Syllabus: American & European Intellectual History

Darrin McMahon (dmcmahon@fsu.edu)
Neil Jumonville (njumonvi@mailer.fsu.edu)
HIS-6934-06/07
Florida State University
Spring 2006

SEMINAR ON
AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

COURSE GOALS: To train students to analyze important connections between the ideas of European and American thinkers over the past several centuries.

BOOKS

You only need to buy the seven books below, which we have ordered through the bookstores. The rest of the readings are available as etext linked through the online syllabus. If you want hard copies of all the readings, please order the others through Amazon or Powells. These following are the seven you need.

• Harold Laski, The Rise of European Liberalism. (Transaction, 1997). [ISBN: 1560008458]
• Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (Belknap Press, 1992). ISBN: 0674443020
• James Kloppenberg, Uncertain Victory (Oxford University Press, 1988). ISBN: 0195053044
• F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1984). ISBN: 0226320618
• Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago, 2002). ISBN: 0226264211
• Ann Charters, ed., The Portable Beat Reader (New York: Penguin, 1992) ISBN: 0140151028
• Alan Wolfe, Return to Greatness (Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN: 0691119333

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

ATTENDANCE: Because each class represents one week's worth of the course, it is important not to miss any of them except under the most unavoidable circumstances. Part of your discussion grade is a grade for attendance -which means not only attending all classes but also showing up for class on time.

READING: All students must complete the reading for the course. Weekly assignments are indicated in the syllabus. Some of the readings are in books ordered for the course while others are etext linked through the online syllabus. It is important for you to do the reading in time to participate in the discussions.

DISCUSSIONS: Part of your grade for the semester will be based on your active, well-informed, and intelligent participation in the conversation.

PAPER: Your paper will be graded on the strength of its ideas; the breadth, depth, and originality of its research; the originality, intelligence, and power of its thesis or interpretation; and the grace and clarity of your writing (your use of language, spelling, punctuation, and syntax). Naturally, any plagiarism (having someone write the paper for you, copying it from another source, or insufficiently acknowledging the ideas of others) will result in strong penalties. All papers are due in class on Wednesday, April 19.

GRADES: Class discussion will count 40%. Your paper will count 60%.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Students with disabilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should follow these steps: 1) Provide documentation of your disability to the Office of Disabled Student Services (644-1741). 2) Bring a statement from the Office of Disabled Student Services indicating that you have registered with them to both the instructor and Ms. Perry, Academic Coordinator (431 Bellamy). 3) No later than the first class session, introduce yourself to the instructor.

OFFICE HOURS: McMahon: Tues & Thurs 5-6. Jumonville: By appt.

COURSE SCHEDULE AND READING LIST

JAN 11. WEEK 1: Introduction and organization.

JAN 18. WEEK 2: The Origins of Liberalism.

• John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, in Two Treatises of Government, ed. Peter Laslett. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. 1988 [ISBN: 0521357306]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/locke_second-treatise.htm

• Harold Laski, The Rise of European Liberalism. (Transaction, 1997). [ISBN: 1560008458] Chapters 1-3.

JAN 25. WEEK 3: From Europe to America.

• John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato’s Letters (Liberty Fund, 1995). [ISBN: 0865971293]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/catos_letters.htm

• Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (Belknap Press, 1992). Chaps 1-3, 5. [ISBN: 0674443020]

FEB 1. WEEK 4: Marketplace of ideas and invisible hands.

• Thomas Jefferson, The Portable Thomas Jefferson, ed. Merrill Peterson (Penguin, 1977). [ISBN:.0140150803] Read the Declaration of Independence," "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom," "The Kentucky Resolutions," "Report of the Commissioners for the Univ of Virginia," "Notes on the State of Virginia" (only pages 122-50, 177-199, and 208-217 of this essay), and letters on pages 415-18, 428-33, 438-40, 444-51, 544-47, and 567-69.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/TJ-Declaration.html
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/TJ-Kentucky.html
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/TJ-Religion.html
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/TJ-Letters.html
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/jefferson_nosov.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/jefferson_uva.htm

• Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, ed. and abridged by Laurence Dickey Hackett Publishing Company. [ISBN: 0872202046] READ: BOOK 1, CHS. 1-8; BOOK 2, Introduction and Ch. 3; BOOK 3, CHS. 1-4; BOOK 4, CHS. 1-2; BOOK 5, CH. 1 (PART 1, Part 2, and Part 3, article 2)
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/smith_won.htm

