Philosophy 244
Contemporary European Philosophy
The Frankfurt School

Curtis Bowman
Hall 212

Course Description

This course is devoted to a study of the Frankfurt School. We will begin with background readings from Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx, followed by a detailed study of the views of Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse. Additional background material will be drawn from the works of Sigmund Freud as the course progresses. Topics to be discussed will include the nature of critical theory, the sociology of knowledge, the relation of art to political and economic life, and various manifestations of irrationality in mass culture.

Required Texts

Theodor Adorno, The Stars Down to Earth (Routledge) [Abbreviated as SDE]

Theodor Adorno, The Culture Industry (Routledge) [Abbreviated as CI]

Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Norton)

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (Norton)

M. Horkheimer & T. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford) [Abbreviated as DoE]

Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Beacon Press)

Karl Marx, Selected Writings (Hackett)

Readings

I. General Background for the Course

(1) Immanuel Kant: "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" (photocopy)

(2) Karl Marx, Selected Writings

(a) The Concept of Alienation: "On the Jewish Question," "Toward a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction," and selections from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (pp. 58-79)

(b) Historical Materialism: The German Ideology, Part I; The Communist Manifesto

(c) The Analysis and Critique of Capitalism: selections from Capital (pp. 220-300)

II. The Frankfurt School

(1) Horkheimer: "The Social Function of Philosophy" (photocopy)

(2) The Project of Enlightenment

(a) The Concept of Enlightenment and Human History: Chapters 1-3 of DoE

(b) The Culture Industry: Chapter 4 of DoE

Adorno on the Culture Industry: "The Culture Industry Reconsidered," "Culture and Administration," "On the Fetish Character in Music and the Regression of Listening," "How to Look at Television," "Free Time" (all in CI)

(c) Anti-Semitism: Chapter 5 of DoE

Adorno on Anti-Semitism: "Research Project on Anti-Semitism" and "Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda" (in SDE)

(d) The Irrational in Mass Culture: Adorno's "The Stars Down to Earth" and "Theses Against Occultism" (in SDE)

(3) Marcuse's Philosophical Appropriation of Psychoanalysis

(a) Sigmund Freud

  1. "Formulations Regarding the Two Principles in Mental Functioning" (photocopy)
  2. Beyond the Pleasure Principle
  3. Civilization and its Discontents

(b) Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization

  1. "Introduction," pp. 3-8
  2. "Under the Rule of the Reality Principle," pp. 11-111, 124-126
  3. "Beyond the Reality Principle," pp. 129-158, 172-237

(4) Adorno: "Resignation" (in CI)

Course Requirements

Students will write two papers (10-15 pages each). There will also be a comprehensive exam at the end of the semester. Each assignment will count for one-third of the course grade.

Policies concerning papers

(1) Any student requiring an extension should arrange for one at least three days in advance of handing in the paper. A paper without an extension will be considered late and penalized accordingly. A letter grade will be deducted from the paper grade for every full week or fraction thereof that the paper is late.

(2) Papers must be printed when they are handed in. E-mail attachments will not be accepted.

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This page last modified on February 2, 2003.