Problems and Methods in Western Philosophy (Graduate, Fall 2016)
Problems and Methods in Western Philosophy (Graduate, Fall 2016)
Instructor: Professor, Jun-Hyeok KWAK (Department of Philosophy, Zhuhai)
Office Hours: Weds. 2-4pm
Email: jhkwak@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Aims and Objectives
This graduate seminar functions as an introduction to philosophical research across the subfields of Western philosophy. More specifically, we will reconsider fundamental questions as well as methods with which philosophical inquiry has been made so far, by examining the nature of philosophy through confrontation with classic sources in the history of Western philosophy that have conceptualized the intersections of text and context, reason and passion, morality and politics, and man and society. Having completed the set of reading requirements and seminar activities, students will equip with basic skills necessary for interpreting philosophical texts and writing research papers with analytical inquiries.
No specific prior knowledge is required. Graduate students from all subfields and methodological backgrounds are encouraged to take this seminar regardless of their previous level of acquaintance with philosophy and political philosophy. All attendances including auditing students will be expected to attend class discussion and assigned for presentation.
Materials
In the first week, the required readings will be book-bounded and available for purchase at the copy center. Unless otherwise indicated, other materials will be uploaded at the website of the department or at www.junhyoekkwak.net at least a week in advance.
Requirements
(1) Attendance and Class participation (10%): Class participation and attendance will weigh seriously in the construction of the final grade for this course. Students will be expected to attend each session and to have completed the week’s readings prior to class.
(2) Presentation (40%): One student will act as a discussion facilitator for each requirement. And other students who are not assigned will review required readings at every week (except Week 1). The facilitators and reviewers should hand in a five page double-space version of word format (a three page in the form of WORD) until Monday within a week of everyone’s presentation, and upload their writings at the website (www.junhyeokkwak.net)
(3) Final Paper (50%): The final paper will be assigned at the end of the semester. For this paper, each student will conduct an independent research on one of the topics given. Term papers should no less than 20 pages long double-spaced (15 pages in the form of WORD). Students will be encouraged either to publish their term papers or to write their term papers in English. The title page, endnotes and bibliography should be on separate pages. Students will lose points if your papers are late. Papers can be submitted via email.
Week-By-Week Schedule
I. Introduction
Week 1: Critical Thinking in Philosophy
[Recommended Reading] Martha Nussbaum, “Socratic Self-Examination,” in Cultivating Humanity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp. 15-49.
Week 2: Dilemma in Philosophical Interpretation
[Required Reading] Leo Strauss, “Persecution and the Art of Writing,” in Persecution and the Art of Writing (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), pp. 22-37.
Week 3: Analytical Writing in Philosophy
[Required Reading] A. P. Martinich, Philosophical Writing: An Introduction Chapter 3 & 4, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996).
II. Text and Context
Week 4: Textual Reading
[Required Reading] Leo Strauss, “On A New Interpretation of Plato’s Political Philosophy,” Social Research 12:3(1946), 326-367.
Week 5: Contextual Consideration
[Required Reading] Quentin Skinner, “Motives, intentions and the interpretation of texts,” in Meaning and Context, Quentin Skinner and his Critics, edited & introduced by James Tully (Dales Brewery, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1988), 68-78.
Week 6: Finding a Mixture: History
[Required Reading] Richard Tuck, “History,” In A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, edited by Robert E. Goodin, Philip Pettit, and Thomas Pogge (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), 69-87.
Week 7: Finding a Mixture: Problems
[Required Reading] Steven Smith, Political Philosophy Chapter 1 & 2 (New Haven, NY: Yale University Press, 2012), 1-19.
III. Reason and Passion
Week 8: Reason and Emotion
[Required Readings] (a) Susan Bickford, “Emotional Talk and Political Judgment,” The Journal of Politics, 73:4(2011), 1025-1037. (b) Daniel Gross, “Introduction: A New Rhetoric of Passions,” In The Secret History of Emotion (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006), 1-20.
Week 9: Reason over Emotion
[Required Reading] Plato, Gorgias, 491d4-509a7, translated by Walter Hamilton & Christ Emlyn-Jones (New York: Penguin, 2004), 79-109.
Week 10: Reason with Emotion: Anger & Love
[Required Reading] Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 2, Chapter 2 & 4, translated by George Kennedy (New York: Oxford, 2007), 116-121 & 124-128.
[Paper Topic Presentation 1]
Week 11: Reason with Emotion: Fear & Shame
[Required Reading] Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 2, Chapter 5 & 6 translated by George Kennedy (New York: Oxford, 2007), 128-137.
[Paper Topic Presentation 2]
IV. Morality & Politics
Week 12: Politics & Ethics
[Required Reading] Noberto Bobbio, In Praise of Meekness, translated by Teresa Chataway (Malden, MA: 2000), 39-71.
Week 13: Morality over Politics
[Required Reading] Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals Ak4:406-4:445, translated by Allen Wood (New Haven, NY: Yale University Press, 2002), 22-62.
Week 14: Politics over Morality
[Required Reading] Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political, translated by George Schwab (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 19-79.
Week 15: Political Prudence
[Required Reading] Max Weber, “The Profession and Vocation of Politics,” In Max Weber, Political Writings, translated by Peter Lassman (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 309-369.
V. Man and Society
Week 16: Civic Solidarity
[Required Reading] Jun-Hyeok Kwak, “Patriotism in East Asian Context” & “Patriotism and Nationalism,” In Patriotism in East Asia, edited by Jun-Hyeok Kwak & Koichiro Matsuda (Oxon, UK: Routldege, 2015), 1-9 & 28-45.
Week 17: Liberalism: Political Justice
[Required Reading] John Rawls, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 173-211.
[Paper Presentation 1]
Week 18: Communitarianism: Civic Virtue
[Required Reading] Charles Taylor, Philosophical Arguments (Cambridge, MA: the Belknap Press, 2009), 181-203.
[Paper Presentation 2]
Week 19: Republicanism: Non-domination
[Required Reading] Maurizio Viroli, For Love of Country (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 161-187.
[Paper Presentation 3]
Week 20: Term-Paper Submission
