What keeps us together II? J.J. Rousseau’s theory of social contract in the eyes of its critics

Once the knowledge on society had its clear object (social body consisting exclusively of humans); it was framed by a particular scientific discipline concerned with this object (sociology); and it was created, and at the same time, addressed by political forces struggling to reproduce and control it (state). This time, however, is gone. Today, we no longer know for sure whether society exists or not? If still of any use, the knowledge on society is now developed from a post-social experience. This makes now the old theories of society only more important: do they themselves bear the responsibility for today’s decline of the very idea of society?

The course is a follow-up of the winter semester course on J.J. Rousseau’s theory of social contract, which focused almost entirely on reading and discussing Rousseau’s text. It will deal with various interpretations and critiques of the theory of social contract from different historical and ideological perspectives.

It is presupposed that the students have already read Rousseau’s text:

Jean Jacques Russeau, The social Contract

https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/rousseau-the-social-contract-and-discourses

https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/rousseau1762.pdf

 

Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question” (1843) https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/jewish-question/

Louis Althusser, Lessons on Rousseau, London : Verso, 2019. (selected excerpts – to be uploaded)

John Rawls, Theory of Justice, Revised Edition, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971/1999 (“The Veil of Ignorance” (118-123), Chapter III. The Original Position, 102-170)

http://www.consiglio.regione.campania.it/cms/CM_PORTALE_CRC/servlet/Docs?dir=docs_biblio&file=BiblioContenuto_3641.pdf

Paolo Virno, A Grammar of the Multitude: For an Analysis of Contemporary Forms of Life (Los Angeles, New York: Semiotext(e), 2004).

http://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/1241838/0b2a1d9d5b21a626d339e67e1dfc40d4.pdf?1504726727

Consists in the active participation and contribution (discursive, textual and performative).

The module grading is based on the mentioned contribution, active in-class participation and

• - submission of written assignments (word minimum of 500 total)
• - presentation (10 min.) to be held during SS 2021.