PHIL 721: Advanced Seminar in Philosophy

PHIL 721-001: Advanced Seminar: Kant's Critique of Judgment
(Fall 2017)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM T

Nguyen Engineering Building 1110

Section Information for Fall 2017

PHIL721-001 Advanced Seminar in Philosophy: Kant's Critique of Judgment
T 4:30 - 7:10 PM
Instructor: Dr. Rachel Jones
rjones23@gmu.edu

In this seminar, our central focus will be Kant’s Critique of Judgment, and in particular, his accounts of reflective and teleological judgment and how they inform his transcendental approach to both aesthetics and nature. We will engage in a close reading of the text while moving outwards in two directions: first, by reading some of Kant’s other writings on anthropology, history, and the political, including his Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim (1784), Of the different races of human beings (1775), and Determination of the concept of a human race (1885); and second, by reading the work of more recent philosophers who see in Kant’s accounts of aesthetic and teleological judgment resources for (re-)thinking the political, including Hannah Arendt, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Christine Battersby, and David Harvey. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which questions of difference, as they play out in relation to gender and race, complicate and undercut both the humanism and the universalism of Kant’s project, and ask whether and how a post-Kantian humanism or universalism might (or should) be maintained. Together we will seek not just to understand Kant’s project in the Critique of Judgment, but to explore the extent to which the problems and ideas examined there remain relevant and philosophically generative for us today.

NB: you will need your own copy of the Critique of Judgment for this seminar: we will be using the Cambridge University Press edition, Critique of the Power of Judgment, translated by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews (CUP 2001). Please use this edition - translation issues are one of the things we will discuss. Other writings by Kant will be provided as pdfs via BlackBoard.

For students in the Traditional and Contemporary Philosophy focus, this course can be used to fulfill the modern philosophy requirement and can be used to fulfill the seminar requirement. For students who have already fulfilled these requirements, the course can be used as an elective.
For students in the Ethics and Public Affairs concentration, this course can be used to fulfill the history of philosophy requirement. For students who have already fulfilled this requirement, the course can be used as an elective.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Close study of selected topics in current philosophical discourse. Notes: May be repeated for credit when topic is different. May be repeated within the term.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Non-Degree level students.

Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.

Schedule Type: Lec/Sem #1, Lec/Sem #2, Lec/Sem #3, Lec/Sem #4, Lec/Sem #5, Lec/Sem #6, Lec/Sem #7, Lec/Sem #8, Lec/Sem #9, Sem/Lec #10, Sem/Lec #11, Sem/Lec #12, Sem/Lec #13, Sem/Lec #14, Sem/Lec #15, Sem/Lec #16, Sem/Lec #17, Sem/Lec #18, Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.