Darwin,
Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
School
of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department
of Social Science & Cultural Studies
Course number/section: SS.290
Credits: 3
Thursday,
5:00 – 7:50pm
North
Hall 112
B.
Ricardo Brown, PhD
Professor
of Social Science and Cultural Studies
Office
Location: Dekalb 419
Office
Hours: Friday
8:30-9:00am and 12:00-12:30pm and by appointment
Office
Phone number:
1.718.636.3600 ext. 2709
Email:
BBRow993@pratt.du
URL:
http://mysite.pratt.edu/~bbrow993/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UntilDarwin/
Twitter
hashtag: #DMNFss290
Bulletin
description
In
this course we will examine our concepts of society, power, value,
and desire through reading selected works by Karl Marx, Charles
Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. The goal is to
understand their ideas and the social context that shaped them
through a close examination of their works not to attempt to prove or
disprove their many arguments. The emphasis of the course will be on
engaging the original texts and attention will be paid to how each
writer went about their critiques as well as the revolutionary
consequences that followed --- including those that were antithetical
to their own views and work.
Detailed
description
Darwin,
Marx, Nietzsche, Freud: The Sciences of Life and Society
In this course we will examine our concepts of society, power, value, and desire through reading selected works by Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. The goal is not to attempt to prove or disprove their many arguments, but to understand those views and the social context that shaped them through a close examination of their works. Special emphasis will be on reading the original texts and attention will be paid to how they went about their critiques as well as the revolutionary consequences that followed --- including those that were often antithetical to their own views and work.
In this course we will examine our concepts of society, power, value, and desire through reading selected works by Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. The goal is not to attempt to prove or disprove their many arguments, but to understand those views and the social context that shaped them through a close examination of their works. Special emphasis will be on reading the original texts and attention will be paid to how they went about their critiques as well as the revolutionary consequences that followed --- including those that were often antithetical to their own views and work.
In
this course we will examine the knowledge of social life and its
relation to our concepts of society, power, value, and desire through
reading selected works of Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud. You
might begin thinking about the course in this way: Darwin placed us
in the natural world and showed that we share a common genealogical
origin in nature. Marx shows us how we have changed that nature and
at the same time changed ourselves. Nietzsche raised the problem of
what those changes have cost us: what have we had to give up in order
to have society? Finally, Freud sought to understand how we might
deal the consequences of civilization/culture (he used the German
kulture,
which in English can mean either culture or civilization).
The
overarching is for you to begin to understand these ideas and the
social context that shaped them. So what is important is how they
went about their critiques and the revolutionary consequences that
followed --- including those that were antithetical to their own
views and work, e.g., eugenics, Nazism, the gulags, etc., but which
are nonetheless often invoked their names.
It
is important to keep in mind that this course is only a single
semester and so it can only serve as an introduction to some aspects
of what are extensive and varied bodies of work. Many students do not
have the opportunity to read any of these authors except for brief
excerpts or secondary accounts. So the primary purpose here is to
allow you to begin an engagement that, for the fortunate, lasts a
lifetime.
So,
we will examine the production of nature, society, power, and desire
through the works of Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud. And we
examine them not because they are canonical “great works” but
because they mark how works become canonical; not because we are
concerned with “Great Men” or “Great Figures In Thought” but
because these authors/works mark changes in knowledge and the limits
to truth in their time by raising fundamental problems that the
sciences of life and society seek to address address. The readings
for this course will cover both their well known as well as more
obscure, but often more important, works of social critique.
Themes,
motifs, etc., to note during your readings in this course:
I.
Continuities and discontinuities between the concepts, problems, and
analyses. How does the author draw connections between concepts
drawn from different fields of knowledge?
II.
Interests and experiences that connect the authors, e.g., education,
illness, exile or voyage, etc.
III.
The social relations that connect the works, including:
Slavery,
race, and the slave trade
Society
and the social relations of capital
Nature
and “the environment”
Bourgeois
morality
Sexuality
Nationalism
Degeneration,
criminality and madness
IV.
