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HUM
3306
From the Age of Enlightenment .
. .
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. . . to the Age of
Anxiety
History
of Ideas
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We’ll cover
profound thinkers from the end of the seventeenth century to the
present. Our readings will span political
philosophy, economic theory, biology and psychology, as well as fiction and
poetry. We'll discuss and debate how
the authors speak to contemporary issues: what is the relationship between
how we conceive human nature and how we evaluate different types of
government? how can oppressed groups overcome their
oppressors? can we act freely, or are we shaped by
forces or categories beyond our control, such as the unconscious or our class
position or our DNA blueprint?
This is a Gordon
Rule writing
intensive course, so naturally you will be composing several essays, with the goal of
becoming a competent and confident writer.
I anticipate that, by the end of the semester, each of you will have
written one or more essays of which you can be proud.
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Readings include:
John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government--This
is the social-political text that all the Founding Fathers read before
devising the U.S. Constitution.
Olaudah Equiano, Autobiography--A marvelous account
of one African’s journey from idyllic childhood, through the horrific Middle
Passage, to the U.S.
and England. Equiano’s story
asks: what does it mean to the “self” when the self is defined in economic
terms?
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein--A classic monster story, critiquing
techno-obsessions.
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto--Karl said, “Workers of the world, unite!” In
these days of huge profits for Big Oil, his ideas are provocative.
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species--You may (or may not) be persuaded that we
are descended from monkeys after reading what Darwin wrote in his seminal,
iconoclastic scientific volume.
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents--Another revolutionary thinker
who gave a blow to our self-satisfaction by revealing we are not in control
of ourselves as much as we may think.
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