Agassiz's Legacy Lives on in Today's Education

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=15&sid=979b23ca-2ec3-4d6d-b326-2bfac84e2161%40sessionmgr8

In "Drawing to Learn Science: Legacies of Agassiz," in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Neal Lerner argues that Louis Agassiz continues to influence the way science is taught today and that it is counter-productive in teaching science. He argues that Agassiz's method of observation and drawing organisms leads to students memorizing facts instead of thinking critically about the topic. As Menand pointed out in "The Metaphysical Club," this method of scientific study can lead to creating evidence that support false and preconcieved theories.

Learner writes that, "[D]rawing to learn science reveals a long-standing tension between the theory of mental discipline or students mastering a body of scientific facts and constructivism in which students create knowledge through social interaction and opportunities to do the work of real scientists."

Church of England apologizes to Charles Darwin for rejecting evolution

From telegraph.co.uk, September 2008: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2910447/Charles-Darwin-to-receive-apology-from-the-Church-of-England-for-rejecting-evolution.html

"The apology, which has been written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs, says that Christians, in their response to Darwin's theory of natural selection, repeated the mistakes they made in doubting Galileo's astronomy in the 17th century."

I thought that this was interesting since it seems to be something that will never happen in America!!

John Dewey on William James

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B03EFD6103AE633A2575AC0A9609C946396D6CF

This is a link to a review written by John Dewey on William James' Volume on Radical Empiricism and Comments on Pragmatism. It was published on June 9, 1912 in the New York Times, about two years after James' death. Dewey, while giving a rather technical review of James' writings, also notes his legacy as an American philosopher and thinker. He credits James' his widespread influence to both his artistic writing as well as underlying trends in the 19th century mindset that made his rise to fame possible.

William James' Principles of Psychology

William James became known as one of the foremost names in psychology in the late 19th Century for the writing of Principles of Psychology. In this text James discussed many topics that before his time had been practically untouched, such as habit, the stream of thought, consciousness of self, discrimination and comparison, the production of movement, instinct, and hypnotism. This short introduction to James' work by Robert H. Wozniak helps us to break down and summarize those different aspects within the James' dissection of the human psyche. Wozniak includes James' theory on emotions, his beliefs on self identity, and breaks down his beliefs on steams of consciousness. The author describes how James' "played a major role in shifting psychology away from elementalism toward a functional, process oriented account of mind (and eventually behavior)." Obviously William James played an enormous role in shaping the way we look at the science of psychology today.

http://psychclassics.asu.edu/James/Principles/wozniak.htm

"How stupid of me not to have thought of that!" -T.H.Huxley's reaction to the Origin of Species

"As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the stake if requisite...I am sharpening up my claws and beak in readiness." - Letter of T.H. Huxley to Charles Darwin, NOvember 23, 1859, regarding the Origin of Species.

T.H. Huxley was greatly opposed to early evolutionary theories, such as Lamarck and Robert Chambers'. These theories were based on progression and Huxley wanted nothing to do with progressionist ideas. A biologist himself he initially believed that the ancient world had stayed much the same for as far back as its history could be traced, and that modern taxa would eventually be found in the oldest rocks.  Wrong he was, however, and in Darwin's theory he found his true alliance.

Huxley was more than ready to fight for the Darwinian doctrines, and fight he did. If acceptance of Darwinian thought was spread so quickly, it was probably because of the numerous debates Huxley appeared in and the passion with which he defended the theory. "Darwin's bulldog" is what he was known as, and his most famous debate was with Archbishop Samuel  Wilberforce, who ridiculed evolution by asking Huxley if he was descending from an ape on his grandfather's side or his grandmother's. Huxley's response was that he "would rather be the offspring of two apes than be a man and afraid to face the truth."

Check out http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/thuxley.html for more. 

Darwin's Influence on John Dewey

"Old ideas give way slowly ... They are habits, predispositions, deeply ingrained attitudes of aversion and preference. ... In fact, intellectual progress usually occurs through sheer abandonment of questions ... We do not solve them; we get over them."

