About this course: This course examines how the idea of "the modern" develops at the end of the 18th century in European philosophy and literature, and how being modern (or progressive, or hip) became one of the crucial criteria for understanding and evaluating cultural change. Are we still in modernity, or have we moved beyond the modern to the postmodern?
Created by: Wesleyan University
Taught by: Michael S. Roth
| Commitment | 3-5 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Course Pages
2 readings
- Reading: Syllabus
- Reading: Course Logistics
WEEK 2
Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt
With a focus on Civilization and its Discontents, we examine how Freud’s theories tried to expose profound instincts as they appeared in daily life.
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt--Freud
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt I
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt II
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt III
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Sex, Death, Aggression and Guilt IV
WEEK 3
Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness
A reading of Virginia Woolf’s modernist novel To the Lighthouse shows how giving up the search for the “really real” can liberate one to attend to the everyday.
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness--Woolf
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness I
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness II
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness III
- Video: Intensity and the Ordinary: Art, Loss, Forgiveness IV
Graded: First Writing Assignment
WEEK 4
The Postmodern Everyday
We go back to Ralph Waldo Emerson and forward to Ludwig Wittgenstein to consider how forms of life and language games need to foundation to be compelling.
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: The Postmodern Everyday--Emerson and Wittgenstein
- Video: The Postmodern Everyday I
- Video: The Postmodern Everyday II
- Video: The Postmodern Everyday III
- Video: The Postmodern Everyday IV
Graded: Second Writing Assignment
WEEK 5
From Critical Theory to Postmodernism
Through a consideration of Max Horkheimer & Theodor Adorno along with Michel Foucault, we confront the philosophical effort to escape from totality in order to understand the politics of control.
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: From Critical Theory to Postmodernism
- Video: From Critical Theory to Postmodernism I
- Video: From Critical Theory to Postmodernism II
- Video: From Critical Theory to Postmodernism III
- Video: From Critical Theory to Postmodernism IV
Graded: Third Writing Assignment
WEEK 6
Paintings II
A very brief consideration of how artists are responding to the loss of foundations to produce work that redefines art.
2 videos
- Video: Paintings II, Part I
- Video: Paintings II, Part II
WEEK 7
Postmodern Identities
We examine short pieces by Judith Butler and Slavjo Zizek to understand how identities get formed (and performed) in a world without foundations.
4 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Postmodern Identities--Butler and Zizek
- Video: Postmodern Identities I
- Video: Postmodern Identities II
- Video: Postmodern Identities III
- Video: Postmodern Identities IV
Graded: Fourth Writing Assignment
WEEK 8
Late-term Review
Review of all the thinkers we have studied in Parts I and II of the class, along with some complementary material.
4 videos
- Video: Late-term Review I
- Video: Late-term Review II
- Video: Late-term Review III
- Video: Late-term Review IV
WEEK 9
Postmodern Pragmatisms
After postmodern playfulness, or alongside it, we see the resurgence of the pragmatic impulse to return philosophy to real human problems.
3 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Postmodern Pragmatisms
- Video: Postmodern Pragmatisms I
- Video: Postmodern Pragmatisms II
- Video: Postmodern Pragmatisms III
Graded: Fifth Writing Assignment
Extra (Optional) Writing Assignment
1 item
- Peer Review: Extra (Optional) Writing Assignment
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Ratings and Reviews
Great stuff, great teacher!
I quite appreciate the teaching of American philosophers, like Emerson or Rorty.
Fantastic course
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CD
Excellent! Looking forward for more classes like this one, and if they are with the same Professor, even better.