German 697X:
Nineteenth-Century German Thought
Andrew Donson
Fall 2017
The course is a survey of the great German thinkers of the long nineteenth century (1789-1914). The readings are selections of original writings by Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud, supplemented with secondary sources chosen for their clarity and aid in reading these difficult texts. The course does not require any previous knowledge. The approach to these thinkers is analytic in the tradition of Anglo-American philosophy—that is, we evaluate the coherence of the arguments. Taught in English.
To Purchase
1. Roger Scruton, Peter Singer, Christopher Janaway, and Michael Tanner, German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche (Oxford, 20001) ISBN 0192854240
2. Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 2003). ISBN: 0198782659
3. Peter Singer, Marx: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2001). ISBN 0192854054
4. Allen Kieran, Max Weber: A Critical Introduction (Pluto Press, 2004) ISBN 0745322387
5. Weber: Selections in Translation, ed. W. G. Runciman (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1978) ISBN 0521292689
6. Basic Writings of Nietzsche, ed. Walter Kaufmann (Modern Library, 2000) ISBN 0679783393
7. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, trans. James Strachley, ed. Peter Gay (W. W. Norton, 1989) ISBN 0393301583
8. Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, trans. James Strachley, ed. Peter Gay (W. W. Norton, 1990) ISBN 039300743X
9. Sigmund Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, trans. James Strachley, ed. Peter Gay (W. W. Norton, 1990) ISBN 0393001458
10. Sigmund Freud, Psychopathology of Everyday Life, trans. James Strachley, ed. Peter Gay (W. W. Norton, 1990) ISBN 0393006115
Used, the books for this class cost around $100, including shipping. New, they cost $170.
Available as a Pdf File on Moodle:
Coursepack for German 697X. You can print out the individual readings, or use the single file with all the readings. I suggest that students use the single file: print out the coursepack double-sided and have it bound with a spiral binding.
Readings in the Original German Online
I encourage students to read the texts in the original German. All the primary texts (not the secondary sources) are in the public domain. Among other places:
Kant: https://korpora.zim.uni-duisburg-essen.de/Kant/verzeichnisse-gesamt.html
Marx: https://marx-wirklich-studieren.net/marx-engels-werke-als-pdf-zum-download/
Hegel: http://hegel.net/hegelwerke/
Weber: still no comprehensive online source, but all his work is online in various places. See https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Max_Weber.
Nietzsche’s: http://www.nietzschesource.org
Freud: http://freud-online.de/
Gesamtausgaben
Anyone who publishes on these authors should cite one of the printed Gesamtausgaben:
Immanuel Kants Werke, ed. Ernst Cassierer, 11 volumes (Berlin: Cassierer, 1922-23)
G. W. F. Hegel, Werke, ed. Eva Moldenhauer et al, 21 volumes (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1969-79).
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), ed. Institut für Marxismus-Leninismus beim Zentralkomitee der Kommunisten Partei der Sowjetunion, 65 volumes (Moscow/Berlin: Dietz, 1972-).
Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: kritische Studienausgabe, ed. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, 15 volumes (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1988).
Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe, CD Rom or download (Berlin: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), print editions forthcoming.
Sigmund Freud, Gesammelte Werke in 18 Bänden: Mit einem Nachtragsband (Berlin: Fischer, 2001)
Moodle and Class Email Listserv
The coursepack is available on Moodle website. Students should check the website regularly for announcements. The listserv for the course is german-697x-01-fal17@courses.umass.edu.
Final Grade Distribution
|
Participation (graded) |
15% |
|
Class reading assignments (ungraded) |
25% |
|
Paper(s) (graded)
|
60% |
Participation
Participation includes attending, speaking, listening, bringing the readings and the assignments to class, and being prepared for discussion.
Class reading assignments
For each class, students must submit:
1. Two hundred words of notes or reactions. These can take either of these two formats:
a. Typed notes on the readings, with page numbers. These can be summaries or brief quotations, no more than a sentence, and your reactions to them. There are about 330 words on a page double-spaced, in 12-font.
b. Answers to the questions on the readings that I have posted on Moodle.
