Phil 600 Syllabus

"Contradiction and Negativity"

Topic: This seminar concerns contradiction, primarily in the sense of so-called dialectical contradiction, as it is found in Hegel and Marx, and in works and views influenced by them. A general idea of what dialectical contradiction means for Marx may be gathered from the following comment he makes about the contradictory relation between the two forms of the expression of the value of a product : these two are "two mutually conditioning, inseparable moments which belong to each other, but are at the same time mutually excluding, actively opposing extremes, that is, poles of the that value expression." (K. Marx, Das Kapital, Erster Band, Werke 23:63.). We might paraphrase this by saying that a dialectical contradiction is an organic unity of mutually excluding opposites, a unity of opposites, for short.

In a number of places, however, we will also explicitly consider contradiction in its more usual, non-dialectical sense. By negativity, we mean (at least) the following: the relationship of exclusion or conflict between the two sides of a contradiction. Our overall approach is historical. We will start with Heraclitus and read forward to the twentieth century, sometimes superficially, sometimes in detail. Some portions of the material on ancient Greek philosophy will be presented by Professor Mark Wheeler.

Instructor Data:

Tom Weston,

Room AH-4143,

594-6218,

Email tweston@mail.sdsu.edu,

Academic web page: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/phil/wwwest.html

Personal web page: http://tomweston.net

Course Requirements:

The major requirement is a term paper, including a presentation of (some major part of) it to the seminar. There will also be weekly reading assignments, and most weeks will have a reading summary or leading question to be answered in approximately 150 words, due at the beginning of the next class. Students are expected to make a serious attempt to read the assigned work. Understanding it will sometimes have to wait for later. Preparation for and participation in class counts.

The approximate percentages for each of these requirements is :

1. Term Paper 60%

2. Weekly assignments 10%

3. Presentation to seminar 20%

4. Preparation and participation 10%

The instructor will prepare a list of acceptable term paper topics in about three weeks. Additional topics may be negotiated. Materials for all these topics are available in English. Students who can read German, French, or Russian will have a somewhat wider choice. First drafts are mandatory, and will be due at a date in November to be announced later. Final drafts will be due Friday of the last week of classes.

Books to buy:

There are no books to buy, but there will be a series of Xerox packets to buy-cheap! These will be available at Cal Copy, across the College Ave footbridge.

Rough Outline:

• Brief selections from Heraclitus (brief selections are all that exist, but we won't be doing them all.)
• Brief selections from Zeno on motion and contradiction
• Overview of Parmenides on truth.
• Aristotle on the principle of non-contradiction, contraries, and privation.
• Three things from Kant: selections on the antinomies of pure reason, on the composition of matter as attraction and repulsion, and on positive and negative quantities.
• From Fichte: From the Foundations of the Wissenschaftslehre.
• This is the where things get tough: We will read selections from Hegel's Science of Logic, including the key chapters of the "essence logic".
• Selections from Marx. This will consist of a number of selections and some fragments from his works on economics and politics. He did not write a systematic treatise on dialectical logic.
• Selections from Engels, from Socialism, Utopian and Scientific, and Dialectics of Nature.
• Selections from Lenin and early Soviet philosophy-time permitting
• Selections from Mao Zedong.-time permitting
• Althusser's attach on negativity as ideology.
• Other 20^th century works may be added, but will probably be covered only in student presentations.