NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
Freshman Honors Seminar
The Politics of Knowledge
Mondays Time TBA
Spring, 2014
Professor Thomas Bender
Office Hours TBA
Office 602 KJCC
Knowledge is power, it is said. If that is true, is there a politics of knowledge. In academe,
knowledge is often contested. Is knowledge only political? What is the difference between
“opinion” and “knowledge”? The university is organized around disciplines. What is the role of
academic disciplines? What are disciplines? How do they work? How is disciplinary knowledge
validated? Do all disciplines have the same criteria for knowledge? Are their different kinds of
knowledge? Are here incommensurable knowledges? How does one manage knowledge that
crosses disciplines and is in academic terms thus incommensurable? Do artists, humanists, and
scientists understand knowledge and knowledge claims differently? Are visual, numerical,
narrative, and analytical forms of knowing/interpreting all forms of knowledge? What is the
relation of interpretation to knowledge? Is all knowledge interpretive? Is some knowledge
interpretive, and other not? Is there a way to determine that some knowledge claims are truer
than others? The seminar will proceed by reading and oral discussion. Students will be required
to make postings on the weekly readings the evening before the class at which the readings will
be discussed.
A significant portion of the class discussions will be managed through small group discussions,
the conclusions of which will be brought before the whole class. Among the issues to be
addressed by the small groups and then brought to the class as a whole are: Who is the author?
Why does the author seem to be saying this? What public argument is the author a part of? What
is the author’s main point? Secondary points? How does this work relation to previous readings
and to the course objectives?
Besides postings on the weekly readings, there will be two short papers and one longer research
paper. The first will be due at the third class meeting, and it will be based on the first reading
assignment. “What is the point of Charles Larmore’s essay? How persuasive is it. If one where
gong to defend it, what aspects would you emphasize? If you were going to attack it, what
aspects would you emphasize? The length should be between 5 and 7 pages. The last paper will
be on the same topic as this first paper—Charles Larmore’s essay. This essay should reflect the
readings and discussions during the course of the semester, asking roughly the same questions as
on the first essay and the same number of pages
There will also be three weeks toward the middle of the semester when the focus will be on
individual research projects on the history of the discipline each student is considering as a
major. During that period there will be no other reading or writing assignments. These short
research papers 10-12 pages in length, will seek out primary and secondary materials and place
them into the context of the discussion of disciplinarity in the course readings and in class
discussions.
Readings marked by an asterisk (*) will be available to the class electronically.
Books for Purchase:
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Theodore M. Porter, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life
Nicholas Lehman, The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy
Susan Herbst, Numbered Voices: How Opinion Polling Has Shaped American Politics
Susan Sontag, On Photography
Thomas Bender is University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History. On the
faculty since 1974, he has served as chair of the History Department and Dean for the
Humanities. His teaching and research interests cover the history of cities, intellectuals and
cultural history more generally. His published books include three that are directly related to this
course: New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in in New York City,m from 1750 to
the Beginnings of Our Own Time, Intellect and Public Life: Essays on the Social History of
Academic Intellectuals, and American Academic Culture in Transformation. Among his most
recent books are Rethinking American History in a Global Age and A Nation Among Nations:
America’s Place in World History. He also contributes to magazines and newspaper, including
the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Probable Order of Topics:
Week I
Introduction
Week II
Making Truth
Reading: Charles Larmore, “History & Truth,” Daedalus (133.3 (2004), 46-55.*
Week III
The Social Construction of Knowledge: Disciplines
Reading: Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962 et. seq.), chaps 1, 2 (pp.
10-12 only), 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 (91-94, 108-109), 10 (110-15), 12, 13.
Week IV
Epistemological Foundations—or Not
Reading: Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), 3-13, 131-64, 315-94.
Week V
Position and Objectivity
Thomas Nagel, The View from Nowhere (1986), 3-12, 19-22, 25-27*
James Kloppenberg, “Objectivity and Historians: A Century of Historical Writing,” American
Historical Review , 94(1989), 1010-1030.*
Week VI
Knowledge and Politics
John Dewey, “Philosophy and Democracy,” in Jo Ann Boydston, ed. John Dewey: The
MiddleWorks, 1899-1924 (1982), 11:41-53.*
Week VII, VIII, IX
Individual Research Projects on Prospective Disciplinary Major
Week X
Numbers as Knowledge
Theodore M. Porter, Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life
(1995), Parts I, III.
Week XI
Numbers, Opportunity, and Fairness
Nicholas Lemann, The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy (2000)
Week XII
Literature, Authority, and Gender
Jane Topkins, Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860 (1985),
chap 1*
Week XIII
The Truth of Images
Susan Sontag, On Photography (1977)
Week XIV
Rethinking Charles Larmore’s “History & Truth,” Daedalus, 133.3 (2004), 45-55.