Seminar in the History of Philosophy:  Marx
 

Required Texts:

 M.J. Inwood, ed., Hegel: Selections
 R. Tucker, ed., Marx/Engels Reader (2nd Edition)
 K. Marx, Capital, vol I, Fowkes, tr.
 S. Amin, et. al., Transforming the Revolution
 

Course Schedule:

April 2 Course Introduction:  Marx and philosophy;  1989.

  Reading: "Marx on the History of His Opinions (Preface ...)," pp. 3-6;  Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach, pp. 143-45

April 9 The philosophical tradition:  Hegel;  approaching the critique of philosophy.

  Reading: Hegel, "Phenomenology of Spirit:  Preface," pp. 115-151;
    Marx, "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," pp. 66-125

April 16 Philosophy and the state:  politics, liberalism, and the search for a rigorous and effective criticism.

  Reading: Hegel, "Philosophy of Right:  Preface," pp. 277-87;  "Encyclopaedia:  Objective Mind," pp. 288-330;
    Marx, "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right," pp. 16-25;  "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction," pp. 53-65;      Engels, "Socialism, Utopian and Scientific," pp. 683-717

April 23 Turn to the critique of political economy:  conceptual and social assumptions;  questions of method;  the commodity form.

  Reading: Hegel, "Encyclopaedia:  Introduction and Logic," pp. 181-229;       Marx, "The Grundrisse" (Introduction), pp. 221-46;  Capital, ch. 1, pp. 125-77
 

April 30 The project of Capital:  economics and markets; money and capital; social objects and social relations;  labor-power.

  Reading: Capital, Prefaces, Parts I and II, "Commodities and Money" and "The Transformation of Money into Capital," pp. 89-281;
    "The German Ideology,: Part I," pp. 146-200

May 7  Capital and social conflict;  politics and economics;  history and social agency.

  Reading: Capital, Part III, "The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value," pp. 283-426;    "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte," pp. 594-617

May 14 Capital and technology;  development, conflict, values.

  Reading: Capital, Part IV, "The Production of Relative Surplus-Value," pp. 429-639;
    Amin, et. al., "Introduction:  Common Premises," Transforming the Revolution;      Wallerstein, "Antisystemic Movements:  History and Dilemmas" (TR)

May 21 Capital and historical change:  objective possibilities, social movements, politics.

  Reading: Parts V, VI, and VII of Capital, "The Production of Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value," "Wages," and "The Process of Accumulation of Capital," pp. 643-870;  Marx, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," pp. 469-500;  "The Civil War in France," 613-52;
    Arrighi, "Marxist Century--American Century:  The Making and Remaking of the World Labor Movement" (TR)

May 28 Capital and the world:  laws of development, political understanding;  movements and conceptions of power.

  Reading: Part VIII of Capital, "So-Called Primitive Accumulation," pp. 873-940;
    Amin, "The Social Movements in the Periphery:  An End to National Liberation?" (TR);      Gunder Frank and Fuentes, "Civil Democracy:  Social Movements in Recent World History" (TR)

June 4 Review of issues and problems.

  Reading: Amin, et. al., "Conclusion:  A Friendly Debate" (TR)
 
 
 

Course Requirements:

Study questions will be provided to identify important themes and issues in the readings and students should be ready to discuss these questions in seminar meetings.  I will be happy to read and comment upon written responses to these questions.

Each student must prepare a brief seminar report.  These reports should be around four pages (double-spaced, i.e., 1,000 words), and should be submitted in written form the evening the report is given.  Report topics may be one of the study questions, one of the assigned readings or a specific passage from a reading, an issue on which one of the readings bears, or a related author or text.  The reports will be scheduled in advance.

Each student must submit a term paper that addresses one of the main seminar themes.  There is no fixed length requirement, though 12 to 15 pages can be taken as a reasonable target.  The term paper should present and defend a thesis;  while it should include clear explication of terms and themes, its aim is less one of exposition than of argumentation.  A serious abstract or outline of the paper, including a statement of its theme, the kind of argument it will pursue, and the materials on which it will draw, is due May 14.

The term paper itself will be due Wednesday, June 10, by 5 pm in the Philosophy Department office, 503 S.Kedzie Hall.

Office Hours:

Tu and W:  1:30 to 3:00, and by appointment

Phone:   353-9391
  355-4490 (messages)