CONTEMPORARY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY:
BODY, GENDER AND IDENTITY

SPRING 2004

PROFESSOR: Chris Latiolais
Humphrey House #201
Phone # 337-7076
latiolai@kzoo.edu
Offices Hours:
     1) Mon. 11:00 - 1:30
     2) Tue. 10:30 - 11:30
     3) By Appointment.
 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

 1.  Welton, Donn: The Body (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999).

 2.  Welton, Donn: The Body and Flesh: A Philosophical Reader (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998).

 3.  Leder, Drew: The Absent Body (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990).

 
    This course explores one of the most significant contributions of 20th-century, European Continental philosophy: namely, the philosophy of embodiment that arises within a critique of Western Logocetrism (in general) and Cartesian mind-body dualism (in particular).  We will read early works by Husserl and Heidegger regarding the so-called "discovery of the  lifeworld" or "everydayness" and then examine how French philosophers and psychoanalysts such as Merleau-Ponty, Lacan, Foucault, Kristeva and Irigary developed a "social- constructivist" account of embodiment.  The latter part of the course will be devoted to student-selected readings and presentations.

 

Class Participation		20%
Midterm Essays	2 @ 15% =	30%
E-mail Correspondence & Quizzes	4 @ 5% =	20%
Final Paper	1 @ 30 =	30%

 POLICIES:
          Open, respectful and critical discussion is crucial to this course.  E-mail
     correspondence provides students with lecture materials important for our interpretation and
     criticism of texts, which prepare them for participation in classroom discussion, and quizzes
     allow students to evaluate their comprehension of basic terms, positions and arguments.
     Midterm assignments and the final paper offer 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 point reduction of the course grade, and later papers
     may be accepted with full point reduction for each day after the deadline.
 

SCHEDULE OF READING (TBA)
 

INTRODUCTION

TUESDAY:                                                                                                               WEEK ONE

 1.  Course Mechanics.

 2.  Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Pre-predicative Experience: Husserl and Heidegger on Embodiment.
 

1.  HEIDEGGER'S CONCEPT OF BEING-IN-THE-WORLD:

THURSDAY:

 1.  Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Pre-predicative Experience: Husserl and Heidegger on Embodiment.

  A) Edmund Husserl (pp. 11-95).
  B) Heidegger (pp. 95-150).

TUESDAY:                                                                                                              WEEK TWO

 1.  Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Pre-predicative Experience: Husserl and Heidegger on Embodiment (Cont.)

  A) Edmund Husserl (pp. 11-95).
  B) Heidegger (pp. 95-150).

 1.  Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Pre-predicative Experience: Husserl and Heidegger on Embodiment (End)

  A) Edmund Husserl (pp. 11-95).
  B) Heidegger (pp. 95-150).

2.  MERLEAU-PONTY'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTION:
 

TUESDAY:      WEEK THREE

 1. Merleau-Ponty (pp. 150-211)
 

THURSDAY:

 1.  Merleau-Ponty (pp. 150-211) [Cont.]
 2.  Quiz #1.
 

3.  JACQUES LACAN:
 

TUESDAY:                                                                                                  WEEK FOUR

 1. Lacan (pp. 211-252).
 

THURSDAY:

 1. Lacan (pp. 211-252) [Cont.].

 2.  Quiz #3.
 
 

4.  MICHEL FOUCAULT:

TUESDAY:                                                                                                  WEEK FIVE

 1.  Foucault (pp. 252-315).
 

THURSDAY:

 1.  Foucault (pp. 252-315).
 2.  Quiz #4

5.  JULIA KRISTEVA AND LUCE IRIGARAY:

TUESDAY:       WEEK SIX

 1.  Kristeva (pp. 315-353).

THURSDAY:

 1.  Irigary (pp. 353-374).

 2.  Quiz #5.
 

6.  THE ABSENT BODY: TALKING HEADS AND SPEECHLESS BODIES:
 
 

TUESDAY:                                                                                               WEEK SEVEN

 1.  "The Ecstatic Body" (pp. 11-36).

 2.  "The Recessive Body" (pp. 36-69).

THURSDAY:

 1.  "The Dys-appearing Body" (pp. 69-103).

 2.  Quiz # 6.
 

7.  LANGUAGE AS EMBODIMENT?:

TUESDAY:                                                                                                   WEEK EIGHT

THURSDAY:
 

TUESDAY:                                                                                                   WEEK NINE

THURSDAY:
 

TUESDAY:                                                                                                   WEEK TEN

THURSDAY:
 

FINALS WEEK