—John Dewey, "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy" (1910)

John Dewey was a philosopher, educational reformer, and a key founder in pragmatism. Dewey supported Darwin's theory of evolution. He included many of Darwin's ideas within his own theories (in education and democracy) and even wrote an article entitled "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy" (1910). Dewey owes much thanks to Darwin for warming the public to new ideas. Due to the wide acceptance of Darwin's theory the public began receiving new theories and innovations better. A clear turning away and challenging of traditional thought highlights this time.

I attached a copy of "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy" from google books.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZIgn5l73hmEC&pg=PA39&dq=the+publication+of+the+origins+of+species+%22marked+an+epoch+in+the+development%22&ei=ru9_SZqoAqDkzQTRx-WPCQ

Libertarian Magazine Hates Holmes

http://reason.com/blog/show/131267.html

With Obama's quick action to reverse several controversial Bush legacies, libertarian magazine Reason points out who is truly responsible for Guantanamo Bay: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Teddy Roosevelt appointed Holmes to the Supreme Court after getting his promise about foreigners' constitutional rights. The article states, "He dutifully voted with the majority in the so-called Insular Cases, which held, for example that the right to a jury trial did not extend to Filipinos or Hawaiians." This cleared the way for foreign prisons like Guantanamo.

Though the insular cases were influenced by his debt to Roosevelt, Holmes' pragmatist beliefs led to opinions that were difficult to place in any economic or political ideology. Indeed, his judgments can only truly be understood through the lens of pragmatism.

The article continues with vitriol against Holmes, specifically with Lochner v. New York where Holmes sides with populist interests rather than free market beliefs, and his support of forced invalid sterilization which is opposed on grounds of big brother government.

The article highlights an interesting link between Holmes and our current world, though one doesn't have to look hard to find such links.

John Dewey and Science Education

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.bu.edu/stable/4447618?seq=4&Search=yes&term=john&term=dewey&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Djohn%2Bdewey%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26wc%3Don&item=12&ttl=35552&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle

This article by Frances S. Vandervoort, a science teacher to gifted middle school students in Chicago, argues that science education is suffering in the US because it is presented in a way that is unappealing to students. Vandervoort claims that modern day science teachers should look to John Dewey for strategy on how to teach science. Dewey believed that science education should be inquiry based. Even though the article was published in the eighties, it still seems like the United States is lagging behind other countries in math and science today. Maybe it really is time to reevaluate how science is taught here and return to Dewey's ideas on how it should be done.

Dewey and Social Progress through Education

John Dewey, a champion of underprivileged Americans, made significant contributions to the realm of philosophy in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century. Fascinated with and concerned for the inhabitants of urban America, Dewey urged care for the poor and social improvement for the overall betterment of the general public. Dewey advocated the application of reform social Darwinist theory in the establishments most formative in the development of public character: educational institutions. He contemplated effective curriculum design in elementary education. Author Philip W. Jackson offers a detailed analysis of John Dewey’s “School and Society” and assesses the legitimacy of the prominent American philosopher’s argument. Dewey’s work emphasizes and necessitates the strong influence of American school systems in the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence. John Dewey crafts an indefinite correlation between schooling and social progress in his text. Jackson does not intend to refute, nor prove this claim, but he instead provides crucial counterpoint and external perspective. Jackson does admit that John Dewey’s claims still resonate in modern American society.

The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 98, No. 5, Special Issue: John Dewey: The Chicago Years (May, 1998), pp. 415-426


http://www.jstor.org/stable/1002322

William Lloyd Garrison In Support of Brown

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/garrison.htm

In this fierce denouncement of Southern slavery and 'backwardness', Garrison calls for secession. This caught my attention because it had been previously programmed in my mind (through the standard US public education) that it was only the Southern states that desired to be free from the North. It never crossed my mind that there would be those in the North that wished to cut all ties with the heathen South.

Another contradiction that always intrigues is that how one side can demonize the other while participating in similar (if not worse) actions.

Funny, right? In a sense it backs up the saying, "nothing ever changes".


