The impetus of this course is to rethink the trajectory, conditions, and prospects of humanism, with a consideration of how such rethinking contributes to the reconfiguration of the Humanities in the present time. The impact of anti-humanist thinking in contemporary theory is taken as a point of departure, as a challenge that must be overcome. Hence, certain classic writings of Marx and Heidegger (and responses by Althusser, Derrida, and Sloterdijk) are examined in detail in the initial weeks of the course.
However, in order to field this challenge in its full epistemological range, we will also engage with various discourses that respond to the question “what is human?” including discussions of animality (Derrida, Haraway, and earlier); the exceptional challenge of cognition in non-rational modes (Bergson, Merleau-Ponty, and the biologists Maturana and Varela); Castoriadis’ monumental response to Aristotle and Freud on the psyche, as well as his response to biologists about anthropos. The last few sessions of the course will turn to certain theories of non-human materiality in addition to theories of the “post-human” in cognitive science and cybernetic self-organization.
This is a graduate course – a kind of basic background in Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is assumed. The course addresses concerns of students throughout the humanities, but also certain theoretical tracks in the arts and humanistic tracks in the social sciences. It will also be of interest to students in the biological sciences, neuroscience, or cognitive science, who seek an opportunity to reflect on their disciplines from a philosophical standpoint.