Whether the author argues that interpretation is open and can
change, or argues tha the past is more or less fixed in its meanings,
i.e., if the believe that “the facts speak for themselves”.
V.
The place of materialism, chance, and contingency in these works.
Rejection of idealism in favor of scientific rationality and
Enlightened experience.
VI.
An emphasis on either (or both) individual experience and history.
VII.
How these works reject a narrow or specialized intellectualism and
cut across the established disciplines of their time.
VIII.
As you read your texts, pause to think about how these works
transformed knowledge and create the basis for the disciplines,
specialties, and social policies of the present, i.e., their
transvaluations of the values of their time and their concern for
“Life” and “Society”.
Course
Goals
This
course will:
A.
introduce and familiarize students with some of the key works of
Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
B.
give students the opportunity to directly engage some of the primary
texts of sociology, biology, psychology, and philosophy.
C.
allow students to interpret the social and intellectual contexts of
these works and to use these works as material objects for
understanding the social and intellectual currents of the 19th
and 20th
centuries.
D.
deepen students understanding of the continuities and discontinuities
of the sciences of life and society.
E.
present students with a range of modes of argumentation and
presentation, from Darwin’s “one long argument” of the Origin
of Species to
Nietzsche’s aphorisms.
F.
provide students with a foundation for study in the social sciences
and the liberal arts.
Student
Learning Outcomes
At
the end of this semester, students will:
A.
demonstrate a knowledge of the range of work undertaken by Darwin,
Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
B.
understand the sources of some of our most fundamental social and
political questions.
C.
position themselves in relation to contemporary disputes, e. g.,
evolution.
D.
identify key concepts in the social sciences.
E.
demonstrate an ability to analyze and interpret primary texts in the
genealogy of sociology, psychology, philosophy, and biology.
_____________________________________________________________________
Course
Requirements
Grading
1.
Three (3) short 1200-1500 word and One (1) longer 1500-2000 word
reading responses : 50%
2.
Class and Study Group Participation (e.g.,
asking questions, discussing readings in class, etc.):
50%
3.
Optional Self-Evaluation
Short
Reading Responses [50%]:
Four
short reading responses are required. One for each author. The due
dates are indicated in the course schedule. These responses should
be about 1200-1500 words. Your responses should address any or all
of the following aspects of the readings:
- Discussion of the author’s mode of argumentation. Does it vary between texts or is it consistent? How would you characterize the way in which the author argues? Who do you think is the audience for the text?
- A general outline of the arguments and a brief discussion of the important concepts that you found in the readings. Discuss any aspects of the texts that might have changed your way of thinking about the author/works.
- What you see as the relation between this author/texts and those of the others we are reading this semester? Remember, keep in mind as you read:
*The
author’s style of arguing and how he constructs his argument.
*How
he describes and defends key elements of his theory.
*How,
if called upon, you might characterize his style of argument and
writing.
The
final essay should incorporate your four responses as well as your
work in your study group. This essay should summarize and expand
upon your short reading responses, as well as describe and discuss
insights/questions/critiques that were raised in your study group
discussions.
Participation
and Study Groups [50%]
In
order to allow you to chance explore readings that readings that
interest you but that are not on the syllabus – and to facilitate
discussion – we will be utilizing study group. Each author will
have a study group and you can choose which group you want to
participate in and with the other memebers, which reading or readings
you want to read together.
I
will set aside some time during class for groups to meet and/or
consult with me about their readings.
Each
study group will select one work to read and analyze together from
the list below. Some are available online, and where
possible that has been indicated in the syllabus, however, make
certain that your translation or edition is the same as that listed
here, as they are the specific editions that we will be using for
class discussions.
COURSE
TEXTS
Many
works are available online, and where possible that has been
indicated in the syllabus, however, make certain that your
translation or edition is the same as that listed here, as they are
the specific editions that we will be using for class discussions.
Charles
Darwin
The
Origin of Species (1st [1859] edition). A common and
inexpensive one is ISBN: 0517123207 and contains the “Brief
Historical Sketch” from later editions.
