Social Being and Philosophy

 Today few would dispute that humans are social beings whose identities, projects, and relationships are historically variable.  But there is no consensus on how to understand this social and historical reality or on its implications for our understanding of rationality and its embodiments in theoretical knowledge.  This seminar will discuss different philosophical attempts to think of human reality in social and historical terms and it will explore the corresponding implications for understanding rationality and, more specifically, for conceiving the practices of specialized intellectuals, including philosophers.  In the final weeks of the course we will draw on the results of our discussion to consider the relation between philosophy and politics in the work of one of our century's most influential thinkers, Martin Heidegger.

Course Texts

 Required Books:

  M.J. Inwood, ed., Hegel: Selections (H)
  Richard Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (second edition) (M-E)
  Martin Heidegger, Being and Time trs. Macquarrie and Robinson (BT)
  Richard Wolin, ed., The Heidegger Controversy (HC)
  Jurgen Habermas, Communication and the Evolution of Society (CES), Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (MCCA),  Theory and Practice (TP)
  P. Morris, ed., Bakhtin Reader (B)
 

 Books on Assigned Reading, Main Library:
 
  Charles Taylor, Hegel
  Hubert Dreyfus, Being in the World: A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time
  Pierre Bourdieu, The Political Ontology of M. Heidegger
  Victor Farias, Heidegger and Nazism
  Hugo Ott, Martin Heidegger:  A Political Life
  Richard Wolin, The Politics of Being
  Tom Rockmore, On Heidegger's Nazism and Philosophy
  Thomas McCarthy, The Critical Theory of J. Habermas
 
 
 

Course Outline

Jan. 10 Introduction:   thinking in and about philosophy in social terms; historical context of this discussion -- issues of democracy and philosophy at the turn of the century;  the problem of the politics of philosophical practice as illustrated by Heidegger;  reflection on rationality and modern knowledge-society;  debates about the possibility and desirability of philosophy;  problems of historical reflection and critique.  Seminar overview.  Preliminary discussion of Hegel.

Jan. 17 Philosophy as theory and as practice:  possibilities of philosophical knowledge, practical relevance of philosophical insight, classical ideals and recent debates.  Philosophical mediation.

  Readings:  Habermas, "Philosophy as Stand-In and Interpreter," "Reconstruction and Interpretation in the Social Sciences" (MCCA), Hegel, "Philosophy of Right: Preface," "Encyclopaedia: Introduction," pp. 181-201 (H)

   Recommended:  Hegel, "Encyclopaedia: Logic," pp. 201-229 (H)

Jan. 24 Hegel:  dialectical philosophy and the reconstruction of social being as reciprocity and conflict

  Readings:  Hegel, "Phenomenology of Spirit: Preface," "Phenomenology of Spirit: Self-Consciousness" (H)

   Recommended:  Habermas, "Labor and Interaction:  Remarks on Hegel's Jena Philosophy of Mind" (TP)

Jan. 31 Hegel's philosophical relation to modernity:  reason, markets and constitutional politics;  nationality and identity, meaning and tradition.

  Readings:  Hegel, "The Positivity of the Christian Religion," "Encyclopaedia: Objective Mind" (H)

   Recommended:  Hegel, "Philosophy of History: Introduction" (H)

Feb. 7 Marx's challenge to Hegel:  regarding theory and ideology, the relation of the present to the past, what distinguishes modernity; reification, instrumentalization.  From philosophy to social science.

  Readings:  Marx, "The German Ideology: Part I," from "Capital, Volume One," pp. 294-329, 336-43, 361-76, 384-417, 429-31, 436-41 (M-E)

   Recommended:  Habermas, "Between Philosophy and Science: Marxism as Critique"  (TP)

Feb. 14 Structural and political dialectics;  materialist alternatives to historical teleology; implications for theory and intellectuals

  Readings:  Marx, "Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy," "Theses on Feuerbach," "Manifesto of the Communist Party" (ME);  Habermas, "Historical Materialism and the Development of Normative Structures" (CES)

   Recommended:  Habermas, "Toward a Reconstruction of Historical Materialism" (CES)

Feb. 21 Elements of a communications approach to social being

  Readings:  Habermas, "What is Universal Pragmatics?" (CES), Bakhtin/Voloshinov, "Language as Dialogic Interaction,""Reported Speech as Index of Social Change" (B)

   Recommended:  Voloshinov/Bakhtin, "Critique of Saussurian Linguistics," "Critique of Freudianism,"  Bakhtin, "Social Heteroglossia," Speech Genres" (B)

Feb. 28 Communication theory and social criticism:  discursive reason within the political criticism of modern society

  Readings:  Habermas, "Morality and Ethical Life:  Does Hegel's Critique of Kant Apply to Discourse Ethics?" (MCCA)

   Recommended:  Bakhtin, "Dostoevsky's Polyphonic Novel," "The Dialogic Idea as Novelistic Image," "Double-Voiced Discourse in Dostoevsky," "The Heteroglot Novel" (B)

 -----------  Spring Break  -----------

March 13 The problem of Heidegger's politics as a question about his philosophy

  Heidegger, "Texts," pp. 23-116 (HC)

March 20 Reading Being and Time politically;  questions of method, the problem of being

  Readings:  Heidegger, pp. 21-90 (BT)

March 27 Being in the world

  Readings:  pp. 91-168
 

April 3 Care and the problem of truth

  Readings:  pp. 169-240; 244-55; 256-73

April 10 Temporality

  Readings:  pp. 274-89; 293-335; 341-48

April 17 Historicality
 
  Readings:  pp. 349-51; 370-79; 383-400; 424-28; 434-48; 480-88

April 24 Provisional conclusions
 

Course Requirements

Because of the extensive scope of seminar themes and texts, students will not be expected to master in detail all the texts and themes discussed in the seminar.  Each participant should come to class ready to discuss the core readings for each meeting but will have to choose among the recommended readings on the basis of her or his background and objectives.  By the end of January, each participant should select at least one of our main authors (Hegel, Heidegger, and Habermas) as a main focus for research and writing.  Whether one chooses a single author or prefers a comparative approach, it will also be necessary early on to identify themes and problems for close study.  These choices will lead to the identification and pursuit of the term paper topic.  Students will be expected to draw on materials beyond the common course readings for the development of their specific projects.

There will be frequent short writing assignments closely tied to course readings.  Each seminar member will be occasionally asked to lead discussion of a text, perhaps by referring to issues that arose in writing about it.

Apart from active seminar participation and short writing assignments, the main requirement is the term paper.  Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their projects in class, as time and thematic development permits.  You should have discussed your project with me, or at least have submitted a tentative abstract, by the end of February.

Term paper due Thursday, May 2 by 12 n, in the Philosophy Department office (503 S.Kedzie).

Office Hours

Mondays, 2:15 to 4, and Fridays, 1:15 to 2:45,  and by appointment

512 S. Kedzie Hall
353-9378, 355-4490 (messages)
E-mail:  PetrsnRT@pilot.msu.edu