1 Death of God History 3342 Professor: Camille Robcis Fall 2010 McGraw 364 / [email protected] Cornell University OH: Tue. 2-4 / 5-5724 TR 11:40-12:55 TA: Kate Horning / OH: Wed. 2-4 Goldwin Smith G22 [email protected] / McGraw B44 Course Description This course will focus on European writers, philosophers, and social scientists who have attempted to grapple with “the death of God.” In various ways, these thinkers have tried to re-imagine life without transcendence; ethics without universal, objective, and absolute values; existence without the certainty of man’s centrality to the cosmic order. The class will focus on contextualization and close readings of each text. Course Requirements This is an upper level division lecture course, but time will be allotted for classroom discussion. Students should come to class prepared to engage in lively conversation based on the week’s reading. Attendance is mandatory and more than two unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. In addition to bringing the pertinent texts to class, students will be asked to write short (1 page) reader responses. The reader responses should avoid summary, and instead critically engage a particular question or theme raised by the readings. Responses will be turned in at the beginning of each Tuesday class (in a hard copy) and counted as a part of the final participation grade (25% of the total). In addition to these short writing assignments and class participation, students will be asked to complete three 5-6 page papers. A list of paper topics will be distributed in class at least one week before each paper is due. Due dates are: Sept. 27, Nov. 1, and Dec.2. All papers must include direct citation and footnotes. Refer to the Code of Academic Integrity for further information (http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html). Any violation of the Code of Academic Integrity will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct and will result in a failing grade for the course. There will be no extensions and late papers will be marked accordingly. The papers will each be worth 25% of the final grade. There is no final exam. Required Books Available for purchase at the Cornell Bookstore, or on reserve at Uris Library. Please note that you can also find many of these books used (on Amazon Marketplace, for example). All other texts (marked *) are available online through the Blackboard course site (under Tools ⇒ Course Reserves). Please make sure that you come to class with a printed version of these texts so that we can refer to specific passages.2 François Voltaire, Candide: Or Optimism (Penguin Classics, 2009) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Basic Political Writings (Hackett, 1987) Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Boudoir (Penguin Classics, 2006) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: the 1818 Text (Oxford, 2009) Karl Marx, Early Writings (Penguin Classics, 1992) Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo (Vintage, 1989) Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, The Grand Inquisitor (Plume, 2003) Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Modern Library, 1999) Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (W.W. Norton & Company, 2010) Albert Camus, The Stranger (Vintage, 1989) Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (Yale University Press, 2007) Weekly Readings Week 1 Thu. Aug. 26 Introduction I - The Enlightenment and the Legacy of the French Revolution Week 2 The Critique of Clericalism Tue. Aug. 31 Voltaire, Candide (Chapters 1 – 18) Thu. Sept. 2 Voltaire, Candide (Chapters 19 – 30) Week 3 Sovereignty in the People and the Invention of Civil Religion Tue. Sept. 7 Rousseau, “The Social Contract” (Books I and II) Thu. Sept. 9 Rousseau, “The Social Contract” (Books III and IV) Week 4 The “Dark Side” of the Enlightenment Tue. Sept. 14 Sade, Philosophy in the Boudoir (excerpts) Thu. Sept. 16 Sade, Philosophy in the Boudoir (excerpts) Week 5 Romantic Responses Tue. Sept. 21 Shelley, Frankenstein (Volumes I and II) Thu. Sept. 23 Shelley, Frankenstein (Volume III) FIRST PAPER DUE SEPT. 273 II – Philosophies of Suspicion Week 6 Marxist Critique Tue. Sept. 28 Marx, “On the Jewish Question” Thu. Sept. 30 Marx, “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” Week 7 Dostoyevsky: Atheism, Nihilism, and Revolutionary Politics Tue. Oct. 5 Guest Lecture by Professor Claudia Verhoeven (Cornell, History Dept.) Thu. Oct. 7 Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor Week 8 Tue. Oct. 12 Fall Break – NO CLASS Thu. Oct. 14 Class Cancelled Week 9 Nietzsche, Genealogy, and Deconstruction Tue. Oct. 19 Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (Preface; First and Second Essay) Thu. Oct. 21 Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (Third Essay) Week 10 Psychoanalysis and the Freudian Subject Tue. Oct. 26 Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents Thu. Oct. 28 Freud, excerpts from The Pleasure Principle * SECOND PAPER DUE NOV. 1 III – European Politics at the Fin-de-Siècle Week 11 European Colonialism Tue. Nov. 2 Conrad, Heart of Darkness Thu. Nov. 4 Conrad, Heart of Darkness Week 12 Religious Wars in France Tue. Nov. 9 Republicanism and the Laïcité: Historical Documents * Thu. Nov. 11 The Social as Sacred: Durkheim, excerpts *4 IV – Existentialisms Week 13 Jean-Paul Sartre Tue. Nov. 16 Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism Thu. Nov. 18 Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism Week 14 Albert Camus Tue. Nov. 23 Camus, The Stranger Thu. Nov. 25 Thanksgiving – NO CLASS V - The Death of Man Week 15 The Subject and the Death of Man Tue. Nov. 30 Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”* Michel Foucault, excerpt from The Order of Things * THIRD PAPER DUE DEC. 2 Thu. Dec. 2