau, Second Discourse on the Origins of Inequality (part II)

Handouts: Baylen W. and Syteria C.

1. Rousseau, Social Contract, Books I-II.
2. “The Social Contract,” In our Times. (BBC podcast)

    

Handouts: Hannah S. and Even E.

1. Rousseau, Social Contract, Books III-End.
2. The 1789 French “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm.

Handouts:

Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party

Handouts: Lawson Q. and Patrick V.

 Recommended: BBC, In our Times, Marx

Manifesto lecture by professor

Take-home Essay Quiz Due (15 points):

3.5-to-4 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, no cover sheet, no bibliography page if you don’t use outside sources.

Rousseau is thought of both as the great thinker of freedom and of an early form of totalitarianism. The reason is his thinking of the general will: while he thought of it as a notion of wanting the common good, the problem is we have seen what forms of government have come about because everyone was supposed to want the same thing and those who didn’t were executed or imprisoned. First describe what Rousseau means by the general will. Why does he use this idea and how is this formed in a society ruled by a proper social contract? How is this different from private wills or interests, which rule in “aggregations”? What form of government should we “want” based on the general will. Finally describe what he means by a civic religion and why this also helps us to want the common good. (15 points)

Arendt, The Human Condition, Preface, Part I

Key Questions asked as we read HC:
1. What are the three aspects of The Human Condition?
2. What are the threats Arendt finds to The Human Condition?
3. What does Arendt mean by world alienation and therefore a world?
4. What does Arendt mean by earth alienation?
Resources for Arendt (you are assigned to listen to the first two):
1. My lecture is here, going over the work as a whole and its major theses, including her underread claims later in the book about “earth alienation.” (based in many parts on an unedited version of my contribution to The Bloomsbury Companion to Arendt, due out next year and co-edited by me and Yasemin Sari.)
2. BBC In these Times, Hannah Arendt.
3. George Kateb, “Political Action: Its Nature and Advantages,” The Cambridge Companion to Arendt, ed. Dana Villa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
4. Karin Fry, “Natality,” in Hannah Arendt: Key Terms, ed. Patrick Hayden (London: Bloomsbury, 2012).
5. Paul Voice, “Labor, Work, Action,” in Hannah Arendt: Key Concepts.
6. Siobhan Kattago, “Hannah Arendt on the World,” in Hannah Arendt: Key Concepts.

Handouts: Maddie S.

Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, Part II

Handouts: Avery F. and Allie B.

Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, Part V

Handouts: Logan D.

Arendt, The Human Condition, Part VI

Handouts: Neya S.

Arendt, “On Violence,” sections I-II

1. Professor’s Lecture on On Violence.
2. Roger Berkowitz, On Violence lecture Part I, Part II, and Part III. (excellent and very clear)
3. Maša Mrovlje, “Violence Illuminating Its Political Meaning and Limits,” Bloomsbury Companion to Arendt (2020).

Handouts: William B. and Bethany M.

Arendt, “On Violence,” section III

Quiz: What does Arendt mean by power? How is it different than violence and authority? Why is this distinction important? (5 pts., email to professor; 2 pages)

Handouts: Hannah O. and Akira C.

Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism

Professor’s Lecture on “Existentialism is a Humanism.“

BBC, In our Time, Existentialism

Handouts: Ben B. and Aleeyah W.

Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth  (chapter I)

Professor’s lecture on Wretched of the Earth, chapter 1.

John Russon, excellent discussion of Fanon on violence and decolonization.

Recommended: 
Tracey Nicholls, “Frantz Fanon,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Handouts: Colton J. and Charles S.

Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth  (chapter I continued, conclusion)

Quiz: When is violence appropriate for Fanon? Why does he say it is a “creative” force? Be as clear and specific as possible. 5 pts. email answer to professor. 2 pages.

Handout: Michelle E.

Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, introduction, chapter 1.

Professor’s Lecture on intro, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and conclusion.

Handouts: Claire T.

Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, chapter 2.

Handouts: Wyatt H.

Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, chapter 3, conclusion.

Handouts: Dwan V.