I have included on this Site Map an evergreen syllabus (at bottom), a form that is comfortable for me as I try to map out a plan of study. For the syllabus below, items in blue are blog items uploaded on this site; items in black are targeted future blog topics.
In addition, there is a Title Inventory included as a sub-menu (hover over “Site Map” above to find it). This is a list of my reading plan, which you will notice is a little more ambitious than my syllabus (it is easier to list titles than to combine some of them into a plan of coherent study).
My subject, as described on the HOME page, is the examination of human culture over time, especially through the lens of utopian/dystopian/speculative fiction. To do justice to these examination, I have realized the importance of understanding a broad range of humanities-type subjects: philosophy, government, history, economics, religion, literature, art, etc. For this reason, the writings in this blog will be of two types:
1) Background Information (the humanities subjects mentioned above)
2) Speculative fiction titles and my critical response to them.
Entries under the Blog menu will include both types of writings. Titles of each entry will be prefaced by a “B” or “S” to denote the type of writing being discussed in the essay, Background or Speculative, respectively. The Sidebar of the Blog Page includes an archive of all entries organized by epoch: Ancient, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romance, Modern, Digital, Future. As with most blogs, entries are in reverse chronological order.
Syllabus
Enlightenment:
(B) The Enlightenment & the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture by Louis Dupre. Blog Topics: Overview of Enlightenment Era and major philosophers, politicians, authors, artists, etc., and discussion of roots and historical catalysts that led to the movement.
(S) Fable of the Bees by Bernard Manville (1714). Supporting Texts: Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations (excerpts); Coker, Edward W., “Adam Smith’s Concept of the Social System,” Journal of Business Ethics. Blog Topics: Manville anticipated Adam Smith’s and John Maynard Keynes’ economic theories and the popular concept of the “paradox of thrift” and the “invisible hand,” i.e., self-interest and competition lead to community prosperity.
(S) Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1725). Supporting Texts: Locke, John, Introduction to An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (excerpts); Riggs, A.R., “David Hume’s Practical Economics,” Hume Studies, <http://www.humesociety.org/hs/issues/v11n2/velk-riggs/velk-riggs-v11n2.pdf>; Smith, Adam, Wealth of Nations (excerpts) Blog Topics: Themes include group-vs-individual privilege, ideal family/society structure, might-vs-right, gender issues, limits of rational knowledge (a rebuttal to Enlightenment rationalist philosophers and Deists), and ultimately, the importance of self-knowledge and, in general, the requirements for living a good life. Swift rejected the exaltation of Reason and the formation of Deism (with its attempt to reconcile science and religion), and vehemently championed traditional religion based on revelation/faith. Swift rejected philosophy of John Locke. David Hume, like Swift, rejected Deism–but for different reasons.
(B) Enquiry Concerning Political Justice by William Godwin (1798), Bks 2, 3, 4. Supporting Texts: Ward, Ian, “The Abode of Moral Truth: William Goldwin’s ‘Enquiry Concerning Political Justice,'” Archives for Philosophy and Law and Social Philosophy. Blog Topics: Godwin called for utopian society based upon reason and social justice (governments were inevitably corrupt and corrupting. Instead, men should be perfected by care in upbringing so that they were fit to self-govern). Themes include Utilitarianism, Anarchism. His Enquiry was an important response to the French Revolution.
Romantic
(B) Quest for the Absolute by Louis Dupre. Blog Topics: Overview of the Romantic Era.
(S) Walden by Thoreau (1854). Blog Topics: Pro-Transcendentalism, which held that world is divided into two realities: material and spiritual. The spiritual is of primary importance.
(S) Erewhon by Samuel Butler (1872). Supporting Texts: Parrinder, Patrick, “Entering Dystopia, Entering Erewhon,” Critical Survey.
(S) Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy (1888). Blog Topics: Reflection of society similar in some ways to Marxism, Socialism. Covers issues like capitalism, nationalization of industry, armed forces, culture.
(S) News From Nowhere by William Morris (1890). Supporting Texts: Geoghegan, Vincent, “The Utopian Past: Memory and History in Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward and William Morris’s News from Nowhere. Blog Topics: Response to Marxism, Socialism, Communism. Morris was a socialist pioneer. News From Nowhere was written as a Libertarian socialist response to an earlier book called Looking Backward, a book that epitomized a kind of state socialism that Morris abhorred (private property, no big cities no authority no monetary system, no divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems). News from Nowhere is based on an agrarian society which functions simply because the people find pleasure in nature, and therefore find pleasure in their work. The natural pleasure in work counterpoints the more typical socialist view that work is a necessary evil.
Digital
(S) Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier (2013). Blog Topics: Discussion of current problems of digital economy (widening gap between rich and poor, cyber insecurity, loss of manufacturing jobs, etc.) and provocative ideas for changing our economy to keep up with future needs.