FEB 8. WEEK 5: Governing

• Montesquieu, Selected Political Writings, ed. Melvin Richter. Hackett Publishing Company, 1990. [ISBN: 0872200906] READ: Considerations on the Causes of the Romans’ Greatness and Decline, CHS. 8-9; The Spirit of the Laws, Intro, Preface, Books 1-5, 8, 11, 15, 19, 25.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/montesquieu_romans.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/montesquieu_sol.htm

• Madison, Hamilton, Jay, The Federalist Papers (Penguin, 1987). [ISBN: 0140444955] Read 9, 10, 14, 15, 23, 39, 48, 51, 70.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/federalist_papers.htm

FEB 15. WEEK 6: Conservatism and Tradition

• Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, ed. Frank M. Turner (Yale University Press, 2003). [ISBN: 0300099797]. Read all.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/burke_revolution.htm

FEB 22. WEEK 7: Romanticism

• Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Portable Emerson, eds. Carl Bode and Malcolm Cowley (Penguin, 1981). [ISBN: 0140150943]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/emerson_essays.htm

• Walt Whitman, The Portable Walt Whitman (Penguin, 2003). [ISBN: 0142437689]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/whitman_writings.htm

MAR 1. WEEK 8: Struggle

• Thomas Malthus, Essay on the Principle of Population (Penguin, 1983) [ISBN: 014043206X] Read chaps 2, 5. http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/malthus_population.htm

• Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, and selections from On the Jewish Question, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, and “The Coming Upheaval”, in Karl Marx, The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Robert C. Tucker, 2nd ed. (Norton, 1978) [ISBN: 039309040X]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/marx_manifesto.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/marx_jewish-q.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/marx_upheaval.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/marx_e&p-mss.htm

MAR 8. WEEK 9: SPRING BREAK

MAR 15. WEEK 10: The Course of Democracy

• Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence (Harper, 2000) [ISBN: 0060956666] Pages 50-57, 231-76, 429-75, 503-67, 590-608, 667-70, and 690-705. Add: Volume 1, Author’s Introduction, pp. 9-21; Vol. 1, Ch. 4, pp. 58–60; Vol. 1, Ch. 9, pp. 287–301; Volume 2, Ch. 1, 429–436.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/tocqueville_dem.htm

MAR 22. WEEK 11: Liberty and Choice

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Writing. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge University Press (August 25, 1989). [ISBN: 0521379172]
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/mill_on-liberty.htm

• William Stanley Jevons, The Theory of Political Economy (1871). Out of print. Read chaps 3-4.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/jevons_brief-account.htm
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/jevons_political-economy.htm

• Interesting website for the topic of Manchester School liberalism:
http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/manchester.htm

MAR 29. WEEK 12: Pragmatism and Liberalism

• William James, “What Pragmatism Means,”
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/james.htm

• Charles Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief” (1877) and “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” (1878)
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/p-ideas.htm

• John Dewey, Democracy and Education (Free Press, 1997). [ISBN: 0684836319] Chaps 2, 3, 11.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/dewey_democracy.htm

• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., “The Path of the Law”
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/holmes-jr_path-of-law.htm

• James Kloppenberg, Uncertain Victory (Oxford University Press, 1988). [ISBN: 0195053044] Chaps 2, 7-9.

APR 5. WEEK 13: Varieties of Liberalism

• Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (Northeastern University Press, 1989). [ISBN: 1555530621] Read chaps 1, 9, 13.
http://myweb.fsu.edu/njumonville/croly_promise.htm

• F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1984). [ISBN: 0226320618] Chaps 1-5, 8-11.

• Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago, 2002). [ISBN: 0226264211] Read chapters 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13.

APR 12. WEEK 14: Liberalism and the Counterculture

• Ann Charters, ed., The Portable Beat Reader (New York: Penguin, 1992) [ISBN: 0140151028] Read pages 1-77, 153-66, 187-263, 289-316, 321-26, 340-53, 370-79, 384-94, 495-505, 524-25, 569-79, 606-14.

• http://www.wenaus.com/poetry/snyder.html

• http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/writers/snyder.html

APR 19. WEEK 15: Contemporary Debate