U.S. Intellectual History Blog

US Intellectual History Syllabi: Daniel Wickberg

Earlier this year, I discovered while rummaging through back issues of the Intellectual History Newsletter that the editors there used to print syllabi of courses germane to the field from their subscribers. “Germane” was interpreted fairly broadly, and that was all to the good, as it gives a snapshot of a wide range of courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, from the intellectual history survey to highly specialized seminars.

I invited readers of the blog to send in their syllabi, and now I’m going to post those I received over the next few weeks. If you’ve got a syllabus you’d like to share, please by all means send it on to andrew [dot] seal [at] yale [dot] edu.

Below the fold is syllabus #1 from Daniel Wickberg, Associate Professor of Historical Studies and the History of Ideas at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the immediate past president of the Society. Professor Wickberg has written recently for the blog, penning a luminous essay on Jackson Lears’s classic No Place of Grace: Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture, 1880-1920. If you prefer to download the syllabus as a pdf, you can do so here.

Course Syllabus

 

Course Information

Course Number/Section                        HUHI 7313 001

Course Title                              American Intellectual History

Term                                        Fall 2014

Days & Times                          T 10:00-12:45

JO 4.112

Professor Contact Information

Professor                                  Wickberg

Office Phone                            6222

Other Phone                            214 942-1690

Email Address                          [email protected]

Office Location                                    JO 5.428

Office Hours                             M 2:00-3:00

Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions

PhD Students in the Humanities Program.

Course Description

This course is a PhD-level overview of American thought from the seventeenth century to the present, with a focus on philosophy, political thought, and social thought. We will be reading both primary writings by American thinkers and a selective sample of recent scholarly literature on American intellectual history. Topics covered include: Puritanism, the American Enlightenment, evangelical religion, romanticism, feminism, abolition and pro-slavery thought, Darwinism, natural science and religion, modernism and antimodernism, cold war liberalism and its critics, the rise of social science, pragmatism, forms of relativism, postmodernisms. The course seeks to balance intensive attention to primary readings with a substantive introduction to historiography of the field. This course lays the foundation for students who are interested in pursuing a PhD exam field in American intellectual history.

As an overview, the course generally sacrifices depth for breadth; it seeks to put students on a basis of familiarity with a broad range of thought and issues, but does not provide an in-depth examination of a specific issue or problem. Students will be able to explore specific topics in more depth with their papers. One of the secondary purposes of the course is to give students a working understanding of the approaches to the past characteristic of intellectual history as a discipline. Students will learn the variety of ways in which scholars approach the thought and thinkers of the past, how they use sources, what kinds of argumentation and modes of writing are characteristic of intellectual history. In particular, the purpose of reading substantial secondary and primary materials in concert is to get students to understand how to think about ideas historically, rather than in other ways, such as philosophically or instrumentally.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

Students will demonstrate knowledge of major figures and schools of thought in American intellectual history.

Students will analyze and interpret a significant body of thought in American intellectual history.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of historiography of American intellectual history.

Required Textbooks and Materials

Required Texts

David Hollinger and Charles Capper, eds., The American Intellectual Tradition, vols, I and II, 6th edition. Please note: Only the 6th edition contains all relevant required readings.

Vol. I 978-0195392920

Vol. II 978-0195392937

David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation

978-0307269096

Hardcover

Jonathan Scott Holloway, Confronting the Veil

978-0807853436

Andrew Jewett, Science, Democracy, and the American University

978-1107686311

Mary Kelly, Learning to Stand and Speak: Women, Education, and Public Life in America’s Republic

978-0807859216

Jonathan Levy, Freaks of Fortune: The Emerging World of Capitalism and Risk in America

978-0674736351

Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club

978-0374528492

Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia

978-0674064348

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas

978-0226006765

Daniel T. Rodgers, Age of Fracture

978-0674064362

Eric Slauter, The State as a Work of Art

978-0226761961

Additional materials on course electronic reserve as indicated in the schedule of readings

Assignments & Academic Calendar

Topics, Reading Assignments, Due Dates, Exam Dates

Week I             Tuesday August 26

Introduction. No reading.