The
Descent of Man. New York: Modern Library, 1995. ISBN:
1573921769
Journal
of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries
visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the
command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N.
London: John Murray.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=F20&viewtype=text
The
Voyage of the Beagle. New York:
Dover.
The
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals. New York: Dover.
Charles
Darwin, Appleman, Philip, ed. 1979. Darwin: A Norton
Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 3rd edition. ISBN:
0393958493
Karl
Marx
Grundrisse:
Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy (Rough Draft).
New York: Penguin Books, 1973. ISBN: 0140445757
Capital,
vol. I. New York: Penguin Books, 1973. ISBN:
0140445684
“Theses
on Feuerbach” and “1844 Manuscripts” in The Marx – Engels
Reader, ed. By Robert C. Tucker., 2nd ed. New York:
W.W. Norton, 1978.
Early
Writings. New York: Penguin
Books, 1992.
The
Holy Family or Critique of Critical Criticism (with Frederick
Engels). New York: Progress Publishers, 1980 [1956]. ISBN: there
are several editions, but only the one complete 1956 translation by
Dixon and Dutt. As it is becoming increasingly rare, except for a
new and expensive edition, we may only use those portions available
from the Marxist Archive.
The
Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd edition. Robert Tucker, ed.
1978. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN:
0-393-09040-X
Friedrich
Nietzsche
Beyond
Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Translated
with Commentary by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage, 1966. ISBN:
0394703375
On
the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. Translated with
Commentary by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage, 1969. ISBN:
0679724621
The
Gay Science: with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs.
Translated with Commentary by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage.
1974.
The
Portable Nietzsche, ed. By Walter Kaufmann (including the
complete texts of Twilight of the Idols; The AntiChrist,
Nietzsche Contra Wagner; Thus Spoke Zarathustra). New
York: Vintage. ISBN: 0140150625
Sigmund
Freud
The
Future of an Illusion. New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1961. ISBN: 0393008312
Civilization
and its Discontents. New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1961. ISBN: 0393301583
New
Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, 1965. ISBN 039300743
Group
Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1961. ISBN: 0393007707
Beyond
the Pleasure Principle. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1961. ISBN: 0393007693
The
readings for the class will be drawn from these and other sources.
I
have placed the required text on order from the Pratt bookstore
Given
the number of bookstores available either on-line or here in the city
--- as well as having the New York Public Library at your
disposal---- you are responsible for obtaining the required texts.
This is not to place a burden upon you, but it is a necessary part of
education that you learn how to acquire books and materials for
yourself. These are some additional sources for the texts:
The
Strand http://www.strandbooks.com
(at 12th Street in Manhattan).
Advanced
Book Exchange http://abebooks.com
Powells
Books http://powells.com
Absences
and Lateness
Attendance
is mandatory in accord with the policies of the Institute.
_____________________________________________________________________
The
Course of Study
Week
I [January 18]. Introduction to the Course.
Week
II [ January 25]. Darwin, The Origin of Species
I.
As you read this
weeks texts, notice how Darwin introduces the question of the origins
of species and how he presents his book as essentially one long
argument.
Darwin.
1860. Preface and postscript from Journal
of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries
visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the
command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N.
London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Pages v-viii.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=F20&viewtype=text
The
Origin of Species, 1st
edition: Origin of Species,
Introduction
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf pp.
1-6.
Origin
of Species, Chapter III,
“Struggle for Existence”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf
pp. 60-79.
Origin
of Species, Chapter IV,
“Natural Selection”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf
pp. 80-130.
SUGGESTED
READING:
The
Origin of Species, Chapter II,
“Variation under Nature”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf
pp. 44-59.
Complete Works of Darwin Online: http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1861_Origin_F381.pdf pp. xiii-xix.
John
van Wyhe, editor. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin
Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
Week
III [February 1]. Darwin, The Origin of Species
II.
