PHIL 340 - Seminar in Continental Philosophy

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Seminar on Continental Philosophy with annual topics.

Topic for 2025/26a: Communism and Community. This advanced-level seminar in social ontology addresses the topics of communism and community. Just as capitalism is not simply an economic system, but encompasses an entire form of life at social and political levels, so too with communism. This course takes up the premise that communism is not merely an economic system in contrast to capitalism but that, as an aspirational and regulating idea, also offers a vision of what community ought to be independently of economic reason determining that vision. This seminar asks: what are the different visions of communism and what is their account of community, what are different ways of imagining community or being-in-common, and to what extent is communism a viable political category for continuing thought about community (or whether community has to leave behind communism). These questions are taken up via concrete social and political case studies encompassing ‘the commons’, that which is or ought to be shared by all. The course examines these issues mostly (though not exclusively) from the viewpoint of authors not traditionally seen as Marxist. Some authors read include: Georges Bataille, Maurice Blanchot, Boris Groys, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Osman Nemli.

Prerequisite(s): One 100-level course and one 200-level course in Philosophy, or permission of the instructor.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS