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Academic Year 2005/2006

Understanding Modernity: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
GERM 268 SP
Crosslistings:
GELT 268
COL 268

The names of the writers and thinkers Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud signal a revolution of thought in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This course is designed to make "Critical Theory" and contemporary discourses in the humanities and social sciences more accessible by providing the modern historical and philosophical foundations for key concepts such as "interpretation," "subject," "history," "politics/society," "religion/morality," and "art/aesthetics." We will explore some of the most influential writings of the respective authors in a comparative manner, and, thus, come to a better understanding of the genesis of much modern thinking.

MAJOR READINGS

The Marx-Engels-Reader, ed. by Robert Tucker (W. W. Norton)
The Basic Writings of Nietzsche, trans. by Walter Kaufmann (Modern Library)
Sigmund Freud: Civilization and its Discontents; Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego; The Ego and the Id; The Future of an Illusion (all W. W. Norton)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly one-page position papers, one oral presentation, and one final paper (8-10 pages).

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA GERM    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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