PHI 315 Sec. 01 Recent Great Philosophers MWF 12:00-12:50, MAK BLL132

Prof. David Vessey Office Hours: MW: 1-2:20

Office: MAK B-3-201 Th: 8:00-11:00, and by appointment

vesseyd@gvsu.edu (616) 331-3158

Course Texts:

Critchley, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Cambridge)

Heidegger, Discourse on Thinking (Harper Collins)

Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible (Northwestern)

Sartre, The Condemned at Altona

And additional readings from Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Gadamer, Adorno, Habermas, Derrida, and Foucault.

Course Description:

The 20^th century has been philosophy’s most productive century. It also has seen a division between two broad traditions of philosophical inquiry, analytic philosophy and Continental philosophy. We are going to look at some of the main figures of Continental philosophy, specifically of 20^th century German and French philosophy. To orient our investigations we will focus on what was going on in Europe exactly 50 years ago this year: 1959. All our texts were written or published in 1959. Philosophically 1959 is an important year as it is the 100^th anniversary of the births of Edmund Husserl, John Dewey, and Henri Bergson as well as the 100^th anniversary of Darwin’s The Origin of Species. Within the European philosophical tradition it is a transition point: Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Albert Camus were about to die young, Martin Heidegger was an academic outcast, but still gave well attended talks, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone Beauvoir had shifted primarily to producing literary works, the Marxist Frankfurt School was contending with all the fallout of the escalading Cold War, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Emmanual Levinas were about to emerge from the shadows with major new works, and three young philosophers—Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas—were just appearing on the scene. Culturally 1959 saw breakthroughs in French “New Wave” cinema, Jazz composition, and Pop Art and art Happenings. The microchip and the birth control pill were both invented and made available to the public in 1959.

Course Method:

Philosophy is best done in conversation. The greater variety of ideas we can draw on the better we will be able as a class to come to some reliable insights on philosophical questions. Therefore although there will be some lectures to set the stage for the discussion, the majority of the class time should be spent in discussion. This means that students must come to class ready to discuss—having read carefully the material, at least once, and being prepared to raise and address issues found in the text. Since discussions cannot be made up, attendance and participation are important parts of the grade. The daily attendance/participation grade is: F-not in class; D-in class unprepared; C-in class, prepared, not participating in discussion; B-in class, prepared, participating in discussion; A-in class, prepared, significantly contributing to the discussion. It is assumed all absences are excused absences; over six absences will result in the highest possible grade being a C. Computers are not allowed in the classroom as they tend to take attention away from the focus of the discussion.

Course Assignments:

In addition to the reading and participation requirements, everyone will have to do a short study guide for the rest of the class and a long, 3,000 word, research paper.

The study guides must be posted to Blackboard at least 24 hours before class time when the text will be discussed (the grade will be lowered one grade for each hour it is late). It should follow the form handed out at the beginning of class. Students will sign up for their study guide day on Friday Sept. 4^th. Since the guides are for the discussion they will not be accepted after the date of the discussion.

The research paper will contrast the views of one 20^th century European philosopher active in 1959 with either the views of Martin Heidegger or Maurice Merleau-Ponty (published in 1959) on a topic. For example, “Marcel and Heidegger on the Nature of Thinking.” The student will argue for the merits of one of the (or neither) philosopher’s views. A paper proposal with thesis is due Oct. 16; a 3,000-word presentation version of the paper is due Nov. 25th. All students will do formal presentations of their research during the last weeks of the class and submit a revised, final draft of their paper at the time of the final exam.

A typo policy applies to all graded, written work. As a minimum standard for university level writing, all work submitted for a grade should be well proofread and must be one's own work. For every four typos the grade will be lowered one step (i.e. A- to B+); typos include spelling errors, grammatical errors, improper use of gendered pronouns, and failure to properly reference quotations. Failure to properly reference is different from plagiarizing. Plagiarism is a sign that students have so lost track of their proper role as a student that there is no point in them continuing in the class (much less in college) at this point in their life. A plagiarizing student is expected to drop the class, if possible; a meeting will be scheduled with the student and someone from the Dean of Students office.

If you have disabilities that require special accommodation you should speak to Prof. Vessey as soon as possible at the start of the term.

