History 3282/Humanities 3282

Modern European Intellectual History II

1750 – Present

Spring Semester, 2007

Question for Critical Essay

Due Friday, April 6 before 5 PM

Requirements:

Length: A typed paper of approximately 1500 words (5 typed pages).

Source Material: Course material studied this semester as contained on the course syllabus and web page (http://www.hist.umn.edu/shank/hist3282.html). You may consult other sources as well if you desire, but consultation of sources not on the syllabus is not required, and is even discouraged. If you do use outside sources be sure to document them through in-text citations and a bibliography (if necessary). For guidelines about citations see below.

Due: Friday, April 6 before 5 PM.

Assignment:

Your assignment is very simple. I want you to:

1.) Introduce and defend a thesis of your own choosing that is relevant to the course material we have been studying. To assist those who want this assistance, I have included a set of questions you can respond to directly when developing your thesis. If you would rather develop your argument entirely on your own, that is fine too.

2.) Defend your thesis through a textual analysis of at least 3 of the texts we have studied so far.

There are many good ways to satisfy this assignment so here are some guidelines to help you in formulating your essay.

Guidelines:

It might help to conceive of your paper as an intervention into the philosophical discourse of modernity that you are studying. In other words, you have been reading works that participate in an on-going philosophical discussion, and your job now is to intervene into this discussion directly by staking out a position and persuading others of your point of view. Debating with a current participant in the discussion is one classic form of intervention, or you may want to intervene to clarify a confusing point, to point out a contradiction or a hidden parallel between to views, or to reveal a hidden consequence of one or another position. If you adopt, therefore, the voice and agendas of the philosophical participants you have been reading, you are likely to be more successful with this paper.

Most important is that you offer a clearly defined thesis and lots of detailed supporting evidence backing up your position. Remember: there are no right or wrong answers, only well-defended and poorly-defended arguments. To make sure that you write a well-defended essay, first be certain that you assert a clear argumentative thesis (i.e. a position that someone might disagree with but which you want to prove to be correct). Then make sure you offer lots of corroborating evidence persuading even a skeptic that you are correct. In fact, since better essays usually result when the writer imagines a reader who is deeply suspicious of her point of view and then tries to build an argument that will persuade even this skeptic, your essay will be better if you also assume this skeptical reader as your audience and then work hard to include enough persuasive evidence to persuade even this critic that you are right.

Since the most persuasive evidence for a paper like this is detailed, accurate historical examples and direct textual evidence, the best papers will also discuss precise historical developments and reproduce direct quotes drawn from the texts or artworks in question when supporting its thesis. Here is where the textual analysis dimension of your paper is particularly important. Choose texts that support your supposition and then show the reader that you are right be citing and interpreting quotes. Or choose a text that contradicts your point of view and then show in the same manner why you are still right. Use a comparison between two texts to make your point, or follow a theme that flows through three or more of the texts to make your case. There are many ways to use textual analysis as a basis for argument, but it is crucial that you adopt one or more strategies and make them the centerpiece of your paper. In other words, a paper that simply argues a position without offering a thorough textual analysis to back it up, or a paper that just says something is true without offering the textual support to back up the claim, will be an unsuccessful paper given this assignment.

Be sure to be very precise in your answer and in your use of evidence. Just saying that “Marx denies the reality of human nature,” for example, isn’t saying anything specific and won’t by itself constitute a good basis for argument. What exactly is human nature, how exactly do we know what it is, what precisely does Marx say with respect to this topic and how is he wrong? Answers to these specific questions, supported by critical analysis of the texts we have studied, will give you the specificity you need.

Since a lot rides on finding a good thesis to defend, here are some questions that may trigger your thinking. Feel free to build your thesis around and answer to one of the following questions. If you would rather ignore these questions, that is fine as well.

1.) What is Enlightenment? Or what was the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, and/or what produced it?

2.) How did Enlightenment make possible revolution?

3.) Was revolution the necessary consequence of Enlightenment, or its repudiation?

4.) How did the conception of the philosopher change between 1750 and 1900? What accounts for these changes?

5.) How did the concept of liberty (or society, or government, or justice, or rights, or…) change from 1750 to 1900

6.) Was the eighteenth century the birth of modernity? If so, how exactly?

7.) David Hume (or Immanuel Kant, or….) was the protypical Enlightenment thinker because…

8.) What is philosophy? What is the relationship between philosophy and poetry? Philosophy and society? Philosophy and painting?

9.) What is liberty (or equality, or freedom, or justice, or truth, or….)?

10.) What is modernity and how did the concept shape the writings of the eighteenth-century thinkers we have studied?

11.) David Hume’s philosophy (or Kant’s, or Rousseau’s, or …) is problematic because….

12.) In what ways is Marx both a liberal and the enemy of liberals?

13.) How, if at all, has the relationship between philosophy and the natural sciences (or between philosophy and religion, philosophy and literature, philosophy and art, etc.) changed since 1750? What accounts for these changes or these continuities?

14.) Which is more supportive of democracy, liberalism or Marxism?

15.) What happened to Enlightenment in the nineteenth century?

16.) Enlightenment gave birth to the concept of the free, rights-bearing subject. What happened to Enlightenment individualism in the wake of the rise of industrial society in the nineteenth century?

17.) The nineteenth century is sometimes referred to as the “Great Age of Historicism.” Use the texts we have studied to analyze the promise and the problematics of history as a philosophical category?

18.) Is Enlightenment modernity different from nineteenth-century modernity?

19.) What are the philosophical foundations of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and to which previously articulated philosophical positions is the theory most indebted?

20.) Is Darwinian evolutionary theory radical, liberal, or conservative?

Overall, feel free to let your critical interests and instincts take you wherever they will, but remember to stay focused around finding a good thesis and developing a rich textual analysis to support it. If you have any questions or concerns, or want further guidance in finding a good thesis then feel free to consult with me.

Technical Requirements:

It is important that your essay be entirely your own work so please do not discuss the questions or your essay with anyone in the class. To do so is to violate the University Honor Code. Similarly we will not use class time to directly address the assignment. You can consult with me individually if you have any questions or concerns.

When citing source materials, use the following rule: if you use a text on the syllabus and the edition that is for sale in the bookstore, then simply cite the work from which you are quoting briefly in the text by noting the author’s name, the text, and the page number. (i.e. Hume, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, p.125). If you use another edition, use the same format but note the publication information for the edition you are using as well (Hume, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 198). If you use other source material not on the syllabus at all then use a full citation of author, title, publisher, publication date, page number (i.e. Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation (W.W. Norton, 1968), pp. 320-35.)

You are encouraged to work exclusively with the course materials and to avoid external research. If you do consult other books or research materials, however, then be sure to cite these works in your essay. To fail to do so is to plagiarize, a very serious offense. The same rule applies for web sites, encyclopedias, and any other source material. To be safe, either restrict yourself to the course materials alone in making your arguments or meticulously cite all your sources in the text.

In-text citations are fine, so only add a separate bibliography if you have consulted outside sources.