PHIL 5002: 19th Century Philosophy (Spring 2012)
Dr. Michael Baur
Mondays, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Classroom Location: Collins Hall Seminar Room
E-mail: “mbaur@fordham.edu”; Office Phone: (718) 817-3295
Course Themes:
Continental thought in the 19th century can be characterized as a series of attempts to accept the critical orientation of Kant’s “turn to the subject” (or “Copernican turn”), while at the same time avoiding perceived shortcomings in Kant’s theoretical and practical philosophy. This course will critically examine central themes in post-Kantian continental philosophy, with special attention to themes in epistemology, metaphysics, ethical theory, and political philosophy. With these themes in mind, we will examine the main philosophical arguments put forth by Schopenhauer, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche.
Required Texts (in the order in which we will be reading them):
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, vols. 1-2, trans. E.F.J. Payne (New York: Dover Publications, 1966)
Volume 1: ISBN-10: 0486217612; ISBN-13: 978-0486217611
Volume 2: ISBN 10: 0486217620, ISBN 13: 978-0486217628
G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V. Miller (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977)
ISBN-10: 0198245971; ISBN-13: 978-0198245971
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd edition, ed. Robert C. Tucker (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978)
ISBN-10: 039309040X; ISBN-13: 978-0393090406
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Genealogy of Morals, trans. Francis Golffing (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1956)
ISBN-10: 0385092105; ISBN-13: 978-0385092104
Course Requirements:
M.A. and Ph.D. students will be required to submit a 20- to 25-page research paper at the end of the course.
Tentative Schedule of Class Meetings and Readings
January 23: First Day of Class: Course Introduction
January 30: Schopenhauer, from The World as Will and Representation, vol. 1
February 6: Schopenhauer, from The World as Will and Representation, vol. 1
February 13: Schopenhauer, from The World as Will and Representation, vol. 2
February 20: University closed; President’s Day
February 21: Classes follow Monday schedule; Hegel, “Introduction,” from Phenomenology
February 22: Classes follow Monday schedule; Hegel, “Sense-certainty and Perception,”
from Phenomenology
February 27: Hegel, “Lordship and Bondage,” from Phenomenology
March 5: Hegel, “Stoicism, Scepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness,” from Phenomenology
March 12: University closed; spring recess
March 19: Hegel, “Morality” and “Conscience,” from Phenomenology
March 26: Marx, “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts,” from Marx-Engels Reader
April 2: Marx, “The German Ideology,” from Marx-Engels Reader
April 9: University closed; Easter recess
April 16: Marx, “Grundrisse,” from Marx-Engels Reader
April 23: Marx, “Capital,” from Marx-Engels Reader
April 30: Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
May 7: Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals
