National Socialism, Marxism and Philosophy syllabus

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NATIONAL SOCIALISM, MARXISM AND THE END OF THEORY: A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE OF PHILOSOPHY Sarah Jean Margolis ALL REQUIRED READINGS MUST BE READ CAREFULLY AND THOUGHT ABOUT INDEPENDENTLY. ALL FRONT MATTER TO TABLE OF CONTENTS AND BACK COVERS OF EACH BOOK MUST BE READ CAREFULLY. MOVIES WILL BE SHOWN ONCE AT THE MAX PALEVSKY THEATRE. IF YOU MISS THE VIEWING THEY WILL BE AT THE REGENSTEIN ON RESERVE. I MUST WARN YOU THEY ARE SOME OF THE MOST PETRIFYING MOVIES EVER MADE. ALWAYS READ BIBLIOGRAPHIES . GROUPS WILL BE FIGURED OUT AT 5PM AFTER THE SECOND LECTURE AND EMAILED TO YOU. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS; the.emergency.broadcast.company@gmail.com OFFICE HOURS ARE AT THE MEDICI FROM 4­6 MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. FEEL FREE TO JOIN AND ARGUE. WEEK 1, LECTURE 1: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POETRY AND PROSAIC PHILOSOPHY German Poetry from The Beginnings to 1750, All front matter to pp xv, poem on pp 2­3 German Poetry from 1750 ­ 1900, “Novalis,” Hymns to Night pp.109 ­ 131 The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Madame de Stael, “Essay on Fiction” pp. 278 ­ pp. 285 including Introduction and Bibliography DOCTOR STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB Go for a 15 minute walk outside and then write a one­page essay on it using the word “I” exactly ten times WEEK 1, LECTURE 2: INTRODUCTION TO POETICS Introduction to Poetics, Tventan Todorov “Introduction” and “Preface,” pp. vii ­ xxxii The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Marcel Proust, “The Meditation on Time and Memory,“ pp.472 ­ 483, Northrop Frye, “the Archetypes of Literature, pp. 677 ­ 685 Nietzsche, “From the Birth of Tragedy,” pp. 403 ­ 405 Go for a 15 minute walk outside and then write a one­page essay on it using the word “he,” “she” or “it.” BY DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT, HBO VIDEO, 2004 WEEK 1, LECTURE 3: TEXTUALITY OF NATURE AND THE IDEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF THE THIRD REICH The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends: Immanuel Kant, pp. 244 ­ 247 and pp.266 ­ 271, Goethe, “Human Limits,” pp.50 ­ 53, Lenua, “Loneliness,” pp.198 ­ 203, Hebbel, pp. 236 ­ 241, Storm, pp. 243 ­ 249 Listen to FM 90.1 for one hour. Take a walk with no intentions and write a poem about the experience outside somewhere on campus. Extra Credit: Find a poem in another language and three translations including your own and write a one­ page paper on “How can history be erased” ON THE BEACH, Echo Bridge Entertainment, 2005 WEEK 2, LECTURE 1: POLITICAL SCIENCE AND THE BIRTH OF GERMAN AND AMERICAN FASCISM


The Scientific Origins of National Socialism, “Introduction to the Transaction Edition,” pp. xi ­ xxxiv, “Ernst Haekel and The German Monist League,” pp. 1 ­ 30, “Monism, Imperialism and The First World War,” pp. 126 ­ 146, “ Monism and National Socialism,“ pp. 147 ­ 182 Issues of The Sixties, “New Views on Automation,” pp. 17 ­ 32, “Priorities in Space Exploration,” pp. 43 ­47, Nikita Khruschev, “Peaceful Coexistence,” pp. 278 ­ 281, Senator Barry Goldwater, “We Must Be Sure That Foreign Aid Goes Only to Our Friends,” pp. 385 ­ 387 Take a fifteen minute walk imagining that the air raid sirens are going off not on the hour and you don’t know if it’s a test or not. Write a one­page paper about the experience. FAIL SAFE, Warner Brothers, 2000 WEEK 2, LECTURE 2: THE DIALECTIC, THE UNCONCIOUS, AND 1930s GERMANY Spirit and System, “Dialectical Politics of Cultural Redemption in the Third Reich and the GDR,” pp. 99 ­ 159 The Marx­Engels Reader, “Alienation and Social Classes,” pp. 133 ­ 135, “On Social Relations in Russian, pp. 665 ­ 675, “The Eighteenth Brumiere of Louis Bonaparte,” pp. 594 ­ 617 The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Paul de Man, “Semiology of Rhetoric,” pp.1010 ­ 1020 Take a fifteen minute walk daydreaming about someone you are in love with or imagining that the perfect person exists. ADVISE AND CONSENT, Warner Brothers, 1990 WEEK 2, LECTURE 3: LOVE, IDEOLOGY AND PROPAGANDA VS. CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Eros and The Bitersweet, “Bittersweet,”pp. Front Cover ­­ “Preface,” pp. 3­9, “My Page Makes Love,“ 85 90” plus three pieces of your choice The Holy Quran, first page ­ pp. lxii, Surah, pp. 182 ­ 241 THE DAY AFTER, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 1983 (originally released on television) Take a fifteen minute walk watching the movie of the week once and then write a one­page paper about as much of the movie as you can remember. WEEK 3: LECTURE 3: FEMINISM, MATRIATCHY AND UNDERSTANDING AS MODALITIES OF THOUGHT The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, De Man, “Semiology and Rhetoric,” pp. 1010 ­ 1020, Simone de Beauvoir, “Myths of Women in Five Authors,” 1087 ­ 1009, Julia Kristeva, “The Bounded Text,” pp.988 ­ 1005, Helene Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa,” 1090 ­ 1102, Elaine Showalter, “The Female Tradition,” pp.1103 ­ 1118, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “The Parables of the Cave,” pp. 1119 ­ 1126, Carl Gustav Jung, “On the Relation of Anlytical Psychology to Poetry,” pp. 656 ­ 676. TO DIE FOR Take a walk and then write a one two­page paper on what you have learned from the this week’s reading. If you are female write from the perspective of a man. If you are male write from the perspective of a woman. WEEK 3, LECTURE 2: THE LOSS OF CREATIVITY AT FIN DE MILLENIUM Our Lady of The Flowers, Jean Genet, front cover to 49 The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, De Man, “Semiology and Rhetoric,” pp. Freud: “Creative Writers and Daydreaming,” pp.650 ­ 655, Carl Jung, “On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry,” 656 ­ 665, Helene Cixious, pp.1090 ­ 1102 EYES WIDE OPEN Take a walk and then write a one­page paper on Creativity and Finality. WEEK 3, LECTURE 3: NATIONAL SOCIALISM VS. GERMAN NATIONAL SOCIALISM (NAZI) The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, De Man, “Semiology and Rhetoric,” pp.


Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences,” pp. 959 ­ 971, Michel Foucault, “What is an Author?” pp. 978 ­ 988, Roland Barthes, “From Work to Text,” pp.1005 ­ 1010, Niall Ferguson, “Decline and Fall” Roland Barthes, “Death of the Author” Look up “Nazi” in three dictionaries including the OED. Send me your definitions via email with a one to five sentence commentary on each. PLATOON Write a ten­ to twenty­page paper on the topic of your choice based on the titles of the lectures making reference to at least five articles on the reading list and one movie.


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