BEFORE, DURING,
AND AFTER MARX
GERM360-01/HMCS394-03
(Readings and Class in English)
Fall 2005
A.
Kiarina Kordela
Proseminar in German Studies
M-W-F 3:30-4:30, HUM 215
Office: HUM 208
Office Hours: M-W-F 2:15-3:15
and by appointment
Tel. 696-6524
Course Description
While the antiquity and
the subsequent eras of Hellenistic and Medieval theocracy organized themselves,
albeit in different ways, around one and the same persisting opposition, that
between matter and spirit, the secular era of Western capitalist modernity
constitutes itself around a new opposition: matter versus value. Due to the fact that Karl Marx provided the first adequate
formalization of value within the field of political economy, and, further, due
to the traditional division between ÔbaseÕ (economy) and ÔsuperstructureÕ
(culture), the centrality of the shift from spirit to value within the entirety of secular thought and
culture, including the
constitution of human subjectivity—a
shift already occurring, prior to Marx, since the seventeenth
century—remains little conscious. Through the analysis of various
theoretical texts from the seventeenth century to twentieth-century
postmodernity, this course will trace the gradual predominance of value as the
secular function displacing spirit, while raising questions regarding the consequences
of this shift on historical consciousness. What is the destiny of concepts such as God, immortality, truth, and even need, pleasure, and desire, once
the human subject is no
longer conceived as a spiritual being but as a being of value?
Required Books:
READ THE COURSE GOALS, REQUIREMENTS, AND SUGGESTIONS
CAREFULLY!
Course Goals, Requirements,
And Suggestions How to Meet Them
Beyond
introducing students to the methodology and epistemology of philosophical and
critical thought, including the
analysis of culture and ideology, this course intends to cultivate the
following skills:
á
Critical
examination of the presuppositions/preconditions of the discourse/text
(epistemology)
á
Critical
examination of the strategies and style of the discourse/text (methodology and
rhetoric)
á
Analytic ability
(to identify the same concept or logical structure in different texts/discourses)
and synthetic ability (to combine different concepts and structures towards a
further argument)
á
Overcome
intimidation by so-called difficult texts and theories
á
Critical reading
of texts and ability to reconstruct their arguments in class
á
Critical and
productive dialogue on the texts
á
Comprehension and
active use of different theoretical Ôlanguages.Õ
á
Competent
academic writing.
Basic
Step towards improving intellectual competence and critical ability: When you read, two things are imperative so that
you gain something out of your reading: 1. Check unknown words in a
dictionary, such as WebsterÕs
Collegiate Dictionary. 2. Check the argument of the text in terms of its
logical consistency and coherence.
If you do not follow the line of the argument—how, for example, the
author proceeds from one sentence to another, linking two subjects that seem to
you irrelevant—then, there are two possibilities. Either the argument is
more sophisticated than you and, hence, you need to study, discuss, and analyze
it in order to understand it, or the author is Ôcheating,Õ and hence you should
not buy the argument. Remember: Not everything printed is of true value but, on the other hand, not everything you do not
understand is necessarily nonsense. You will have learned something by the end
of the semester if you are able to tell which of the two is the case.
Rule
of Thumb: You know that you have
understood a text when you can ÔtranslateÕ its concepts, logic, thesis and/or
arguments into the terms of everyday life.
Reading
Assignments: In this course we do
not read in order to memorize but to learn how to think critically about the texts we are reading. This does not mean that there are no
concepts that we have to learn Ôby heart,Õ so to speak, but that it is not
worth learning them unless we really understand what they mean, how they have
become possible, and perhaps necessary, what other concepts they cause as their
effect, and how and with what consequences we can use them actively in our
language.
In addition to the required books there is a reading packet, at a minimum cost (i.e., the actual cost of Xeroxing it).
Oral/Aural
and Written Requirements:
Regarding daily class writing requirements, you have two options. Either:
á
Use 3x5"
Index Cards, which you turn in at the beginning of each session (without my asking or reminding you). On these cards you will write: 1. Your name and
the date. 2. At least one statement that expresses what, in your opinion, is the
most important concept, issue, conclusion, concern, or logical structure in the
reading assigned for that day. In
this way, you also indicate a direction for discussion. Do not write on your
index card questions on the reading!
Such questions you should bring up in the class to be discussed. 3. You may
also write your comments and suggestions about the way the class is/should be
conducted.
