The course provides a general introduction to the emergence and development of modernism, modernity, and modern culture from the 17th century to the present, with an emphasis on Western civilizations. Students query the distinctive qualities and transformations of the "modern" world by considering selected primary works in philosophy, history, literature, criticism, and the arts. Typical topics include the rise of rationalist, materialist, and empirical methods of knowing; the clash of traditional ideas and the new science; the quest for social, political, and economic liberty and justice; the conflict between individualism and collectivism; the tension between romantic and classical visions of humanity; the emergence and consequences of subjectivity; and the challenges of postmodern theory and practice. (Catalog Description)
Though this course is offered during a six-week summer session, the expected workload is equal to that of “regular” sixteen-week course. College students in California are expected to spend two hours of work outside of class for every hour spent in class. You will be spending eight hours per week in class, therefore, I expect you to spend sixteen hours per week doing the necessary reading, writing, and studying for this course.
Jean Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulation
Albert Camus The Myth of Sisyphus
Martin Heidegger Basic Writings of Martin Heidegger.
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
Immanuel Kant Basic Writings of Kant
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
Jean-Jacques Rousseau The Social Contract
Susan Sontag, On Photography.
Henry D. Thoreau Walden
Voltaire Candide
Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway
Additionally, students will be asked to view the following films:
City Lights (Directed by Charlie Chaplin)
8 ½ (Directed by Frederico Fellini)
The Dreamers (Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci)
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, May 26
Introduction to Class Watch City Lights in Class
Reading and Discussion Questions for Thursday, May 28
• Voltaire, Candide. • Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Study Guide) • Hume, “On Miracles.” (in Dialouges Concering Natural Religion) • Baudrillard, “On Nihilism” (pp. 159-164 in Simulacra and Simulation
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, June 2
• Rousseau, The Social Contract • Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto • Baudrillard, “The Precession of Simulacra” (pp. 1-42 in Simulacra and Simulation
Reading and Discussion Questions for Thursday, June 4
• Read Kant, Selections from Critique of Pure Reason (pp. 1-115 in Basic Writings) • Read Heidegger, Being and Time “Introduction,” (pp. 41-87 in Basic Writings) • Heidegger, “On the Essence of Truth” (pp. 112-38 in Basic Writings)
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, June 9
ESSAY ONE DUE: Click HERE for Essay Prompt ONE • Read Kant, Critique of Judgment (pp. 275-366 in Basic Writings) • Read Sontag, On Photography. Sontag Intro Powerpoint Sontag Melancholy Objects PowerPoint Sontag Heroism/Evangels PowerPoint
Reading and Discussion Questions for Thursday, June 11
• Watch The Dreamers in class • Read Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, June 16
• Read Heidegger, “Letter on Humanism” (pp. 214-65 in Basic Writings) OPTIONAL • Read Kant, “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals ” (pp. 144-221, in Basic Writings) OPTIONAL • Read Kant, Selections from Critique of Practical Reason (pp. 224-271 in Basic Writings.)
Reading and Discussion Questions for Thursday, June 18
• Read Nietzsche, The Gay Science.
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, June 23
ESSAY TWO DUE Essay Prompt Click Here • Watch 8 ½ in class • Read Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Reading and Discussion Questions for Thursday, June 25
• Read Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and “Summer in Algiers.”
Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, June 30
• Heidegger, “Thinking, Dwelling, Building” • Thoreau, Walden "Economy"(first 2/3rds), pp. 1-43 "Where I Lived. . ." & "Reading" pp. 64-88 "Solitude" pp. 103-111 "Ponds" pp. 138-60 "Spring" (from "On the 29th of April . . .") pp. 250-253 "Conclusion" pp. 253-264 .PowerPoint: Heidegger's Poetic Dwelling. Thursday, July 2 FINAL EXAM, 6-8:00 P.M. Study Guide Click Here ESSAY THREE DUE Essay Prompt Click Here