Week II                       Tuesday, September 2

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. I, pp. 3-108

Perry Miller, “The Marrow of Puritan Divinity” in Errand Into the Wilderness

Janice Knight, Orthodoxies in Massachusetts, introduction and chapter 4, pp. 3-11, 88-108

Week III          Tuesday, September 9

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. I, pp. 111-216

Eric Slauter, The State as a Work of Art

Week IV          Tuesday, September 16

Mary Kelly, Learning to Stand and Speak: Women, Education, and Public Life in America’s Republic

Week V            Tuesday, September 23

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. I, pp. 219–449

John L. Thomas, “Romantic Reform in America, 1815-1865,” American

Quarterly 17 (1965): 656-81

Robert Abzug, Cosmos Crumbling, chap. 6, pp. 129-62

Jeffrey Sklansky, The Soul’s Economy: Market Society and Selfhood in

American Thought, 1820-1920, chap. 2, pp. 33-72

Week VI          Tuesday, September 30

David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation

Week VII         Tuesday, October 7

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 1, pp. 453-537

Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, chapter 4. pp. 92-131

George Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind, chap. 4, pp. 97-129

Molly Oshatz, “The Problem of Moral Progress: The Slavery Debates and the Development of Liberal Protestantism in the United States,” Modern Intellectual History, 5 (August 2008), 225-50

Week VIII        Tuesday, October 14

Jonathan Levy, Freaks of Fortune: The Emerging World of Capitalism and Risk in America

Jeffrey Sklansky, “The Elusive Sovereign: New Intellectual and Social Histories Of Capitalism,” Modern Intellectual History 9.1 (April 2012): 233-48

Week IX          Tuesday, October 21

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 3-120

Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club

Week X           Tuesday, October 28

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 123-254

Andrew Jewett, Science, Democracy, and the American University

Week XI          Tuesday, November 4

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 257-348

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, American Nietzsche

Week XII         Tuesday, November 11

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 349-416

Jonathan Scott Holloway, Confronting the Veil

Week XIII       Tuesday, November 18

NO CLASS MEETING

Paper Outline and Bibliography Due: Submit via Email

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week XIV        Tuesday, December 2

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 419-509

Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia

Week XV         Tuesday, December 9

American Intellectual Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 510-636

Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture

Friday, December 12

PAPERS DUE @ 1:00 pm JO 5.428

Grading Policy

Grades will be based on class participation, one short oral presentation, and a research paper of 15-20 pages. Grades will be determined on the following basis:

Participation                40%

Oral Presentation         10%

Term Paper                 50%

Course Policies

Late Work

It is extremely important that students complete all assigned readings for the discussion dates set in the syllabus. Students will also have an assigned date for an oral presentation; if illness or emergency prevents you from making this assigned date, you must let me know immediately. If there are legitimate reasons, we can arrange to reschedule, but generally extensions will not be granted for lack of foresight or matters of preference. Please make every effort to meet course deadlines.

Class Attendance

Attendance is required. Illness, emergencies, and religious holidays are the only legitimate reasons for missing class. Missed classes will affect your participation grade, and excessive absence will result in failure of the course.

Classroom Citizenship

This is a discussion class. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the reading. Lateness is disruptive, so please make every effort to be on time. Give fellow students and the instructor the courtesy of listening to their ideas. Disagreement and argument are the lifeblood of intellectual work and are encouraged, but please avoid personal remarks and rudeness. My aim is to make all students comfortable and willing to discuss their ideas, but also to challenge students to develop their ideas or defend their claims. Please do not take such challenges personally.   Please give the class your full attention: cell phones, laptops and unrelated notes and books should be put away during class. Do not pass notes or hold whispered side-conversations with fellow students during class; if there is something worth saying about the class material, please address the entire class.

Please consult university policy for information about educational matters and regulations not discussed here. This class will be conducted according to university policies.