Or:
á
Do the same via
Email, in which case you must have sent your message to me the latest by
midnight of the day preceding the class (e.g., on Sunday, for Monday's class). This method is better, because it gives me the time to incorporate your
comments in the class, whereas the index cards I read after the class. If you
send an email, you may also include questions, unlike above.
á
Midterm Paper: See Sept. 19, 21, 30, and Oct. 19, in "Daily
Syllabus." There will be one revision.
á
Final Paper: See Nov. 28, Dec. 2, 12, and 16, in "Daily
Syllabus." Revision optional.
á
Attendance and
Participation in Class Discussion (More than three absences can result in a
lower grade). Due to my specific
approach to the material we read, you cannot follow this course just by
reading the texts and missing the lectures/discussions. Moreover, your participation in critical and
productive dialogue reflects and refines not only your ability to read and
view critically texts but also:
a) Your ability to be an active listener (listen and respond also to other students, ask them questions, etc.). Due to the specific
material we are dealing with, I will have to lecture a lot, but you should feel
free to interrupt and comment or ask questions at any time!
b) Asking about words, concepts or arguments that are mentioned by others and you do not
understand. Do so even if
you have the impression that you are the only one who does not understand only because nobody else asks questions. Most
likely this is a wrong impression, and everybody else is in the same situation
to one extent or other.
ATTENTION!!:
In Case of Absence: If you miss a
class, contact another student
from this seminar to find out what we discussed on the day you missed and what I said about the
reading assigned for the next time. When you show up on the next class day, you should have read
the texts assigned for both, the day you missed and the day you are present. The course forms a thematic whole. Omission of some of the assigned texts and class
discussions prevents you from
following this thematic whole.
NOTE:
We shall have more days off
than dictated by the official calendar. (Check the "Daily Syllabus"). Take this into account when
you make traveling arrangements, so that you do not miss classes. There are
also days off so that you can attend the International Roundtable. Always
check the reading assignments of more than the next class, so that you can budget your time by reading
ahead texts if you happen to have
days off or generally free time.
Office
Hours: If in intellectual trouble
or simply in need of Ôboosting transference,Õ make use of my office hours (to
make sure that you will find me, let me know in advance that you intend to
visit me during my office hours.
(If you do not find me in my office during these hours, most likely I am outside
one of the two entrances to the
Humanities building). We can
also arrange a meeting at another hour, if these hours are not convenient for you. When you meet me, we may
discuss also other aspects of the course and your relation to it. For instance,
you may indicate to me your particular interests, or comment on the quality of
our performances, and we can exchange suggestions for further improvement on
both sides.
Communal
Learning and Mutual Evaluation and Criticism: In this course we will constantly judge, evaluate,
and learn from each otherÕs work. Everything we say or write during this
course is not private property
but public, available for any
one to use productively. Your comments on the index cards, email, or other
written responses may be read also by your peers. They may comment on them and
draw on them for their own writing. My comments on your writing will always be
critical, trying to improve it even if it is already on a very competent level.
There is no limit to good writing:
we can always write better, and the better we write the more aware we are of
how difficult it is. Similarly, there is no limit to good teaching. I encourage you to offer, and would honestly
appreciate, any kind of criticism, including my approach to the texts, your
writing, and our interaction in class. One of our further tasks in this course
is to learn how to offer constructive and non-offensive feedback.
ALWAYS READ THE SYLLABUS CAREFULLY FOR ASSIGNED READINGS OR OTHER HOMEWORK! I WILL MAKE SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THEM ONLY IN
ORDER TO MAKE CHANGES. OTHERWISE THE ASSIGNMENTS AS SPECIFIED ON THE SYLLABUS
ARE TAKEN FOR GRANTED.
W, Sept. 7: Introduction
F, Sept. 9: Immanuel
Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, ¤ 40, 69-
70 (reading
packet). Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, A 426/B454 –
A433/B461 and
A444/B472 – A451/B479, 470-475 and 484-489
(reading
packet). Kant, Foundations of
the Metaphysics of Morals and
"What Is
Enlightenment?, "What is
Enlightenment?" 85-92.
M, Sept. 12: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1: Part 1, Section 3: "The Value-Form
or
Exchange-Value,"
138-163.
W, Sept. 14: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part 1, Section 4: "The Fetishism
of the
Commodity
and Its Secret," 163-177. RenŽ Descartes, Meditations,
I and part
of II, Western Philosophy,
22-26. Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich
Hegel, "From Sense-certainty to Self-consciousness,"
Western
Philosophy, 45-50. Slavoj Zizek, The
Sublime Object of
Ideology, "The Unconscious of the
Commodity-form," 16-21
(reading packet).
