Contemporary Civilization
Spring 2010
Professor Melissa Schwartzberg
Office hours: Mon. 10-12, and by appt.
718 International Affairs Building (Political Science)
ms3125@columbia.edu
4-6485
Course requirements
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Class participation (10%), which requires careful preparation of the assigned
texts. Attendance is mandatory; please e-mail me in advance if you will need to
miss class.
Three eight to ten-page essays (15% each for 45% of final grade), per the CC
requirement that instructors assign a minimum of 25 written pages each semester.
Questions will be distributed approximately 10 days in advance. Late papers lose
a letter grade per day, and a third of a letter grade if handed in late on the day the
paper is due.
In-class midterm exam (20%), scheduled for Wednesday, March 10.
Final exam (25%), scheduled for Friday, May 7, from 12:30-3:30.
Policy on academic dishonesty
Columbia College is dedicated to the highest ideals of integrity in academia. Therefore,
in Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization, any instance of academic
dishonesty, attempted or actual, will be reported to the faculty chair of the course and to
the dean of the Core Curriculum, who will review the case with the expectation that a
student guilty of academic dishonesty will receive the grade of “F” in the course and be
referred to dean’s discipline for further institutional action.
Assigned texts
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (Hackett)
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (Modern Library)
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Basic Political Writings (Hackett)
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Hackett)
Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women (Dover)
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Penguin)
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays (Oxford World’s Classics)
G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (Hackett)
Karl Marx, selections from The Marx-Engels Reader (Norton)
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (Broadview)
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (Vintage)
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (Dover)
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton)
Woolf, Three Guineas [Harcourt]
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Vintage) [instructor’s choice of optional text]
John Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Harvard) [special to this section]
Schedule of classes
Wed., Jan. 20:
Introduction
Mon., Jan. 25:
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (pp. 13-98)
Wed., Jan 27:
Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (entire)
Mon., Feb. 1:
Rousseau, Social Contract (Books I and II)
Wed.., Feb. 3:
Rousseau, Social Contract (Books III and IV)
Mon., Feb. 8:
Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (pp. 1-28)
Wed., Feb. 10:
Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (pp. 29-53)
***First paper assigned***
Mon., Feb. 15:
Declaration of Independence; U.S. Constitution; Federalist #10 and #47 (all CC Web)
Wed., Feb. 17:
French Revolution: Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Robespierre, “On
the Moral and Political Principles of Domestic Policy”; Sieyès, What is the Third Estate?
(CC Web)
Mon., Feb. 22:
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (pp. 4-33; 50-92; 125-149; 193-9; 216-8)
***First paper due***
Wed., Feb. 24:
Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women (chs. 1-4, 9)
Mon, March 1:
Smith, Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (pp. xxiii-32, 62-97,
299-301, 360-80, 407-12, 819-846)
Wed., March 3:
Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (entire)
Mon., March 8:
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Vol. 1, General Introduction; Part 1, chs. 3-4; Part
2, chs. 1, 6-7; Vol. 2, Part 1, chs. 1, 2, 5; Part 2, chs. 1-2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16-17; Part 4, chs.
5-8)
Wed., March 10:
Midterm
Mon., March 22:
Mill, On Liberty (entire)
Wed., March 24:
Marx, Marx-Engels Reader (pp. 26-52; 70-93; 143-145; 146-55)
Mon., March 29: Passover (class will end at 3 p.m.)
Marx, Marx-Engels Reader (pp. 469-500; 302-312; 319-329; 344-361; 431-438)
***Second paper assigned***
Wed., March 31:
Darwin, Origin of Species (chs. 3-4; 11; 14)
Mon., April 5:
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (entire)
Wed., April 7:
DuBois, Souls of Black Folk (entire)
***Second paper due***
Mon., April 12: Class cancelled
Wed., April 14:
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (entire)
Mon., April 19:
Woolf, Three Guineas (entire)
Wed., April 21:
Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Part I: ch. 1; ch. 2, pp. 47-63; Part II: ch. 1, pp. 101103; ch. 2, pp. 104-114; pp. 126-131; Part III: ch. 1, pp. 135-148; pp. 162-169; ch. 2, pp.
170-194; ch.3, pp. 195-228; Part IV: ch. 1, pp. 231-235; ch. 3, pp. 293-308)
***Third paper assigned***
Sunday, April 25: Brunch at home of Melissa Schwartzberg, David Jones, and Isaiah
(Izzy) Schwartzberg Jones, 11 a.m., 39 Claremont Ave. Apt. 52. Phone: 212-933-1580.
Mon., April 26:
Rawls, Justice as Fairness: Part I; Part II §12-18; Part III §23-31; Part IV, §47; Part V.
Wed., April 28:
Rawls, continued.
Mon, May 3:
Make-up/review session as needed
***Third paper due***
Friday, May 7:
Final exam