2. Four important points, topics, or questions for discussion. Each should have a citation to a page or several pages in the text.
These assignments are ungraded. If you show a good-faith effort in completing the readings and preparing for discussion, you will receive a grade of 100 on each assignment.
Papers
Students have the option of writing:
1. Four 5-page papers
2. Two 12-page papers
3. One 30-page paper
Students must commit to one of the options by October 3.
If you choose #1 or #2, each paper should explain, as clearly as possible, how at least two thinkers address a particular concept or theme. The evidence for the paper should be drawn entirely from the original texts, not the secondary works. Students may want to read beyond the original texts assigned in this course but are not required. Here are some examples of themes and concepts:
|
History |
Religion |
The individual |
|
Freedom |
Love |
Passion |
|
Romanticism |
Science |
Morality |
|
Power |
Alienation |
Capitalism |
|
Truth |
Social class |
Government |
|
Work |
Reason |
Critique |
|
Metaphysics |
Social organization |
Science |
|
Conflict |
Self |
Put your concept here |
If you choose #3, the expectation is a more sustained analysis or a research paper.
Drafts of Papers
I will gladly read drafts of papers and book reviews and give written feedback on them provided they meet the required length and are submitted five days before the paper is due. Students who write complete drafts five days before the paper due will have the final due date extended. Students may rewrite their papers as many times as they wish for a higher grade. I will at a minimum average the first and highest grades. I often weigh the final grade more heavily.
Calendar of Readings
For the German readings, I sometimes indicate the chapter, section, paragraph, etc. numbers rather than page numbers. There are too many different editions, and some of the online ones have no page numbers at all.
*indicates a coursepack reading on Moodle.
|
Tue Sep 5 |
Introduction
|
|
Thu Sep 7[AD1] |
*Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, ed. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998), 107-117, 141-147. *John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859), excerpts (10pp). Roger Scruton, “Kant,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 7-46.
Kritik der reinen Vernunft. Vorrede; Transscentale Elementarlehre: Einleitung: §1-4 Note: Kant wrote two editions of the Critique of pure Reason, the first in 1781, the second in 1787. Our English translation combines the two, since there is much valuable material in the first edition that Kant redacted in the second.
|
|
Tue Sep 12[AD2] |
*Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, ed. Guyer and Wood, 470-75, 484-89, 532-535 *Immanuel Kant, “Toward Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Project,” Kant, Practical Philosophy, ed. Gregor, 322-337. Scruton, “Kant,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 47-64.
Kritik der reinen Vernunft: I. Transscentale Elementarlehre: Zweites Buch: 2. Hauptstück: 2. Abschnitt: Erste und Dritte Antinomien, and 9. Abschnitt: III: Auflösung der kosmomologische… „Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf,“ Zweiter Abschnitt, Erster Zusatz
|
|
Thu Sep 14[AD3] |
*Immanuel Kant, Groundwork in the Metaphysics of Morals, in Kant, Practical Philosophy, ed. Gregor, 49-93. *Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, excerpts (3pp) Scruton, “Kant,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 65-85
Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, Erste und Zweite Abschnitte
|
|
Tue Sep 19[AD4] |
*Immanuel Kant, “Groundwork in the Metaphysics of Morals,” in Kant, Practical Philosophy, ed. Gregor, 93-108. *Immanuel Kant, “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent,” in Immanuel Kant, Anthropology, History, and Education, ed. Günter Zöller and Robert Louden (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007), 108-120. Scruton, “Kant,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 86-102
Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, Dritter Abschnitt „Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht,“ entire
|
|
Thu Sep 21 |
No class. Rosh Hashanah.
|
|
Tue Sep 26[AD5] |
*G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction, in The Hegel Reader, ed. Stephen Houlgate (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998), 400-415. *G. W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy of Right, in Hegel, ed. Houlgate, 356-379. Singer, “Hegel,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 109-138.
G. W. F. Hegel, Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte: Einleitung (b) G. W. F Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, §142-162, §181-183, §187, §189—207, §230-273, §279, §287-311, §330-347
|
|
Thu Sep 28[AD6] |
*G. W. F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, in Hegel, ed. Houlgate, 324-355, 380-398. Singer, “Hegel,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 139-161.
G. W. F Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, Vorrede, §1-7, §14-17, §20-23, §27-32, §34-36, §41-42, §44-49, §104, §113, §117-141
|
|
Tue Oct 3[AD7] |
*G. W. F. Hegel, The Phenomonology of Spirit, in Hegel, ed. Houlgate, 92-102 Singer, “Hegel,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 162-206 10 + 44 = 64
G. W. F. Hegel, Phänomenologie des Geistes, IV.118 – IV.229
|
|
Thu Oct 5 |
No class. Conference of the German Studies Association.
|
|
Tue Oct 10 |
No Class. Monday Schedule.
|
|
Thu Oct 12[AD8] |
*Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity, in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Liberalism and Its Critics, ed. Jan Goldstein and John Boyer (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1988), 322-336. Karl Marx, “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 32-42. Karl Marx, “Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 71-82. Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 171-173. Peter Singer, Marx: A Very Short Introduction, 1-31
Ludwig Feuerbach, Das Wesen des Christentums, Einleitung (Kapitel 1) Karl Marx, Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie (1843), in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Werke (Berlin: Dietz 1976), 207, 230-233, 248-249, 312, 323-326. Karl Marx, „Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie: Einleitung“ (1844). Karl Marx, „Thesen über Feuerbach“ (1845).
|
|
Tue Oct 17[AD9] |
Karl Marx, The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 83-117. Singer, Marx, 33-46.
Karl Marx, Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844: Vorede, “Die entfremdete Arbeit,” “Das Verhältnis des Privateigentums,” “Privateigentum und Kommunismus,“ „Kritik der Hegelschen Dialektik und Philosophie überhaupt“
|
|
Thu Oct 19[AD10] |
Karl Marx, The German Ideology, in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 175-208. Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 245-272. Marx, “Preface to A Critique of Political Economy,” in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 424-427 Singer, Marx, 47-58.
Karl Marx, Die deutsche Ideologie, in Marx / Engels, Werke, vol. 3, p. 13f[AD11] Karl Marx, „Zur Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie: Vorwart“ (1859) Karl Marx, Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei
First 5-page paper due
|
|
Tue Oct 24[AD12] |
Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1, in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 452-492. Singer, Marx, 59-85.
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Bd. 1, Kapitel 1-4, 6, 9
|
|
Thu Oct 26[AD13] |
Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1, in Marx, Selected Writings, ed. McLellan, 492-529. Singer, Marx, 85-105.
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Bd. 1, Kapiteln, 10, 14, 25, 26, 32; Bd. 2, Kapiteln 13, 48, 52
|
|
Tue Oct 31[AD14] |
Max Weber, Protestant Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism, in Weber, ed. Runciman, 138-174. Allen, Max Weber, 1-46.
Max Weber, „Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus,“ in Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie, Bd. I, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 1920, S. 163-206 (Askese und kapitalistischer Geist).
|
|
Thu Nov 2[AD15] |
Max Weber, “The Nature of Social Action,” “Basic Categories of Social Organization,” “Classes, Status Groups and Parties,” in Weber, ed. Runciman, 7-61. Allen, Max Weber, 68-96.
Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, vol. 1 (Tübingen, 1957), 1-14, 26-30, 177-180
|
|
Tue Nov 7[AD16] |
Max Weber, “Value-Judgments in Social Science,” “The Logic of Historical Explanation,” in Weber, ed. Runciman, 69-99, 111-131. Allen, Max Weber, 122-133.
Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (Tübingen, 1951), 266-290, 475-510.
|
|
Thu Nov 9[AD17] |
Max Weber, “The Nature of Charismatic Domination,” “Socialism,” “The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in Europe,” in Weber, ed. Runciman, 226-262, 331-340. *Max Weber, “The Development of Bureaucracy and Its Relation to Law,” Economy and Society. Allen, Max Weber, 97-116, 134-153, 173-179.
Max Weber, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, vol. 2 (Tübingen, 1957), 564-572, 662-679, 660-678 + Dritter Teil, Kapitel VI Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (Tübingen, 1951), 500-510 Second 5-page paper due First 12-page paper due
|
|
Tue Nov 14[AD18] |
Friedrich Nietzsche, “On the Prejudices of the Philosophers,” Beyond Good and Evil, in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, ed. Kaufman 197-222. Michael Tanner, “Nietzsche,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 345-372.
Friedrich Nietzsche, „Erstes Hauptstück. Von den Vorurteilen der Philosophen,“ Jenseits von Gut und Böse.
|
|
Thu Nov 16[AD19] |
Friedrich Nietzsche, “Natural History of Morals” and “What Is Noble,” Beyond Good and Evil, in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, ed. Kaufman 285-308, 389-427. Tanner, “Nietzsche,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 373-385.
Friedrich Nietzsche, „Fünftes Hauptstück: Zur Naturgeschichte der Moral,“ and „Neuntes Hauptstück: Was ist vornehm?“ Jenseits von Gut und Böse.
|
|
Tue Nov 21 |
No Class. Thanksgiving Holiday.
|
|
Thu Nov 23 |
No Class. Thanksgiving Holiday.
|
|
Tue Nov 28[AD20] |
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, ed. Kaufman, First Essay, all (pp. 460-92); Second Essay, §1-4, §11, §16-20 (pp. 491-498, 509-512, 520-527); and Third Essay, §1, §7-9, §12, §18-20 (pp. 534, 542-50, 554-55, 570-77). Tanner, “Nietzsche,” in Scruton, et al, German Philosophers, 386-431.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Zur Genealogie der Moral, Erste Abhandlung, §1-17; Zweite Abhandlung, §1-4, §11, §16-20; und Dritte Abhandlung, §1, §7-9, §12, §18-20.
|
|
Thu Nov 30[AD21] |
Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures, 8-100.
Sigmund Freud, Neue Folge der Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse, XXIX., XXX., und – XXXI. Vorlesungen.
|
|
Tue Dec 5[AD22] |
Freud, New Introductory Lectures, 101-225.
Sigmund Freud, Neue Folge der Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse, XXXIII., XXXIV., und – XXXV. Vorlesungen.
Third 5-page paper due
|
|
Thu Dec 7[AD23] |
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, all.
Sigmund Freud, Das Unbehagen der Kultur
|
|
Tue Dec 12[AD24] |
Sigmund Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, 14-22, 106-139, 171-193, 258-293. or Sigmund Freud, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 74-140 (Slips of the Tongue).
Sigmund Freud, Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten (1905), II.1, III.1 – III.5, V, VII.3 – VII.8 oder Sigmund Freud, Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagsleben, V
|
|
Fri Dec 22 |
Fourth 5-page paper due Second 12-page paper due Final 30-page paper due |
[AD1]17+10+40=57 pages
[AD2]13+15+17=45 pages
[AD3]41+3+20=64 pages
[AD4]18+12+17=47 pages
[AD5]16+23+18=47
[AD6]32+22=54
[AD7]10 +44=65
[AD8]38+31=69
[AD9]35 + 13=48
[AD10]63+11=73
[AD11]Vorrede, 21-I.271-I.283, I.285-I.292(erste drei Paragraphen),
40 + 25=65
[AD13]37 + 20 =57
[AD14]35 + 46 = 81
[AD15]55 + 18 = 73
[AD16]50 + 11 = 61
[AD17]48 + 45 = 93
[AD18]25 + 25 = 50
[AD19]64 + 12 = 76
[AD20]45 + 45 = 90
[AD21]92
[AD22]124
[AD23]90
[AD24]92