F, Sept. 16: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 2: "The Process of
Exchange," 178-187, and Part
2: Chapter 4: "The General Formula for
Capital," 247-257.
M, Sept. 19: Saussure, Course
in General Linguistics,
Chapter III: "The Object of Linguistics," part 1:
"Definition of
Language," 7-11, and Part One: General Principles," Chapter 1:
"Nature of the Linguistic Sign," 65-70.
Prepare
to describe your midterm paper topic on Wednesday
W, Sept. 21: Midterm
paper topics
F, Sept. 23: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 5: "Contradictions
in the
General Formula," 258-269 and Chapter 6: "The Sale and
Purchase of
Labour-Power," 270-280. Saussure, Course in General
Linguistics, Chapter II: "Immutability and Mutability of
the Sign,"
71-78.
M, Sept. 26: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part 3, Chapter 7: "The Labour
Process and
The
Valorization Process," 283-306. Saussure, Course in General
Linguistics, Chapter III,
Section 6: "Synchronic and Diachronic
Law," 91-100.
W, Sept. 28: Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part 3, Chapter 8: "Constant and
Variable
Capital,"
307-319. Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, Part
Two,
Chapter II, Section 1: "Definition: Entity and Unit," 102-104, and
Chapter IV: "Linguistic Value," 111-127.
F, Sept. 30: Lacan, The
Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, parts
of
Chapter 9: "What Is a Picture?" 112-116 (reading packet). Plato,
Republic, "Art and Imitation," Western
Philosophy, 533-539.
Aristotle, Poetics,
"The Nature and Function of Dramatic Art,"
Western
Philosophy, 539-544. David Hume, Of
the Standard of
Taste, "Aesthetic
Appreciation," Western Philosophy, 549-554.
Midterm
Paper Due (approximately 5
double-spaced pages)
M, Oct. 3: Immanuel Kant,
Critique of Judgment,
"The Concept of the
Beautiful," Western Philosophy, 555-561. Friedrich Nietzsche,
The Birth of Tragedy, "The Two Faces of Art," Western
Philosophy,
567-572. Leo
Tolstoy, What Is Art?,
"The Value of Art," Western
Philosophy, 573-578. Jean-Paul Sartre, The Psychology of
Imagination, "Imagination and Art," Western
Philosophy,
578-584. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lectures on Aesthetics, Western
Philosophy, 584-589.
W, Oct. 5: Foucault, The
Order of Things, Part 1, Chapter
1: "Las Meninas,"
3-16.
(Begin reading for Friday)
F, Oct. 7: Foucault, The
Order of Things, Part 1, Chapter
2: "The Prose of
the
World," 17-45.
M, Oct. 10: Foucault, The
Order of Things, Part 1, Chapter
3: "Representing,"
From Section
III to end, 58-77, and Chapter 6: "Exchanging," the
two
sections, 166-174.
W, Oct. 12 –
Oct. 14: No classes because of International Roundtable.
Week 7
M, Oct. 17: Foucault, The
Order of Things, Part 1, Chapter
6: "Exchanging," the
remaining
sections, 174-214.
W, Oct. 19: Aristotle, De
Anima, "Soul and Body,"
Western Philosophy, 134-
138.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae,
138-145. RenŽ Descartes,
Meditations, "The Incorporeal Mind," Western
Philosophy, 145-
152. Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza, Ethics, "The Identity of Mind
and
Body," Western Philosophy,
152-154.
Revision
of Midterm Paper Due
F, Oct. 21: Foucault, The
Order of Things, Part 2, Chapter
8: "Labour, Life,
Language," the first two sections, 250-263.
M, Oct. 24: Discussion of
papers
W, Oct. 26: no class
Fall Break: Oct.
27-Oct. 30.
Week 9
M, Oct, 31: Plato, Meno, "Innate Knowledge," Western
Philosophy, 3-12.
Plato, Republic, "Knowledge versus Opinion," Western
Philosophy, 12-19 (optional). Karatani, Architecture as
Metaphor,
Chapter 14: "The Standpoint of Teaching,"
115-123.
W, Nov. 2: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter I: "Psychology and
Metapsychology,"
3-12, and Chapter II: "Knowledge, Truth,
Opinion," 13-24.
F, Nov. 4: Claude LŽvi-Strauss, Structural
Anthropology, Chapter XI:
"The
Structural Study of Myth," 206-231 (reading packet). Karatani,
Architecture as Metaphor,
Chapter 5: "Structure and Zero," and
Chapter 11: "Being," 93-99.