On a funny note.... can you believe that this exisits????
http://www.zazzle.com/william_loyd_garrison_abolitionist_shirt-235428101742201465

Pragmatism in Action Today and a Funny School-of-Dewey Comic

http://www.slate.com/id/2364/

This article in Slate magazine by Carlin Romano "We Are Pragmatic" sets out to show that the newspaper USA Today runs on the Pragmatic ideology of William James and John Dewey. Al Neuharth, the founder of USA Today, has created a paper which draws on the idea of a democracy of ideas. Romano argues that the way ideas are presented in editorials is in the Pragmatic tradition: they evaluate stands on an issue for it's "cash value." Romano compares USA Today to something like the New York Times reguarding the century old NYT as Cartesian.

I also thought this Foxtrot comic was an excellent example of Dewey's teaching method:

http://i41.tinypic.com/ftihae.jpg

T.H. Huxley, the Frankensteinosaurus and Other Bird Reptiles

T.H. Huxley was not only "Darwin's Bulldog" he also had an interest in large reptiles. He spent most of his life chasing the "Labyrinthodont." This creature is quite similar to the newt and salamander that we see today. There are two drastic differences, one is that Labyrinthodont has a mouthful of sharp teeth and that it can grow to an incredibly large size. Huxley was looking for a connection between birds and reptiles. In 1858 he found what he called the Frankensteinosaurus. It was a cross between the Stagonolepis, which is crocodile sized, and the Cetiosaurus also known as the "whale reptile." Huxley said that it was the "largest animal that ever walked the earth."
He also explored the bird reptile relationship through the Ornithoscelida which were bipedal and had hind legs and a pelvis like a bird.
It is interesting the Huxley not only was involved in evolution but also geology.

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/guide6.html

"Darwin evolves into anti-slavery advocate"

This article from The New Zealand Herald discusses society's tendency to use and adapt Darwin's On the Origins of Species to fit its own ideals and goals (from Lester Ward's Reform Darwinism to Nazism) and considers a new theory put forth by Darwin biographers, Adrian Desmond and James Moore. In their new work, Darwin's Sacred Cause, the two claim that Darwin supported the theory that all races were of the same species to dispute the rationale of slave holders who claimed whites were a separate and superior species. 

The author of the article doubts that this was Darwin's main motivation and cites Darwin's other works that show support for "a clear natural order of class, rank and race," and reminds us that "in human affairs [like the issue of slavery], battles are rarely won by evidence and logic." 

The Philosopher that Should Not Be Forgotten

The intrigue of Chauncey Wright lies with his distinction between many other great intellectuals of the late 19th century. Unlike Agassiz, Wright failed desperately as a lecturer; unlike William James, Wright published few notable articles in his lifetime, contributing only to the North American Review and Nation on a consistent basis; and unlike his other married and healthy philosophical friends, Wright died at a very young age due to a stroke perhaps related to his zealous drinking and smoking habits. However, Wright’s influence on more recognized intellectuals like William James and C.S. Peirce demonstrate the uniqueness of his voice and the strength of his intellect.

In the article, “Chauncey Wright: Forgotten American Philosopher,” Edward Madden illustrates Wright’s influence on his arguments concerning empiricism, psychology, and philosophy. Madden believes, as I do, that Wright’s thoughts should be valued in a more positive light, for his greatness in thought is irrefutable.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3031272

Louis Aggasiz; Artificial Design and the Ice Age

"I have devoted my whole life to the study of Nature, and yet a single sentence may express all that I have done. I have shown that there is a correspondence between the succession of Fishes in geological times and the different stages of their growth in the egg, -- that is all. It chanced to be a result that was found to apply to other groups and has led to other conclusions of a like nature. "
-Louis Agassiz, 1869

So begins this biographical account of the life work of paleontologist Louis Agassiz(1807-1873). Born in Switzerland, Agassiz came to America in the mid-1800s where he was a professor at Harvard University. He was a revolutionary persona in the world of intellectual thought because he tried to find a middleground between scientific inquiry and religion. For these reasons Agassiz was a lifelong opponent of Charles Darwin's thepory of evolution. In the world of paleontology, Agassiz stayed loyal to Cuvier's classification, which divided the animal kingdom into four branches: Vertebrata, Insecta, Vermes (worms) and Radiata (radially symmetrical animals). However, he claimed to see the work of God in nature, and refused to accept a theory that did not invoke design. Agassiz continued Cuvier's catastrophism theory which stated that the Earth had been periodically wracked by global catastrophes, after each of which new species of animals and plants had appeared. Instead of using the Flood model, Agassiz tied this catastrophe to the existance of glaciers; he felt that God created the ice age to eliminate the weakest mammals and tried devoted much of his career to attempting to prove the presence of glaciation in Brazil.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/agassiz.html

Emancipation- Black and White (1865) by T.H. Huxley

In this article, T.H. Huxley compares the newly established rights of blacks in the U.S. to the call for the emancipation of women. He argues that "no human being can arbitrarily dominate over another without grievous damage to his own nature," meaning man will benefit equally in emancipating women. Huxley goes on to describe the origins of male superiority in society, dating it back to ancient Greek mythology and the physical qualities of the gods. On the other hand, he notes that both men and women would benefit from a fair education. He claimed that men would not lose their position in society and women would be "none the less sweet for a little wisdom." I found this article interesting because we began discussing first/second/third wave feminism in the U.S. in class yesterday and I thought this was a good example of the mindset of first wave feminism.

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE3/B&W.html

Lester Frank Ward as a Natural Scientist

This article explores a lesser known aspect of Lester Frank Ward's life, his role as a natural scientist. This article is quite critical of Ward’s attempts at fame and success in the natural sciences and the point is made that although Ward had a strong interest in natural science, he struggled to leave a lasting mark on the field. There is certainly an immense amount of praise for Ward, primarily in the field of sociology, but I found this article interesting because of its efforts to expose another side to Ward. Also, it acknowledges the fact that often times, a strong passion does not amount to a successful career.
The author writes, “The trouble was, that Ward remained a philosopher, even in the field of natural science. For example, he considered the inheritance of acquired personality characteristics vital to his philosophic scheme [. . .]. Ward argued, for example, that if the immediate environment of the germ-plasm of an organism can change the inheritance, therefore the environment of the organism can change the inheritance.”

On Peirce's Terms

It's relatively well-known that Charles Sanders Peirce made no effort to hide his genius or knowledge; as he is remembered to have asked during one of his lectures at Harvard University, "Do you follow me?" Even though this was his advanced class, no one did. "I'm not surprised. I know of only three persons who could."

His intellect was largely part of his appeal though. Another student, when asked after one of his lectures what she got out of it, said he was absolutely "splendid" even though she could only remember one detail of the lecture. For those of us, such as this woman, who do have a hard time wrapping our minds around some of Peirce's seemingly nonsensical language...

A dictionary and compilation of his terms, in his own terms!

Won't You Come Home, John Dewey?

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/20/opinion/oe-bickman20

This article was published in the Opinion section of the LA Times in 2004. I just thought it was interesting because in class we had talked about how we have all done group projects/team building activities during our education and we have John Dewey to thank for that. The author, Martin Bickman, argues Dewey's ideas writing, "Experience without concepts is shallow and stagnant; similarly, concepts without immediate connections to experience are inert and useless." He goes on to write, "The choice is still ours to break this cycle of breaking the cycle, of setting the child against the curriculum, of experience against symbols, and to integrate these “opposites” into a truly mindful education." just like Dewey once realized.

The Darwin Correspondence Project

The Darwin Correspondence Project, complied mostly by the Cambridge University Library, is an extremely thorough record of Charles Darwin's letters.
This link above is a search of all letters either written to, or mentioning, Louis Agassiz. Search results include correspondence between Agassiz and Darwin, as well as Asa Gray and Darwin. Most of the letters between Darwin and Agassiz are polite, and have the two men exchanging information on their various experiments and findings--odd, considering how polarized their views were. In the Gray letters, however, it is much clearer how Gray and Darwin feel about Agassiz and his determination in his views, as well as his attempts to denounce Darwin's findings.
All in all, this site is a interesting way to learn a little more about Darwin through his friendships and correspondences.

William Graham Sumner: Anti-Imperialist

The following is an excerpt from an essay written by William Graham Sumner, titled "On Empire and the Phillippines" and written during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Though an avid supporter of Social Darwinism, Sumner criticizes the US's imperial ambition to annex the Philippines, arguing that American expansion overseas will inevitably drag the nation into endless, resource-draining wars to suppress indigenous uprisings. Though some Americans argued that it was the US's duty to "bless" the people of the Philippines as well as other overseas populations with civilization, Sumner strongly argued against spreading the American way of life abroad, advocating instead for Americans to stick to the nation's founding principle of liberty and "[leave] people to live out their own lives in their own way, while [Americans] do the same."

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:d0nbg67lblQJ:teacher.cgs.k12.va.us/rstack/cgshist/William%2520Graham%2520Sumner.doc+william+graham+sumner+on+empire&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Sumner gettin' caned

I thought this was missing from our otherwise tame blog

Blueandgraytrail.com

Logic of Pragmatism

"The elements of every concept enter into logical thought at the gate of perception and make their exit at the gate of purposive action; and whatever cannot show its passports at both those two gates is to be arrested as unauthorized by reason."

In the 7th section of this article entitled "Theories, Models, Reasoning, Language, and Truth" John F. Sowa describes indepth Peirce's logic of pragmatism. Sowa uses the graphic above to describe Peirce's three methods of reasoning: induction, abduction, and deduction. The article continues on to analyze Peirce's logic of pragmatism, as well as provide a list of quotes by/about Peirce.

http://www.fjsowa.com/logic/theories.htm

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

This article explores two aspects of Holmes life; his time as a supreme court justice and his influence on freedom of speech in America. The article also goes into his relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, looking into how much Holmes beliefs were influenced by their friendship. 

 

http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/itx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C70%29%22The+Firebrand+of+My+Youth%22%3A+Holmes%2C+Emerson+and+Freedom+of+Expression%24&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T003&prodId=AONE&searchId=R2&currentPosition=1&userGroupName=mlin_b_bumml&docId=A59750059&docType=IAC

You have to Download the article from this website, sorry I could figure out how to directly link it. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

This article is taken from the "Saint Petersburg Times" in Florida and was written for the 150 th anniversary of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s birth. The article talks about Holmes' views during his time as Supreme Court justice, especially on the First Amendment.
http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5621369744&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5621369747&cisb=22_T5621369746&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=11063&docNo=10

E.O. Wilson and James Watson on Charles Darwin

A very accessible Charlie Rose interview about Darwin 

between one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, James Watson, and the famous sociobiologist E.O. Wilson. 

"In Our Youth, Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire" (Holmes, Jr.)

Bostonian, Harvard graduate, Civil War veteran, and US Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. might be best remembered as one of the most influential common-law Justices in all of United States history; however, this American intellectual was also a fierce abolitionist who survived the Civil War.

In his famous Memorial Day speech, given on May 30, 1884, Holmes, Jr. addresses an audience in New Hampshire about his experiences at war and the importance and value of sacrifice.

--Jen Choi

William James Makes a Decision

http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/JamesByBandura.pdf
Provided by the Division of Educational Studies at Emory University

This piece is primarily comprised of block quotations from The Letters of William James (1906), interspersed with some commentary by Albert Bandura, formerly of Stanford University.

James talks about being a visiting scholar at Stanford, and, for the most part, loving it: "...for any one who wants to teach and work under the most perfect conditions for eight or nine months, and who is able to get to the East, or Europe, for the remaining three, I can't imagine anything fine. It is Utopian."

Not surprisingly (because of his characterized indecision), despite the seeming perfection, by the end of the term he seriously debates leaving Stanford, and though proud of his self-proclaimed improved lecturing ability, is dismayed by having not written anything with his time so uptaken by preparing lectures.

James writes about his internal struggle: "I think it is inertia against energy, energy in my case meaning being my own man absolutely."

Of course, James generally was his own man absolutely, changing majors, interests and professions according to his ever-changing tastes. But this tug-of-war between energy and inertia is something that I think we all deal with, and has a lot to do with pragmatism and practicality. Oftentimes doing what we think we should do (inertia) conflicts with doing what we want to do (energy), and practicality suggests the weighing costs and benefits of the two. In James' case, the scale was tough to tip, making the decision all the more difficult.

But sometimes an outside force can make the decision much easier. And for James, that's exactly what happened, and he was uncharacteristically decisive when it did.