Darwin
presents Nature as dynamic and constantly changing. This week he
presents one of the fundamental concepts of Darwinism and tries to
anticipate the objections to his theory, especially the most
difficult one: the problem of instincts.
Origin
of Species, Chapter VI,
“Difficulties of the Theory”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf pp.
171-206.
Origin
of Species, Chapter VII,
“Instinct”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf pp.
207-244.
Week
IV [February 8]. Darwin, The Descent of Man I.
Ten
years after the publication of the Origin of Species,
Darwin explicitly addresses the application of the theory to the
origins of humans and the meaning of human variety. He introduces
an important addendum to Natural Selection in animals: Sexual
Selection. Note that it is the female of the species who determines
the course of selection now.
Descent
of Man, Chapter VIII, “Principles of Sexual Selection”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf pp.
207-259.
SUGGESTED
READING:
Descent
of Man, Introduction and Chapter
I, “Evidence of the Descent of Man from Some Lower Form” Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf pp.
1-25.
Descent
of Man,
Chapter V. On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties
during Primeval and Civilized Times, pp. 131-150; Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf
Descent
of Man,
Chapter VII, “On the Races of Man”Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf pp.
166-206.
Origin
of Species, Chapter XIV,
“Recapitulation and Conclusion”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf pp.
459-490.
Week
V [February 15]. Darwin, The Descent of Man II.
Descent
of Man, Chapter VI, “On the
Affinities and Genealogy of Man”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf
pp.
146-165.
Descent
of Man, Chapters XVII –
XX, “Secondary Sexual Characteristics of Man”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf
pp.
556-605.
Descent
of Man, Chapter XXI. “General
Note and Conclusion”
Complete
Works of Darwin Online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1874_Descent_F944.pdf
pp.
606-619.
Week
VI [February 22]. Marx, from The Holy Family, or
Critique of Critical Criticism to
The Grundrisse.
The
Holy Family is not the first work by Marx, but it is the first
one “co-authored” with Engels. Perhaps indicative of their
relationship as writers, Engels writes only the first few sections,
and Marx writes about 90% of the text on his own. More than that,
peruse the work so that you might see that it is actually a work of
literary criticism. Marx is critiquing Eugene Sue’s Mysteries
of Paris and the
reviews/critiques of Sue written by his former comrades in the
revolutionary Neo-Hegelian League of the Just.
Holy
Family, Chapter IV, “Love”, pp. 27-30 [pp. 20-23]
The
German Ideology. In The
Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd
edition. Robert Tucker, ed. 1978, pp.
147-175.
Grundrisse,
Marx’s Analytical contents list, pp. 69-80.
Marx-Engels Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/
Marx-Engels Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/
Marx.
Letter to Ruge, Kreuznach, September 1843.
Marx.
Two Interviews:
Interview
by John Swinton, The Sun, no. 6, 6 September 1880.
Interview
with Karl Marx, by H., Chicago Tribune,
January 5 1879.
Sir
Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff. A Private Letter to British
Crown Princess Victoria About Meeting Karl Marx, February 1, 1879.
Eleanor
Marx, “Biographical Comments on Karl Marx by his daughter.”
Frederick
Engels. Speech at the Grave of Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery, London.
March 17, 1883.
SUGGESTED
READING:
Holy
Family, Chapter VIII, “The
Earthly Course and Transfiguration of ‛Critical Criticism’”,
pp. 201-259 [pp.162-209]
Holy
Family, Chapter V, “‛Critical
Criticism’ as a Mystery-Monger”, pp. 69-97 [pp. 55-77]
Holy
Family, Chapter IX, “The Critical Last Judgement”, pp.
260-261[pp. 210-211]
The complete text is
located at Marx & Engels Collected Works (MECW), Vol.IV:
http://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/works/cw/volume04/index.htm
Week
VII [March 1]. Marx, Grundrisse
and Capital.
[RESPONSE
ONE on DARWIN due.]
The
Grundrisse
is fundamental to understanding Marx’s project as he moved from his
early works to the writing of Capital.
