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Syllabus
Course Schedule
Note: This schedule is subject to revision; I will inform you of changes in class.
Date | Topics and Readings | Work Due |
Wednesday 9/26 | Program Introduction Reading: | |
Saturday 9/29 | The Social Contract Tradition Reading: Locke, chs. I-V; Rousseau, Book I, chs. I-V Wilder, "How to Read Philosophy" | Initial Paper on the State of Nature |
Wednesday 10/3 | The Founding Era Reading: Wood, part I; Locke, chs. VII- XIII Carr, "The Historian and his Facts" | |
Wednesday 10/10 | The Founding Era, continued Reading: Wood, part II; Rousseau, Book I, chs. VI-IX and Book II, chs. I-IV | First Essay |
Saturday 10/13 | The Founding Era, concluded. Reading: Wood, part III | |
Wednesday 10/17 | The Civil War and Reconstruction Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"; Lincoln and Douglas, Fifth Debate; Lincoln, Second Inaugural | First Essay Rewrite |
Wednesday 10/24 | The Reconstruction Era Reading: Foner, chs. 1-6 | |
Saturday 10/27 | The Reconstruction Era, concluded Reading: Foner, chs. 7-12 Film: "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War" | Second Essay |
Wednesday 10/31 | The Progressive Era Reading: Dawley, part I; Mill, "What Utilitarianism Is" | |
Wednesday 11/7 | First World War and Aftermath Reading: Dawley, Part II; Mill and Taylor, "The Subjection of Women" chapter 1; Stanton, "Declaration of the Rights of Women" | Second Essay Rewrite |
Saturday 11/10 | Marxism and the "Red Scare" Marx, "Estranged Labor" (from the Economic and Political Manuscripts of 1844), "Idealism and Materialism" (from The German Ideology) and The Communist Manifesto Parts I and II. | |
Wednesday 11/14 | Depression and New Deal Reading: Dawley, Part III | Draft of Position Paper |
Wednesday 11/21 | Thanksgiving Break | |
Wednesday 11/28 | The Social Contract Tradition Today Reading: Rawls, from "Justice as Fairness"; Mills, introduction and ch. 1 | Position Paper Rewrite |
Saturday 12/1 | The Social Contract Tradition Today, continued Reading: Mills, chs. 2 & 3 Film: "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow" | |
Wednesday 12/5 | Polished Position paper and portfolio |
Evaluation conferences are required and will be held during evaluation week. Evaluations will be based on your depth of understanding and progress as evident in written work, and class participation.