The San Andreas fault underneath Stanford's campus "rumbled unmercifully in the early morning of April 18," as Bandura put it. Shortly thereafter, James submitted his resignation and traveled back East, never to venture out West again.

The Genius of Charles Darwin

The Genius of Charles Darwin is a mini-series by Richard Dawkins that aired in August of 2008. It was made to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species. In the series Dawkins explains Darwin's theory of evolution and gives background information on Darwin's life to help us understand where Darwin's ideas may have come from. The series also explores why Darwin's theory changed how humans viewed themselves and continue to view themselves today. What is most interesting about the series is that Dawkins aims to change its viewers' beliefs; he even starts off by saying, "In this series, I want to persuade you that evolution offers a far richer and spectacular view of life than any religious story. It's one reason why I don't believe in God." In the first episode he visits a science class of 16 year olds in London in order to talk to them about Darwin's theory of evolution versus religious views, and try to persuade them to choose science over religion. This series is more than just a documentary series on the life of Darwin in that it has a goal and displays and pushes on the audience Dawkins's own personal views, which echo those of Darwin.

the rest of the series: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4471435322910215458

Charles Darwin's tree of life disputed

Source: Lawton, Graham. "Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life." New Scientist 21 January 2009. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126921.600-why-darwin-was-wrong-about-the-tree-of-life.html

Briefing: The scientific perceptions on how to classify nature are changing as Darwin's canonical tree of life is now being reconstructed to resemble the web of life after the study of DNA/RNA patterns have revealed huge and intricate trends of gene swapping between species. Rather than perceiving evolution to be a vertical descent up and down the branches of this tree, scientists are now beginning to perceive the evolutionary trajectories to be horizontal in a larger "web" model of life. The article compares the tree of life to Newtonian thought: canonical but too antiquated to adequately explain emerging concepts in accordance with contemporary trends in interpreting information.

a survey of 3 seminal thinkers: Peirce, James, and Dewey

John Dewey, Psychologist

Audio: A brief quote from John Dewey on how a nation can maintain a respected role in world politics.

--From Southern Illinois University, home of The Center for Dewey Studies.


Article: This article is interesting because it helps us bridge the gap between John Dewey's roles as philosopher and psychologist. It says that his way of thinking, as we have learned in class, was influenced by the rapid cultural change of his generation. As such, he believed that people could not use traditional morals to help them cope with the new problems of the industrial age. For example, he thought a supreme principle (like one of the Ten Commandments) was not the best guide for making an ethical decision. To him, people turned to these supreme ideas out of habit. Instead, he said that people should develop their own value judgments through trial and error. This was the most mature and socially responsible way to make a moral decision.

The article is, in part, a guide to understanding Dewey's philosophies on a societal level and on a personal, psychological level.

--From Stanford University's Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Louis Menand on Modernity and American Culture

HI 374 Syllabus

HI 374: U.S. Intellectual History, 1900 to Present

Spring 2009
MWF 10-11
CAS 226
Instructor: R. S. Deese
Email: rsdeese@bu.edu
Telephone: (617) 458 9059
Office:226 Bay State Road, Room 502
Office Hours: MWF 11-12 (or by appointment)

FINAL EXAM: 5/7, 3:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.

This course will chart the evolution of the American intellectual tradition from dawn of the twentieth century to the present. We will examine the legacy of a broad range of thinkers and movements from the heyday of the Industrial Revolution to the current age of accelerated globalization. Topics will include pragmatism and progressivism; ethnic and cultural pluralism; Marxism and liberalism; Cold War ideology and neoconservatism; artistic modernism; psychoanalysis and modernization theory; the New Left, multiculturalism, postmodernism. We will also explore the evolution of environmentalist thought over the past century.

Requirements:

20% of grade Midterm, 2/27
30% of grade Final Exam
25% of grade 7-10 Page Analytical Paper or Digital Scholarship Project* 4/24
25% of grade Attendance and Participation.


Attendance at all lectures is mandatory. Unless you have a documented medical or family emergency, you need to come to every lecture. Turn off all cell phones and electronic devices during lectures & discussions.


