Spring 2013 Philosophy of Culture Syllabus

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Syllabus

Goals of the Course

1. To understand and critically assess a range of theories about the nature of culture and cultural criticism.
2. To develop your own philosophical theory of culture and cultural criticism.
3. To apply skills of ethnography and cultural analysis to comparative topics in Italian and U.S. culture.

Course Description

This Philosophy of Culture course mixes readings and resources from several disciplines, such as philosophy, cultural and physical anthropology, literature, cinema, semiotics, and cultural studies, to give students a sound introduction to philosophical issues in the study of cultural and skill in giving cultural analysis. We study theories from physical anthropology and evolutionary psychology on the emergence of culture, as well as theories of cultural analysis and criticism that emerges from the both the traditions of cultural anthropology and the continental philosophical traditions of phenomenology, postmodernism, and semiotics. The main goal of our study will be to develop a sound philosophical theory of culture, and both read and practice cultural analysis.

For the Gonzaga-in-Florence version of this course a substantial component of course material and course work (30-35%) will involve Italian culture, especially cinema, literature and cultural criticism.

Course Readings

• Baudrillard, Jean. 1981. Chapter Three: Fetishism and Ideology: The Semiological Reduction. in For Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign Jean Baudrillard, 88-102. St. Louis, Missouri: Telos Press.
• Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility.
• Bondanella, Peter. 2001. Italian Cinema. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, Zygmunt West Rebecca Baranski. 215-43. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
• Bull, Ann Cento. 2001. Social and political cultures in Italy from 1860 to the present day. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, Zygmunt West Rebecca Baranski. 35-63. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
• Crocini-Windland, Lita. 2011. Chapters 1-3: Introduction; Learning, Identity, Duration and the Virtual; Siena and The Palio -- War and State Machine. Festivals, affect, and identity; a Deleuzian apprenticeship in central Italian communities Lita The *Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette) . 1948. Vittorio de Seca. Vittorio de Seca. Italy.
• Dennett, Daniel. 2011. The Evolution of Culture. Culture: Leading scientists explore societies, art, power, and technology, Editor John Brockman. 1-27. New York: Harper.
• Diamond, Jared. 1992. Chapter 10: Agriculture's Mixed Blessing. The Third Chimpanzee Jared Diamond, 180-91. New York: Harper.
• ________. 1992. Chapter 11: Why Do We Smoke, Drink, and Use Dangerous Drugs? The Third Chimpanzee Jared Diamond, 192-204. New York: Harper.
• ________. 1992. Chapter 3: The Evolution of Human Sexuality. The Third Chimpanzee Jared Diamond, 67-84. New York: Harper.
• ________. 2005. Prologue: Yali's Question and Chapter 3: Collision at Cajamarca. Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond, 13-32, 67-81. New York: W.W. Norton &.
• ________. 2011. Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? in Culture: Leading scientists explore societies, art, power, and technology, Editor John Brockman. 27-42. New York: Harper.
• Eco, Umberto. 2012. Inventing the Enemy. in Inventing the Enemy Umberto Eco, 1-17. Boston: Houghton MIfflin Harcourt.
• Eno, Brian. 2011. A Big Theory of Culture. Culture: Leading scientists explore societies, art, power, and technology, Editor John Brockman. 57-71. New York: Harper.
• Erickson, Paul A. and Liam Murphy. 1998. Chapters 2 and 3: The Early Twentieth Century; The Later Twentieth Century. in A History of Anthropological Theory Paul A. Erickson and Liam Murphy, 73-149. Ontario: Broadview Press.
• Freud, Sigmund. 1961. Civilization and Its Discontents, James Strachey. 11-95. New York: Norton & Co.
• Galbraith, John Kenneth. 2000. The Dependence Effect. The Consumer Society, Editors Juliet B Schor and Douglas B Holt. 20-6. New York: The New Press.
• Geertz, Clifford. 1973. Chapter 1: Thick Description: Toward and Interpretive Theory of Culture. The Interpretation of Cultures Clifford Geertz, 3-30. New York: Basic Books.
• Gramsci, Antonio. 1988. An Antonio Gramsci Reader: selectied writings, 1916-1935. New York: Schocken Books.
• Hebdige, Dick. 2000. Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle. The Consumer Society, Editors Juliet B Schor and Douglas B Holt. 117-55. New York: The New Press.
• Marx, Karl. 2000. The Fetishism of Commodity and Its Secret. in The Consumer Society, Editors Juliet B Schor and Douglas B Holt. 331-43. New York: The New Press.
• Muraro, Luisa. 2007. Toward A Symbolic of Sexual Difference. Contemporary Italian Philosophy, editors Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder. 211-26. Albany, New York: SUNY.
• Nanda, Serena and Richard Warms. 2007. Chapter Three: Doing Cultural Anthropology. in Cultural Anthropology Serena Nanda and Richard Warms, 58-84Thompson/Wadsworth.
• Sosis, Richard. March 2004-30 April 2004. The Adaptive Value of Religious Ritual. American Scientist 92: 166-72.
• Ward, David. 2001. Intellectuals, culture and power in modern Italy. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, Zygmunt West Rebecca Baranski. 81-97. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
• Wilson, E. O. 2012. The Social Conquest of Earth. New York: Norton.
• Wood, Sharon and Joseph Farrell. 2001. Other voices: contesting the status quo. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture, Zygmunt West Rebecca Baranski. 131-49. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Assessment

Students will be assessed on their achievement of the course goals through the following methods:

• 20% Reading quizes
• 20% Midterm
• 20% 1st paper
• 20% Final project
• 20% Final Exam