We shall study five main writers: Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, and consider topics including religious freedom and religious experience, the Enlightenment in America, the concept of a republic, American slavery, and the role of nature in human life. The morality of American slavery is a major theme in this course, introduced not to excuse or condemn, but to study how five formidably intelligent people thought about the question when it wasas it no longer is for usopen. Edwards, Franklin and Jefferson owned slaves, though Franklin and Jefferson played important roles in disturbing the uneasy American moral equilibrium that included slavery, even as they approved an American constitution that included it. Emerson and Thoreau were prominent public opponents of slavery in the eighteen forties and fifties. The course concludes with a discussion of some continuities in American philosophy, particularly between Emerson and the pragmatists. February 13. Jonathan Edwards: "The beauty of the world"; "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"; radical idealism. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, Chapter 1. February 20. Edwards (cont'd): Sacred vs. secular history, slavery. Benjamin Franklin: The Enlightenment, deism, the Junto, electricity, democratic politics, slavery. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, Chapter 2. February 27: The concept of a republic and the United States Constitution. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, Chapter 3. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, The Federalist (selections). The Constitution of the United States of America. March 6: Thomas Jefferson: Intellectual background; political philosophy; religion and religious freedom. Readings: Letter to Skipwith, "The Declaration of Independence," "Syllabus of Epicurus" American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 4.1-4.4. March 13: Jefferson (cont'd): education, radical republicanism, race and slavery, nature. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 4.5-4.8. March 20: Transcendentalism: Channing, Emerson, Alcott, Fuller. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 5.1-5.3. Emerson, Nature; Fuller, "The Great Lawsuit." March 27: Emerson's radical addresses. Readings: "The American Scholar" and "The Divinity School Address." American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 5.4 April 3: Emerson: Essays, First Series. Readings: "Self-Reliance," "Circles." American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 5.5; Cavell, "Being Odd, Getting Even." April 10: Emerson, Essays, Second Series. Readings: "Experience." Cavell, "Thinking of Emerson," "Finding as Founding: Taking Steps in Emerson's 'Experience'." April 17: Henry David Thoreau: Walden. Readings: "Economy," "Where I Lived and What I Lived for." American Philosophy before Pragmatism, 6.1-6.2 April 24: Thoreau (cont'd). Readings: "Reading," "Solitude," "Visitors," "The Village," "Higher Laws" (all from Walden); "Walking," "Resistance to Civil Government" (popularly known as "Civil Disobedience"). May 1. No Class May 8. No Class (this session will be taught on 9 May, at a time to be determined) Some continuities in American philosophy. Readings: American Philosophy before Pragmatism, Chap. 7. May 15. Final examination.
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Arsić, Branka. Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau.
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Cavell, Stanley. Emerson?s Transcendental Etudes.
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Edwards, Jonathan. Works of Jonathan Edwards.
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Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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Franklin, Benjamin. Writings.
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Fuller, Margaret. ?The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women.? Transcendentalism: A Reader..
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Goodman, Russell B. American Philosophy before Pragmatism..
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Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James, Jay, John. The Federalist..
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James, William. The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life? in Writings 1878?1899..
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Jefferson, Thomas. Writings..
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Myerson, Joel. Transcendentalism..
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Thoreau, Henry David. Walden..
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