English 5360: Hegel and Derrida	Instructor: Luanne Frank
	Office: 522 Carlisle
	Phones: 478-7794/ 272-2692

Course Content: The Writings of Hegel and Derrida

For Hegel, the world in its historical dimension is the dialectical revelation of consciousness to itself. In his curious idiom, the end of history comes when Spirit achieves awareness of its identity as Spirit, not, that is to say, alienated from itself by ignorance of its proper nature, but united to itself through itself: by recognizing that it is in this one instance of the same substance as it subject, since consciousness of consciousness is consciousness. In the portentous jargon of the Continent, the subject/object dualism is overcome. Quite apart from such reservations as one must justifiably hold regarding this overcoming, let alone the celebration of it as the end of history, it is worth observing that certain stages in this history are specially marked, art being one stage and philosophy another, and it is the historical mission of art to make philosophy possible, after which art will have no historical mission in the great cosmo-historical sweep.

Arthur C. Danto. The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art, 15-16

If the desired cognition is perceived in terms of logical propositions like the results of scientific investigation, then we must agree that mankind possesses more direct means for obtaining them than through art. And if we hold such a view, we must agree that art furnishes knowledge of an inferior type. Hegel wrote unequivocally:

As a result of its form, art is also limited to a certain kind of content. Only a certain range and a certain degree of truth can find its embodiment in the form of an artistic work.

This proposition inevitably gave rise to the conclusion that the spirit of contemporary culture has apparently risen to a stage higher than that in which art presents the highest form of cognizance of the absolute. The unique character of artistic activity and its manifestation in works of art can no longer fully satisfy our higher needs.

In spite of the fact that Hegel's position was repeatedly criticized--by Belinskij, for example--it is so integral to the understanding of the functions of art characterized above that it arises again and again in the history of culture. Its manifestations are varied-- from periodically resurrected notions of art's superfluity or obsolescence to the conviction that the critic, scholar or any other person possessing the authority of logical, abstract thought, or with pretensions to that effect, has the right to instruct and admonish the writer by virtue of that fact.

Jurij Lotman. The Structure of the Artistic Text, 2.

Texts:

Derrida, Jacques. Glas. Lincoln: U. of Nebraska Press, 1986.

Leavey, John P., Jr. Glassary. Lincoln: U. of Nebraska Press, 1986.

G.W.F. Hegel. [History of Philosophy, vols. 1-3. Lincoln: U. of Nebraska P., 1995.]

          Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics. New York: Viking, 1994.

          "Introduction." Berlin Aesthetics Lectures. London:Oxford U Press, 1988.

          [Introduction to the Philosophy of History. New York: Hackett, 1988.]

          [Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. Berkeley: U. of California P., 1988.]

          Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Reason in Hist. Cambridge: U.P., 1981.

          Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences: Logic I. New York: Hackett, 1991.

          Phenomenology of Spirit. London: Oxford U.P., 1979.

          Philosophy of History. New York: Peter Smith, n.d.

          Philosophy of Right. London: Oxford U.P., 1967.

          [Philosophy of Subjectivity. Albany: SUNY P, 1977.]

Tentative Schedules of Assignments:

Course Procedures

1. Reads and studies a given assignment at home.
2. Reads and discusses this assignment in class.
3. Write a one-page paper summarizing the contents of the assignment and using them to elucidate a humanistic "text" - usually a literary one.
4. Presents this paper aloud, & distributes copies of it, to other class members.

1. Reading a given assignment at home.
   1. The date that appears beside the assigned text on the "schedule of assignments" is the date by which this reading is due to have been completed.
   2. The importance of this reading cannot be overestimated. It provides a base on which the in-class reading and discussion can build. Roughly estimated, three times as much of the text-covered-in-class becomes understandable during class if read ahead of time as if not.
2. Reading and discussion of assignment in class
   1. This reading is designed to cover swiftly as much of the text as possible. Fast though it moves, it is, nonetheless, a bona fide reading. That is, it grounds itself in the words of the text, takes the text "itself" as its initial point of departure rather than summary statements or sets of assumptions about the text.
   2. This reading, too, is important, and it is essential that the student be present for it. This has to do with the fact that what is produced in the way of interpretation(s) during class is often heavily class- and moment-dependent - a function of conditions obtaining in the class at any given time (who is there, how there they are, what they are thinking, and what they are willing to say or suppress). An exchange of ideas often takes place that assumes the nature of a dialectic. Thus although a set of intentions determines a set of goals for every class meeting, the actual intellectual destinations arrived at during the class period will inevitably differ (somewhat or substantially) from the goals precisely because of the dialectical nature of the course. A not negligible aim and aspect of the class meeting is the production of unforeseen connections and meanings in addition to the firming of previously noted meanings through review. Thus, while some of the "content" of a class meeting is unmistakably deliverable both ahead of time ("read the text") and after the fact ("get someone's notes"), much is not. What may be of greatest value (what takes place productively in the minds/psyches of the interlocutors during the course of the class meeting) may not be.

