<\/p>\n
Texts:<\/strong><\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Marx: Selected Writings<\/em>, edited by Lawrence Simon, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Marxism 1844-1990: Origins, Betrayal Rebirth<\/em>, by Roger S. Gottlieb, New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Several readings on the course Moodle site and some on the website, Marxists\u2019 Internet Archive.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Purpose and Goals of the Class:<\/strong>\u00a0 Karl Marx\u2019s thoughts and writings have had an enormous impact on the lives of a huge proportion of the world\u2019s population.\u00a0 And yet, Americans know little about what he actually thought and why it is important.\u00a0 Americans tend to have a cartoonish image of \u201ccommunism\u201d based on political ideology and propaganda.\u00a0 So, the first goal of the course is (1)<\/strong> to familiarize students with the primary sources, an array of Marx\u2019s writings, as well as work he composed with his co-author, Frederick Engels.\u00a0 Because of its enormous power, Marx\u2019s thought spread, first, all over Europe among workers desiring fairer working conditions and more democracy in our work lives.\u00a0 Additionally, Marx\u2019s work exerted a strong influence over thinkers in the early 20th<\/sup> century looking at the role of culture and cultural production.\u00a0 We will therefore also (2)<\/strong> become familiar with several philosophers who use Marx\u2019s ideas to launch critiques of culture and cultural production, consumption and consumer behavior, race inequality, gender inequality, and emotional and affective types of labor. Our activities in the course will vary, and combined, they aim to develop students\u2019 abilities to (3)<\/strong> read difficult texts carefully and critically; (4)<\/strong> articulate their understanding orally; (5)<\/strong> work together to present dense material clearly and precisely; (6)<\/strong> analyze texts in writing; (7)<\/strong> do philosophical research on secondary material outside of assigned readings; and (8)<\/strong> carry out philosophical work that is original in its analysis and synthesis of ideas in a final paper.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Daily Classroom Activities:<\/strong>\u00a0 The readings for this course will be challenging.\u00a0 My expectation is that your preparation for each class meeting will entail slow, methodical reading (and re<\/em>reading), constructive note taking, formulating questions along the way about things that are unclear, and, ideally, filling in the gaps in your own historical understanding (see below).\u00a0 See the \u201cSurvival Kit\u201d on daily preparation and class participation.\u00a0 For the most part, we will proceed through question and answer, so students should come prepared each day to discuss the basic ideas presented in readings as well as philosophical questions motivated by the readings. On some days I will lecture, though rarely, if at all, for the entire class period.<\/p>\n Some readings in this course will be clarified and better understood the greater one\u2019s familiarity with history.\u00a0 I therefore encourage all students in the course to take the responsibility for understanding some of the historical and cultural background of each reading, especially during the second part of the course.\u00a0 I would urge all students to take the time to search out basic historical knowledge of the people and events around which the theory springs.\u00a0 While Wikipedia has its virtues as a rough and ready resource, I have higher expectations for those committed to scholarly pursuits.\u00a0 A rich source of information about Marx and Marxist philosophy, including full text versions of hundreds of writings and some biographical information, is available on the web site for the Marxists Internet Archive: www.marxists.org<\/a>.\u00a0 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/a> or the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/a> may be helpful to you, as well.\u00a0 In general, reference librarians can steer you toward more reputable electronic sources.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Assignments<\/strong>:\u00a0 TBD <\/strong>[See my email to the class about our collective deliberations on what types of assignments best facilitate your learning and growth. I will complete this part of the syllabus after our conversation in class.]<\/strong><\/p>\n Learning Differences:\u00a0 <\/strong>If you would like accommodations for any learning differences, I will need official notification from the Dean of Students Office.\u00a0 It is best if you take care of this early in the semester rather than close to our first exam or paper.\u00a0 I can then make the accommodations most conducive to your doing your best work for this class.\u00a0 Please feel free to discuss with me the particulars of your situation to the degree you are comfortable doing so; it is helpful for me to be as knowledgeable as possible in order to make the best decisions regarding the structure of assignments.<\/p>\n Academic Honesty and Integrity<\/u><\/strong>: Honesty, integrity, and personal responsibility are cornerstones of a Colby education and provide the foundation for scholarly inquiry, intellectual discourse, and an open and welcoming campus community. You are expected to demonstrate academic honesty in all aspects of this course. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: violating clearly stated rules for taking an exam or completing homework; plagiarism (including material from sources without a citation, paraphrase without attribution, and lack of quotation marks around any borrowed words); claiming another\u2019s work or a modification of another\u2019s work as one\u2019s own; buying or attempting to buy papers or projects for a course; fabricating information or citations; knowingly assisting others in acts of academic dishonesty; misrepresentations to faculty within the context of a course; and submitting the same work, including an essay that you wrote, in more than one course without the permission of the instructors.<\/p>\n Academic dishonesty is a serious offense. Sanctions for academic dishonesty are assigned by an academic review board and may include failure on the assignment, failure in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the College. For more on recognizing and avoiding plagiarism, see the library guide:\u00a0libguides.colby.edu\/avoidingplagiarism<\/a>\u00a0I typically seek out suspected instances of academic dishonesty and pursue all available avenues for discipline. I will discuss this issue in class on several occasions, and I am happy to meet with you privately to discuss it further.<\/p>\n Feb 12 Introduction to the course. Hegelian background. Marx & Engels<\/strong>. Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Handout, \u201cMarx: Getting Started,\u201d on Moodle site<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> Gottlieb, first half of Chapter 1, pp. 3-22<\/p>\n (c)<\/strong> Marx, excerpts from \u201cThe German Ideology,\u201d (co-authored with Engels) pp. 102-104; 107-112; 129-132 and 153-156<\/p>\n (d)<\/strong> Wood, Chapter 2, \u201cThe Human Essence,\u201d pp. 16-30, on Moodle site<\/p>\n Feb 19 Marx. Read: <\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Wood, Chapter 3, \u201cHuman Production,\u201d pp. 31-43, on Moodle site<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> Marx, \u201cExcerpt-Notes of 1844,\u201d pp. 40-53<\/p>\n (c)<\/strong> Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts<\/em>, pp. 54-79.<\/p>\n Feb 26 Marx & Engels. Read: <\/strong><\/p>\n (a) <\/strong>Marx, The Communist Manifesto<\/em>, pp. 157-186<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> \u201cPreface to the Critique of Political Economy,\u201d just the very long paragraph that begins at the bottom of p. 210 and ends at the top of p. 212<\/p>\n Mar 5 Marx. Read: <\/strong><\/p>\n (a) <\/strong>Lenin, excerpt from State and Revolution<\/em>, on Moodle site<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> Gottlieb, second half of Chapter 1, pp. 22\u201338.<\/p>\n (c) <\/strong>Marx, Capital,<\/em>\u00a0 pp. 214-255 and pp. 294-300.<\/p>\n Monday, March 11th<\/sup> Film Screening: Modern Times<\/em>, 7:00 p.m. in philosophy seminar room. The film is on reserve, and you are welcome to view it on your own time before tomorrow\u2019s discussion of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mar 12 Student Led Discussion of Charlie Chaplin\u2019s Modern Times<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Mar19 In Marx\u2019s (European) Wake. Read: <\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Gottlieb, Chapter 5, pp. 109-129.<\/p>\n (b) <\/strong>Benjamin, \u201cThe Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n (c) <\/strong>Gramsci, excerpts from Prison Notebooks<\/em>, available on line here<\/a>, pp. 131-147<\/p>\n Mar 26 SPRING BREAK<\/strong><\/p>\n Apr2 In Marx\u2019s (European) Wake. Read: <\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Horkhiemer & Adorno, \u201cEnlightenment as Mass Deception\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n (b) <\/strong>Marcuse, excerpts from One Dimensional Man<\/a><\/em>, all of the first section, \u201cOne-Dimensional Society,\u201d pp. 3-123, and available on Moodle site<\/p>\n Apr 9 In Marx\u2019s (European) Wake. Read:<\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Althusser, \u201cIdeology and Ideological State Apparatuses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> Hall, \u201cEncoding\/Decoding,\u201d pp. 90-103, on Moodle site<\/p>\n (c)<\/strong> Hall, \u201cNotes on Deconstructing the Popular,\u201d pp. 455-66, on Moodle site<\/p>\n (d)<\/strong> Hall, \u201cThe Whites of their Eyes,\u201d pp. 81-84, on Moodle site.<\/p>\n Monday, April 15th<\/sup> Film Screening: Do the Right Thing<\/em>, 7:00 p.m. in seminar room. You are welcome to view the film on your own time before tomorrow\u2019s class.<\/strong><\/p>\n Apr 16 Discussion of Spike Lee\u2019s Do the Right Thing.<\/em> Guest: Margaret McFadden, Provost<\/strong><\/p>\n Apr 23 Marxism & the \u201cNegro\u201d in the Early and Mid- 20th<\/sup> Century:<\/strong> Read<\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> E. Franklin Frazier, \u201cLa Bourgeoisie Noire,\u201d<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> W.E.B. DuBois, \u201cMarxism and the Negro Problem,\u201d and<\/p>\n (c)<\/strong> Ralph J. Bunch, \u201cMarxism and the Negro Question,\u201d<\/p>\n Apr 30 Materialism, Feminism, and Neoliberalism and Labor: Read<\/strong><\/p>\n (a)<\/strong> Jason Read, \u201cA Genealogy of Homo-Economicus: Neoliberalism and the Production of Subjectivity,\u201d on Moodle site.<\/p>\n (b)<\/strong> Kathi Weeks, excerpt from The Problem with Work<\/em> on Moodle site.<\/p>\nClass Readings & Schedule<\/h3>\n