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Academic Year 2001/2002

The Social Contract: Myth, Theory, and Fiction
ENGL 224 FA

This course will compare the various ways that the "social contract" has been imagined, from the classical liberal accounts that emphasize the role of individual rationality and self-interest in the formation of society, to modernist accounts that emphasize the unconscious, desire, and cultural belonging. How have our ideas about social cohesion changed? How have the modern disciplines of anthropology and psychoanalysis challenged earlier ideas about the nature of social groups? What kinds of fantasies are played out in theories about the "origin" of society and civilizations? How do modern literary works express similar fears and hopes about the mechanisms that bind people into a culture or a society?

MAJOR READINGS

A selection drawn from social philosophy, anthropology, psychoanalytic theory, and major European literature.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly response papers, oral reports, and a written final project.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course meets the English Department's theory requirement.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002

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