Grade Breakdown:

Attendance and Participation: 30%

Study Guide: 15%

Paper Proposal: 5%

Presentation Draft: 15%

Presentation: 10%

Final Draft: 25%

Course Schedule

Mon. Aug 31 Introductions

Wed. Dept. 2 Background to German Philosophy, Critchley Intro., Chps. 1-2

Fri. Sept. 4 Background to French Philosophy, Critchley, Chps. 3-5

Mon. Sept. 7 No Class

Wed. Sept. 9 Husserl’s phenomenology, Critchley, Chps. 6-8

Fri. Sept. 11 Husserl’s phenomenology,

Farber, “On the Meaning of Radical Reflection” (Blackboard)

Mon. Sept. 14 Heidegger “Memorial Address”

*Wed. Sept. 16 Heidegger “Conversations on a Country Path”

*Fri. Sept. 18 Heidegger “The Way to Language” (Blackboard)

*Mon. Sept. 21 Heidegger from “What is Metaphysics?” Chp. 1, pp. 1-14 (netlibrary)

*Wed. Sept. 23 Heidegger “Hölderlin’s Earth and Heaven” (Blackboard)

Fri. Sept. 25 No Class, Video assignment:

*Mon. Sept. 28 Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and Invisible, pp. 3-14

*Wed. Sept. 30 Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and Invisible, pp. 14-28

*Fri. Oct. 2 Merleau-Ponty The Visible and Invisible, pp. 28-49

*Mon. Oct. 5 Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and Invisible, pp. 50-63

*Wed. Oct. 7 Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and Invisible, pp. 63-85

*Fri. Oct. 9 Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and Invisible, pp. 85-104

*Mon. Oct. 12 Merleau-Ponty, “The Philosopher and His Shadow” (Blackboard)

Wed. Oct. 14 Gadamer Overview, from Cambridge Companion to Gadamer

Fri. Oct. 16 No Class, Video Assignment:

*Mon. Oct. 19 Gadamer “On the Circle of Understanding” (Blackboard)

Wed. Oct. 21 Levinas Overview, from Cambridge Companion to Levinas

*Fri. Oct. 23 Levinas “The Ruin of Representation” (Blackboard)

Mon. Oct. 26 Adorno Overview , from Cambridge Companion to Adorno

*Wed. Oct. 28 Adorno “Criteria for New Music” (Blackboard)

Fri. Oct. 30 No Class, video assignment

Mon. Nov. 2 Habermas Overview, from Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

*Wed. Nov. 4 Habermas “Heidegger: The Great Influence” (Blackboard)

Fri. Nov. 6 Foucault Overview, from Cambridge Companion to Foucault

*Mon. Nov. 9 Foucault from History of Madness (Blackboard)

Wed. Nov. 11 Derrida Overview, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

*Fri. Nov. 13 Derrida “‘Genesis and Structure’ and Phenomenology” (Blackboard)

Mon. Nov. 16 Sartre Overview, from Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Blackboard)

Wed. Nov. 18 Sartre “The Condemned at Altona”

Fri. Nov. 20 Sartre “The Condemned at Altona”

Mon. Nov. 23 Sartre “The Condemned at Altona”

Wed. Nov. 25 No Class

Fri. Nov. 27 No Class

Mon. Nov. 30 Presentations

Wed. Dec 2 Presentations

Fri. Dec 4 Presentations

Mon. Dec 7 Presentations

Wed. Dec 9 Presentations

Fri. Dec 11 Presentations/Evaluations

Final Paper Due

Possible papers figures:

Comparisons on a topic to their 1959 works by:

Merleau-Ponty

Heidegger

Comparisons on a topic between Heidegger or Merleau-Ponty and:

Hans-Georg Gadamer

Immanuel Levinas

Jacques Derrida

Michel Foucault

Jürgen Habermas

Theodor Adorno

Jean-Paul Sartre

Comparisons on a topic between Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty and other prominent philosophers active in 1959:

Louis Althusser

Hannah Arendt

Gaston Bachelard

Simone deBeauvoir

Maurice Blanchot

Martin Buber

Albert Camus

Georges Canguilhem

Giles Deleuze

Franz Fanon

Karl Jaspers

Jacques Lacan

Claude Levi-Strauss

Gabriel Marcel

Herbert Marcuse

Paul Ricoeur

Leo Strauss