ONLINE SYLLABUS

Religious Studies 777 / Cultural Studies & Critical Theory 777 (Winter 2016)

On and Around Derrida

This online syllabus/course website is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/777 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below). It will be updated periodically, and students in the seminar are asked to consult it regularly during the semester.

CLASS MEETINGS:

Thursdays, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m., University Hall 122




updated March 4, 2016

INSTRUCTOR: 

Dana Hollander, Department of Religious Studies, University Hall 109, (905) 525-9140, ext. 24759*, danahol@mcmaster.ca*, http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/

*in your phone and e-mail messages, please let me know how I can reach you by phone

Office Hours: Thursdays, 5-6 p.m., or by appointment.

☛ JUMP TO SCHEDULE: January / February / March / April

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This seminar will introduce students to the philosophy of Jacques Derrida by reading some core texts from 1967-68, alongside selections from core works by Martin Heidegger that provide important background to Derrida's fundamental philosophical innovations.

We will then build on this core introduction, by studying later works by Derrida on the animal (in a special joint session with Professor David Clark's current graduate seminar "Regarding Animals: Theories of Non-Human Life"), the gift, and negative theology (the latter two topics will involve looking at later works by Heidegger as well). Finally, our seminar will feature a special session with Professor Sergey Dolgopolski (University at Buffalo), on "Talmud After Heidegger and Derrida."

COURSE MATERIALS
Please purchase the following two books - copies of which are available at the McMaster Campus Store:

Details for how to obtain other course readings will be communicated.

Course readings - including original-language editions of translated works we are reading (which students are encouraged to refer to to the extent possible) - as well as relevant background research materials will be placed on reserve at Mills Library - e.g. for personal photocopying.

It is a requirement of this seminar that you use and bring to the relevant class meetings your own paper copy of all the primary works we are studying--in the same edition selected for the class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
  • Regular attendance, careful preparation of readings, and participation in class discussion.
  • One or two in-class presentation(s) designed to introduce one or more of the readings for class discussion.
  • A paper (15-20 pages), preceded by a paper proposal (1-3 pages, plus bibliography, due March 28: detailed instructions to follow) on a topic chosen in consultation with me, due April 25.
    •

Grades will be based on Participation/Presentations 45%, Final Paper 55%.

January 7

Organizational Meeting


January 21, 28; February 4, 11

Martin Heidegger: Introductory Selections

Primary Readings:

  1. Being and Time (1927): Introduction

  2. Being and Time: sections 9, 10, 12, 13, 15

  3. Being and Time: sections 39, 41, 42

  4. Being and Time: sections 65, 66, 67, 68 (a); "The Concept of Time" (1924)


Background Readings on Heidegger, and guides to Being and Time:

Richard Kearney, "Martin Heidegger," Modern Movements in European Philosophy (1986/1994)

Richard Polt, Heidegger - An Introduction (1999)

Magda King, A Guide to Heidegger's Being and Time (1964/2001), ed. John Llewelyn


Further secondary literature will be recommended as the seminar progresses.


February 25; March 3, 24

Jacques Derrida: Core Texts From 1967-1968

Of Grammatology (1967), part I

"Différance" (1968), in Margins of Philosophy, trans. Alan Bass

Original: "La Différance," in Marges de la philosophie


Introductory Readings on Derrida:

Leonard Lawlor, "Jacques Derrida" (2006-2014), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Jean-Michel Rabaté, "Jacques Derrida" in Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism, 2nd ed. (2005)

Further Reading on Derrida:

Geoffrey Bennington, "Derridabase," in Bennington/Derrida, Jacques Derrida

"The Time of a Thesis: Punctuations" (1980) (from Philosophy in France Today, ed. Montefiore) 

"Letter to a Japanese Friend" (1983) in Kamuf (ed.), A Derrida Reader. Between the Blinds 

Kevin Hart, "Jacques Derrida," in Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis (eds.), The History of Western Philosophy of Religion (2009), vol. 5: Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Religion


Wednesday, March 9, 1:30-4:30 - location TBA

SPECIAL JOINT SESSION WITH English/CSCT 767, Prof. David L. Clark's graduate seminar: "Regarding Animals: Theories of Non-Human Life"

"Différance" (1968), in Margins of Philosophy, trans. Alan Bass

Original: "Différance," in Marges de la philosophie

-----, "The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow)" (1997), trans. David Wills, in Critical Inquiry 28 (Winter 2002) (also published as chap. 1 of The Animal That Therefore I Am, ed. Marie-Louise Mallet, trans. David Wills [Fordham UP, 2008])

Original: "L'Animal que donc je suis (à suivre)" in L'Animal que donc je suis (Paris, 2006)


Background Reading:

To learn more about David L. Clark and his research and teaching, see his home page

March 17, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

SPECIAL SESSION on "Talmud After Heidegger and Derrida," with Prof. Sergey Dolgopolski (Dept. of Comparative Literature / Dept. of Jewish Thought, University at Buffalo)

Sergey Dolgopolski, What Is Talmud? The Art of Disagreement (2008): chaps. 1 and 2

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Gittin 90a-b (in English translation) [handout]


Background Reading:

Michael Satlow, Creating Judaism (2006), chap. 4: "The Rabbis," esp. pp. 133-39.

"The Talmud" (2013), two-part BBC radio program.

A Page of Talmud (website by Eliezer Segal, University of Calgary)


Monday, March 28, 12:00 p.m. - paper proposal due by e-mail to Dr. Hollander. (Detailed instructions to follow.)



March 31; April 7

Derrida on the Gift

Jacques Derrida, Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money (1991), trans. Peggy Kamuf, chaps. 1 and 2

Original: Donner le temps 1. La fausse monnaie
Martin Heidegger, "Time and Being" (1962), trans. Joan Stambaugh, in On Time and Being

Original: "Zeit und Sein," in Zur Sache des Denkens


Derrida on Negative Theology

"How to Avoid Speaking: Denials" (1986), trans. K. Frieden and E. Rottenberg, in Psyche. Inventions of the Other, Volume II

Original: "Comment ne pas parler: Dénégations" in Psyché. Inventions de l'autre


Background Reading:

David Braine, "Negative Theology" (1998), in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online]: esp. the introductory section (sections 1 and 4 are also relevant)

Copyright © Dana Hollander