LIT 6855
Rationality, Irrationality,
and Modernity
Course
meetings: Fridays,
period 3-5 in TUR 4112
Instructor:
Susan
Hegeman
Telephone: 392-6650, x
289
Office: Turlington 4119
e-mail: shegeman@ufl.edu
office hours: Tuesdays
1-3 p.m.
A
nearly axiomatic definition of modernity, usually associated with Max Weber,
emphasizes the increasing rationality – and rationalization – of
social, economic, political, intellectual and other spheres of human life, and
a concomitant ÒdisenchantmentÓ of the world: the inevitable and progressive
banishment of the ÒirrationalitiesÓ of religion, Òsuperstition,Ó emotion,
aesthetics, and so forth. Yet other great theorists of modernity exposed a
pervasive irrational core to contemporary existence. In this course, weÕre
going to explore the problem of rationality versus irrationality in the context
of Western modernity, particularly with regard to several issues: the creation
of modern subjects and subjectivities, and the rationalities, rationalizations,
and irrationalities inherent in modernity (and capitalism) itself. Participants
should expect to develop familiarity with a range of canonical works and with
the central debates and terminologies surrounding the concept of modernity.
Required Books
E-book
editions are okay, but please try to use the translations given below:
*
Marshall Berman, All that is Solid Melts into Air (Penguin 0140109625)
*
Friedrich Nietzsche, Basic Writings of Nietzsche, Trans. Walter Kaufmann
(Random/Modern Library 0679783393)
*
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, Trans. James Strachey (Norton
0393301583)
*
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Trans. Talcott Parsons (Dover 048642703X)
*
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (Random/Modern Library
0679640118)
*
Max Horkheimer and T. Adorno,
Dialectic of Enlightenment, Trans. Edmund Jephcott
(Stanford University Press 0804736332)
*
Claude LŽvi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques,
Trans. Weightman (Pengiun
0140165622)
*
Lšwy and Sayre, Romanticism Against the Tide of
Modernity, Trans. Catherine Porter
(Duke University Press 0822327945)
*
Gaonkar, Dilip Parameshwar, ed. Alternative Modernities.
Duke University Press 0822327147)
*
David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital: and the Crises of Capitalism (Oxford
University Press 0199836841)
Course Requirements
*
Attendance and active participation in the seminar is expected. You should be prepared to be called upon. You will also be asked
to informally introduce the readings for a given week.
*
You will hand in 25-30 pages of written work over the course of the semester.
Depending on your needs and goals for the course, this may be in the form of
three short papers of 8-10 pages in length, one long paper, or a long and a
short paper. Students choosing to write one long paper should be in consultation
with me early in the semester and show me a prospectus of 1-2 pages by
November. I recommend that advanced students working on extended projects
related to the course material write one long paper. Students whose goals are
to develop a strong familiarity with the material should consider writing
shorter papers of a more explicatory sort.
Due dates
September
30, October 28: recommended dates for turning in short papers.
October
28: prospectuses for longer papers due; students writing 2 or 3 short papers
must turn the first paper in by this date
December
5: last day to turn in papers and receive comments before the end of the
semester
December
9: last day to turn in a paper and receive a GRADE for the semester
Course
policy on Incompletes: I am willing to let students take Incompletes to have
more time to complete a long final research paper. However, in the interest of
not excessively prolonging the work of this course, I will accept seminar
papers and grade them for full credit until the end of the spring 2012
semester. Students who turn in papers after this date will not receive an
"A" in the course.
For
information about the UF grading scale, consult the following site: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/grades.aspx
Students requesting
classroom accommodation must first register with the Disability Resource Center
in the Dean of Students Office
(http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc). The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation—which
must be shown to the Instructor—that specifies what kind of
accommodations are needed.
Schedule of Readings and
Discussions
August
26
Introduction: What does it mean to be modern?
reading: Charles Baudelaire, excerpts from ÒA Painter of
Modern LifeÓ
recommended: Michel Foucault, ÒWhat is Enlightenment?,Ó
Immanuel Kant, ÒWhat is Enlightenment?Ó
September
2
Berman,
All that is Solid Melts into Air
recommended: Anderson, ÒRevolution and ModernityÓ
September
9
Friedrich
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
September
16
Max
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
September
23
Sigmund
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
September
30
William
James, Varieties of Religious Experience I
October
7
James,
Varieties of Religious Experience II
October
14
Horkheimer and Adorno, Dialectic of
Enlightenment
October
21
Claude
LŽvi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques
October
28
Lšwy and Sayre, Romanticism Against the Tide of
Modernity
November
4
Homecoming;
no class
November
11
VeteranÕs
Day; no class
November
18
Alternative
Modernities
November
25
Thanksgiving;
no class
December
2
Harvey,
The Enigma of Capital: and the Crises of Capitalism