I would like your to pay attention two aspects of this texts. The
first is how Marx constructs his argument. This is important because
the Grundrisse is seen in two somewhat contradictory ways: as either
an abandoned work or as the “rough draft” of
Capital.
The second is the final section where Marx lists the topics “not
to be forgotten” in his future work.... and the importance of both
Greek art and Shakespeare in his thought at that time.
Grundrisse,
"Introduction"
also known as "Manuscript
M", pages 81-114
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch01.htm
Capital,
Volume III, Chapter 52,
“Classes”, pp. 1025-1026
Marx-Engels
Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch52.htm
Grundrisse,
“The concept of the
free labourer contains the pauper. Population and overpopulation
etc.” pp. 604- 608. Marx-Engels Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch12.htm#p604
Grundrisse,
“Competition”, pp. 649-652
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch12.htm#p649
Capital,
Volume
I, Chapter 13,
“Cooperation”, pp.
439-454
Marx-Engels
Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch13.htm
SUGGESTED
READING:
Grundrisse,
“Original Accumulation of Capital”, pp 459-471
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch09.htm#p459
Grundrisse,
“Forms which precede Capitalist Production”, pp.
471-513
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch09.htm#p471
Week
VIII[March 8]. Marx,
Capital.
Capital,
Volume I, Chapter I,
“The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret thereof”,
pp. 163-177
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm#S4
SUGGESTED
READING:
Grundrisse,
“Value
of labour”, pp. 281-289
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch05.htm#p281
Grundrisse,
“(Labour power as capital!), pp. 293-294
Marx-Engels
Archive:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch06.htm
Capital,
Volume
I, Chapter 31, “The
Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist”, pp. 914-926
Marx-Engels
Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch31.htm
Capital,
Volume
I, Chapter 32, “The
Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation”, pp. 927-930
Marx-Engels
Archive: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch32.htm
Capital,
Volume
I, Chapter 33,
“The Modern Theory of Colonization”,
pp. 931-947
Marx-Engels
Archive:
Week
IX [March 22]. Nietzsche, Beyond Good
and Bad.
You will recall that
in the Holy Family, Marx addresses issues of morality and social life
through a critique of Sue’s novel and the Young Hegelians
(a.k.a.“The League of the Just”). Nietzsche undertakes a
revolutionary critique of morality in the wake of Darwin and Marx.
Notice his use of “genealogy” and recall that Darwin’s argument
was also from a “genealogical perspective, as was Marx’s tracing
of the commodity fetish.
Beyond
Good and Evil “The Natural History of Morals”, pp.
95-118
“Beyond
Good and Evil” from Ecce
Homo,
pp. 310-312.
“How
One Becomes What One Is” from Ecce Homo.
Week
X [March 29]. Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
[RESPONSE
TWO on MARX due ]
The
Genealogy of Morals, Essay
II, “Guilt, Bad Conscience,
and the Like" pp.
57-96
No
longer available online.
“The
Genealogy of Morals” from Ecce
Homo, pp.
312-314
Week
XI [April 4].
Nietzsche,
The Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ.
Finally,
Now that we have found ourselves a part of a vast natural world, a
species with the capacity to make our own history, and one that has
made that history in ways that it often refuses to acknowledge, we
come to Freud, who confronts the legacy of these intellectual and
psychological upheavals, but just as important, the social
catastrophes of the first half of the 20th century.
Week
XII [April 12]. Freud, Science and Religion in the Wake and Shadow of
Catastrophe.
The
Future of an Illusion
Freud
BBC address (the only sound recording of Freud’s voice)
http://www.archive.org/details/RicBrownSigmundFreudBBCRadioAddress
[RESPONSE
THREE on NIETZSCHE due]
Week
XIII [April 19]. Freud.
The
Future of an Illusion and
Civilization and its Discontents
Week
XIV [April 26]. Freud, Society as a Negative Dialectic.
Civilization
and its Discontents
Week
XV [May 3].
Final
general discussion.
[RESPONSE
FOUR on FREUD and course due by May 8]