      Said slightly otherwise: Although much of Procedure #2 takes place in what appears to be a lecture format, making the course at times seem to resemble an information delivery-and-retrieval system, much of what in fact gets produced by the instructor and student(s) is not finally predictable and thus not deliverable either ahead-of-time of after-the-fact in a suitably condensed version by either instructor or students, as it took place. (Much of what takes place does so in the psyches of the individual participants, where, because of the size of the class and the class's limited available time, it inevitably remains. This does not mean it is lost. It does mean that it cannot be recuperated. In any case, another's notes are an indifferent substitute for one's own thoughts.) In short, the student absent from a Procedure #2 class meeting is more absent than from a class of the information-retrieval type, whose contents, by design, follow an essentially replicable textbook format, for which, as a substitute for a class meeting, another's notes are useful indeed.

   1. Writing a paper summarizing assigned theoretical material and elucidating a humanistic "text" across it. The paper based on a particular assignment exhibits a number of characteristics:
      1. It is one page in length. One page means one eight and one-half by eleven inch sheet or one eight and one-half by fourteen. The one-page format allows space enough for thought development and condensation enough to enable everyone in class to present her/his paper aloud in its entirety.
      2. It may use all but one line of the space available to it exclusively for its text. That is, no title is and no margins are necessary. At least one - the tope - line-space will be kept free for the writer's name and the identification of the assignment (Paper #2: Hegel: Phenomenology of Spirit).
      3. Its lines will be numbered at the left-hand side of the page by hand or, if there is a margin, by computer.
      4. Its print-size will be comparable (at its smallest) to elite type. It will be no smaller than computer 10-point and is welcome at 12-point. The instructor needs to be able to read the print without a magnifying glass. To date, no maximum number of words has been stipulated, though an upper-limit for number of words may need to be invoked.
      5. Its content should consist of two types of material, presented in this order: 1) material summarizing the assignment-in-question, and 2) and "application" of the contents-in-question (usually theory to a humanistic "text." The text is typically a literary work but can also be a film, or, if the student is working in a discipline emphasizing non-literary texts, a work of graphic art, a piece of music or a musical tradition, a city plan, an architectural work. The student in doubt about the suitability of a desired artifact ("text") should consult with the instructor.

   Due Dates of Papers, Item Revisions, and Rewrites

   Due date: A paper is due on its due date. A paper not available for presentation aloud to the class on its due date will have failed to fulfill the assignment and cannot be made up except in cases of emergency or schedulings, such as for conferences, established prior to the course.

   Revisions: Revisions of items marked for revision are required as follows:

   1. Number on the original paper, and in brightly-colored marker, all items marked for revision.
   2. Make a two-columned sheet.
   3. Entitle the left-hand column "original." Write the original form of your word, phrase, or passage, here, numbering it in the left-hand margin as it is numbered on the original sheet.
   4. Write the revision in the right-hand column.
   5. Turn in the revision sheet(s) on the class day following the one on which your original was returned to you with markings.

      Rewrites: Rewrites are permitted and encouraged, after the revisions described above have been completed satisfactorily. The grade on the rewrite will not take the place of the grade on the original paper. It can, however, raise that grade by one letter. There is no time limit established for turning in rewrites.

   Grading

   Course grades will be arrived at by averaging the grades of the papers written during the semester.

   Attendance

   Attendance is crucial. Since this is a graduate class, no stipulations about attendance are made, but it is assumed that only an emergency will keep the student from class.

   Plagiarism and other forms of Academic dishonesty

   It is assumed that the student will do all of his/her own work. Should there appear evidence that work turned in by the student is attributable to the work of scholars in the field or to other students or still other persons, and the student has not provided due written acknowledgment to these persons, the case of the student whose work contains the borrowed and unattributed material will be submitted to the university committee on ethics.

   Description of how Class Time Will be Spent

   The tentative schedule indicates approximately how class time is spent and on what. The following is offered as supplementary material.
   1. On the days with a reading assignment due, class time is devoted to lecture and to reading together, discussing, and questioning the meaning of specific aspects of the material assigned.
   2. On days with a paper due, class time is devoted to listening to papers delivered in their entirety by each student and to commenting on them, both on the basis of having heard them and, if there is time, on the basis of reading them silently together.

   
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