M, Nov. 7: Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae,
"The Five Proofs of God,"
Western Philosophy,
248-250. RenŽ Descartes, Meditations, "God
and the Idea of Perfection," Western Philosophy, 251-256. Blaise
Pascal, PensŽes,
"The Wager," Western Philosophy, 256-259.
Gottfried Leibniz, Theodicy,
"The Problem of Evil," Western
Philosophy, 260-265.
Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure
Principle, Chapters I and
VII, 3-9 and 75-78 (reading packet).
Gilles
Deleuze, Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty, Chapter X: "The Death
Instinct," 111-121 (reading packet).
W, Nov. 9: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter III: "The
Symbolic Universe," 27-39, and Chapter IV: "A Materialist
Definition
of the Phenomenon of Consciousness," 40-52.
F, Nov. 11: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and
in
the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter V:
"Homeostasis and Insistence," 53-63. G. W. F. Hegel, Introduction
to the Philosophy of History,
Chapter 3, "Freedom, the Individual,
and the State," Section II: "The Means of Spirit," 23-42 (reading
packet).
M, Nov, 14: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and
in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter VI:
"Freud, Hegel and the Machine," 64-76.
W, Nov. 16: S¿ren Kierkegaard,
Concluding Unscientific Postscript,
"Faith
and
Subjectivity," Western Philosophy, 277-283. Lacan,
Seminar II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of
Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955,
Chapter VII: "The Circuit," 77-90.
F, Nov. 18: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and
in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter XV: "Odd
or even? Beyond Intersubjectivity," 175-190. John P. Mueller and
William Richardson (Eds.), The Purloined Poe, the end of
Lacan's "Seminar on "The Purloined Letter," 52-53,
parts
of the "Overview" by the editors, 59-67, and parts of
Shoshana Felman, "On Reading
Poetry," 144-147 (reading packet).
Week 12
M, Nov. 21: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique of
Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955,
Chapter XVI: "The
Purloined Letter," 191-205. Fredric Jameson, The Prison-House
of
Language, Part III:
"The Structuralist Projection," Section 3, 161-171
(reading packet).
W, Nov. 23: no class
Nov. 24- 27:
Thanksgiving Break
Week 13
M, Nov. 28: Rosalind E.
Krauss, The Optical Unconscious,
Chapter One, 1-27
(reading packet). Final
paper topics.
W, Nov. 30: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique
of Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955, Chapter XIX:
"Introduction of the Big Other," 235-247, and
"Objectified Analysis,"
248-258.
F, Dec. 2: Lacan, Seminar
II: The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique of
Psychoanalysis, 1954-1955,
Chapter XXIII:
"Psychoanalysis and Cybernetics, or on the Nature of
Language,"
294-308.
Karatani, Transcritique: On Kant and Marx, parts of
Chapter 7, 266-268 (reading packet). Karatani, Architecture as
Metaphor, Chapter 6: "Natural Numbers," 47-57.
Final
paper due if you want to have the right to revision.
M, Dec. 5: Karatani, Architecture
as Metaphor, Chapter 7:
"Natural
Language," 61-64, and Chapter 8: "Money," 67-71. Plato, Republic,
"The Allegory of the Cave," Western Philosophy, 63-70. Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz, Monadology,
¤60-90, 80-88 (reading packet).
W, Dec. 7: Karatani, Architecture
as Metaphor, Chapter 1: "The
Will to Architecture," Chapter 2: "The Status of Form,"
Chapter 3:
"Architecture and Poetry," and Chapter 4: "The Natural
City," 5-35.
F, Dec. 9: Karatani, Architecture
as Metaphor, Chapter 9:
"Natural
Intelligence,"
Chapter 10: "Schismogenesis," 73-91, Chapter 12:
"The Formalization of Philosophy," 101-104, Chapter 13:
"Solipsism," 109-113, Chapter 15: "Architecture as
Metaphor,"
and Chapter 16: "On Rules," 125-141.
M, Dec. 12: Oral
Presentation of Papers (optional)
W, Dec. 14: Karatani, Architecture
as Metaphor, Chapter 17:
"Society and
Community," Chapter 18: "The Linguistic Turn and Cogito,"
Chapter 19: "Selling," Chapter 20: "Merchant
Capital," Chapter 21:
"Credit," and "Afterword," 143-188.
F, Dec. 16: Final
Paper (including revisions) due (5-7
double-spaced pages).
Student Evaluations.