IMPORTANT: Please read the Academic Conduct Code to understand policy of Boston University regarding plagiarism. The punishment for any form of plagiarism at this institution is, as it should be, very severe. As you are writing your term papers, please don’t hesitate to contact me beforehand if you have any questions concerning the proper citation of source materials.

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

Week One

1/14 Introduction; When Did the Twentieth Century Begin?

1/16 Responses to The Origin of Species

READ Menand, pp. 1-176; In AIT READ: Asa Gray, C. S. Peirce, William Graham Sumner

Week Two

1/19 MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY HOLIDAY

1/21 The Varieties of Secular Experience

1/23 Progressives and Gospel of Efficiency

READ Menand (FINISH); In AIT READ: Frederick JacksonTurner, William James, Woodrow Wilson, Walter Lippman

Week Three

1/26 “The sky-scraper and the colonial mansion”

1/28 First Wave Feminism

1/30 “The Souls of Black Folk”

In AIT READ: George Santayana, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane Addams, W.E.B. Du Bois

Week Four

2/2 John Dewey before and After WWI

2/4 The Tradition of Homegrown Cultural Criticism

2/6 Through the Anthropologist’s Lens

In AIT READ: John Dewey, Randolph Bourne, Thorstein Veblen, H.L. Mencken, John Crowe Ransom, Margaret Mead

Week Five

2/9 Marxism in America

2/11 The Color Line

2/13 Neo-orthodoxy and Realism

In AIT READ: Sydney Hook, Gunnar Myrdal, James Baldwin, Reinhold Niebuhr, George F. Kennan

Week Six

2/17 (Monday Schedule on Teusday) The Modernist Aesthetic

2/18 Defining “The American Century”

2/20 A New Ecology of Power

In AIT READ: Clement Greenberg, Henry Luce, Henry A. Wallace, Albert Einstein, Aldo Leopold

Week Seven

2/23 Cold War Anticommunism

2/25 Ideology and Terror

2/27 MIDTERM EXAM

In AIT READ: Whittaker Chambers, Hannah Arendt, Daniel Bell

Week Eight

3/2 Modernization Theory

3/4 Rethinking the Modernist Aesthetic

3/5 Historicizing Science

In AIT READ: Walt Rostow, Lionel Trilling, Thomas Kuhn

Week Nine
SPRING RECESS

Week Ten

3/17 Letter from Birmingham Jail

3/18 “The Ballot or the Bullet”

3/19 Film (TBA)

In AIT READ: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X

Week Eleven

3/23 The Feminine Mystique

3/25 From the Frankfurt School to the New Left

3/27 The Cold War and the Academy

In AIT READ: Betty Friedan, Herbert Marcuse, Noam Chomsky


Week Twelve

3/30 Roots of Neoconservative Thought

4/1 Politics and the Construction of Knowledge

4/3 Pragmatism and Postmodernism

In AIT READ: Milton Friedman, Edward Said, Richard Rorty

Week Thirteen

4/6 Film (TBA)

4/8 Psychology and History

4/10 Psychology and Feminist Theory

In AIT READ: Erik Erikson, Nancy J. Chodorow


Week Fourteen

4/13 The “Culture Wars” and the Academy

4/15 History and “Critical Theory”

4/17 Environmental Thought in Post-Cold War America

In AIT READ: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Week Fifteen

4/22 Joan W. Scott

4/23 The Clash of Civilizations MONDAY SCHEDULE

4/24 Student Presentations / Discussion TERM PAPER DUE IN CLASS

In AIT READ: Samuel Huntington


Week Sixteen

4/27 The Demon Haunted World

4/29 Conclusion and Discussion

In AIT READ: Carl Sagan

FINAL EXAM





*Students electing to do a Digital Scholarship Project in lieu of a traditional paper must honor the following guidelines. All Digital Scholarship Projects or DSPs must contain three components to satisfy the requirements of HI 374: First, an original digital video or narrated slide show to be presented in class and published in comparable form on the course blog, Second, 2-3000 words of original text; and Third, rigorous citation of at least three types of research materials: primary sources, secondary sources, and print sources hitherto unpublished on the Internet. Electronic sources may also be included if they have been vetted for accuracy, but the inclusion of print sources not yet available on the Internet will be absolutely essential to the completion of every digital scholarship project.