COURSE SYLLABI :

LECTURE NOTES:

PROFESSOR: Chris Latiolais, Chair
Philosophy Department
Kalamazoo College
Humphrey House #201
Telephone # 337-7076
Offices Hours

• Mon. 8:00 - 10:00.
• Tues. 10:30- 11:30.
• By Appointment.

COURSE GOALS:

This course in an introduction to contemporary research within the European-Continental tradition of thought known as the “Frankfurt School of Social Criticism” or, more generally, “Critical Social Theory.”  We will examine recent proposed models of how critical social inquiry should be understood.  The abiding aim of this tradition is to develop a philosophical model of society that maintains, for social inquiry, a conceptual link between knowledge about and practical engagement with social reality.  After reviewing the first and the second historical phases of the Frankfurt School, we begin our study of contemporary critical social theory by examining Habermas’s first formulation of this type of inquiry in Knowledge and Human Interest. We then proceed to his most recent work, The Theory of Communicative Action. Finally, we wil examine Axel Honneth’s alternative, Neo-Hegelian model of social development, which proposes the ideal of “undamaged identities” as as the primary aim of a rational society, which is  an alternative to Habermas’s ideal of “undistorted communication.” Throughout the course, examples from U.S. social movements -- the ecology, feminist and multicultural movements -- will be used to assess the relative strengths of these different models to address contemporary social crises.

EVALUATION:

Students will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, vocabulary quizzes, midterm examinations and a final paper.

POLICIES:

Students are expected to follow the reading schedule and come to class prepared to actively discuss the texts they have read. More specifically, students must bring their texts to class with marginal notes and highlighted passages of particular importance. Quizzes offer students the opportunity to identify and clarify central terms and concepts. The midterm assignments allow students to write an essays on key philosophical issues and arguments, and the final paper offers students the opportunity to respond in depth to a single topic. The final paper is due on the day scheduled for the final examination. 3 unexcused absences will result in a full grade reduction. Late papers will be marked down a half grade for the first day and a full grade for the second day. All work must be turned in at the end of term, unless alternative assignments have been given by the instructor.

TEXTS:

• David Held:: Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1980).
• White, Stephen K, The Recent Work of Juergen Habermas: Reason, Justice and Modernity (Cambridge University Press, New York 1988).
• (Recommended) McCarthy, Thomas, The Critical Theory of Juergen Habermas (The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1981).
• Course Packet:
  • From Situating The Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics (Routledge, New York 1992):
    • "Models of Public Space: Hannah Arendt, the Liberal Tradition and Juergen Habermas” Benhabib, Seyla [1992]:
    • "The Debate over Women and Moral Theory Revisited” in Benhabib, Seyla [1992]:  Situating The Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics (Routledge, New York 1992).
  • From Honneth, Axel [1995]: The Fragmented World of the Social: Essays in Social and Political Philosophy (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1995):
    • “Author’s introduction."“Integrity and Disrespect.”
    • “Decentered Autonomy.”
  • From Honneth, Axel [1995]: The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts (Polity Press, Cambridge 1995), Joel Anderson trans.
    • “Patterns of Intersubjective Recognition: Love, Rights, and Solidarity.”
    • “Personal Identity and Disrespect: The Violation of the Body, the Denial of Rights, and the Denigration of Ways of Life.”

INTRODUCTION::

TUES:                                                                                                                           Week One

• Course Mechanics
• The Idea of a Critical Social Theory.

HISTORICAL PHASES OF THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL OF SOCIAL THEORY:

THUR:

• Introduction (Held)
• "The Formation of the Institute of Social Research" (Held, 29-40)

TUES:                                                                                                                                   Week Two

• “Class, Class Conflict and the Development of Capitalism: Critical Theory and Political Economy" (Held, 40-77)

THUR:

• "The Culture Industry: Critical Theory and Aesthetics" (Held, 77-111)
• Discussion.
• Quiz #1

TUES:                                                                                                                                       Week Three

• "The Critique of Instrumental Reason: Critical Theory and Philosophy of History" (Held, 148-175).

THUR:

• "Horkheimer's Formulation of Critical Theory: Epistemology and Method 2" (Held, 175-200)
• Quiz #2

TUES:                                                                                                                                       Week Four

• "Adorno's Conception of Negative Dialectics: Epistemology and Method 2" (Held, 200-223)

THUR:

• "Marcuse's Notion of Theory and Practice: Epistemology and Method 3" (Held, 223-249).
• Quiz #3

TUES:                                                                                                                                     Week Five

• "Introducion to Habermas" (Held, 249-260)
• "Discourse, Science, and Society" (Held, 260-296)

THUR:

• "Interest, Knowledge, and Action" (Held, 296-330)
• "The Reformulation of the Foundations of Critical Theory" (Held, 330-353)
• Quiz #4

HABERMAS’S THEORY OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTION:

TUES:                                                                                                                                               Week Six

• "An Assessment of the Frankfurt School and Habermas" (Held, 353-379)
• “Rationality, Social Theory and Political Philosophy” (White, 1-25).
• "Action, Rationality, and Normative Discourse" (White, 25-48)
• “The Idea of a Universal Pragmatics” (McCarthy, 272-291) [Recommended]

THUR:

• “Justice and the Foundation of Communicative Ethics” (White, 48-69).
• “Toward a Minimal Ethics and Orientation for Political Theory” (White, 69-90).
• Quiz #5

TUES:                                                                                                                                                  Week Seven

• "Communicative Reason, Modernity and Contemporary Capitalism” (White, 90-128).
• Movie: Glengarry Glen Ross.

THUR:

• "The Two Tasks of Critical Theory" (White, 129-155)
• Quiz #6

DISCOURSE ETHICS AND FEMINIST CONCERNS:

TUES:                                                                                                                                            Week Eight

• “The Debate over Women and Moral Theory Revisited” (Benhabib).
• “Models of Public Space: Hannah Arendt, the Liberal Tradition and Juergen Habermas” Benhabib, Seyla [1992]:
• Evening Movie: Oleana.

THUR:

• Review and Discussion:

UNDISTORTED COMMUNICATION OR AND UNDAMAGED IDENTITIES: TWO COMPETING IDEALS OF CRITICAL THEORY AND THE POLITICS OF DIFFERENCE?

TUES:                                                                                                                                                    Week Nine

• “Author’s introduction” (Honneth).
• “Integrity and Disrespect” (Honneth).
• “Patterns of Intersubjective Recognition: Love, Rights, and Solidarity” (Honneth).

THUR:

• “Personal Identity and Disrespect: The Violation of the Body, the Denial of Rights, and the Denigration of Ways of Life” (Honneth).
• “Decentered Autonomy” (Honneth).

TUES:                                                                                                                                     Week Ten

• Review and Discussion

THUR:

• Review and Discussion

FINALS WEEK