Columbia Reading List, Contemporary Civilization, 1991-1992
See also Literature Humanities,
1991-92
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Fall Semester
Section I: The Greek and Roman World
- Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War (selections).
- Plato. The Republic.
- Aristotle. The Politics.
- The Nicomachean Ethics
- Cicero. On the Good Life.
Section II: The Sources of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
- The Bible. Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah.
- New Testament: Matthew, Acts, Romans, James, Revelation.
Section III: The Middle Ages
- Augustine. City of God (selections).
- Aquinas. Aquinas on Politics and Ethics.
- Pizan. The Book of the City of Ladies.
Section IV: Renaissance and Reformation
- Machiavelli. The Prince.
- The Discourses (selections).
- The Protestant Reformation. Hillerbrand, ed.
- Calvin. The Institutes.
Section V: The New Science
- Descartes. Discourse on Method.
- Galileo. Discoveries and Opinions.
Section VI: New Philosophy and the Polity
- Hobbes. Leviathan (selections).
- Locke. Second Treatise on Government.
Spring Semester
Section I: The Enlightenment and the French Revolution
- Rousseau. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality.
- The Social Contract.
- Hume. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.
- Kant. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.
- "What is Enlightenment?"
- Madison et al. Federalist Papers (selections) (optional).
Section II: Economy, Society, and the State
- Smith. The Wealth of Nations (selections).
- Hegel. The Philosophy of History, Introduction.
- The Philosophy of Right, Appendix (optional).
- The Phenomenology of Mind, "Lordship and Bondage"
(optional).
- Marx. The Marx-Engels Reader (selections).
- Mill. On Liberty.
- Wollstonecraft. Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Section III: Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud
- Darwin. Darwin (selections).
- Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morals.
- Freud. The Freud Reader (selections).
Section IV: Modernity and its Discontents
Instructor chooses at least one book from both A and B
A. Science and Revolution in the Twentieth Century
- Weber. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology.
- Gramsci. The Modern Prince and Other Writings.
- Arendt. On Violence.
- The Origins of Totalitarianism (selections).
- Lenin. Imperialism.
- State and Revolution.
- Habermas. Transformation of the Public Sphere.
B. The Ambiguities of Integration: Class, Race, and Gender
- Beauvoir. The Second Sex (selections).
- MacKinnon. Feminism Unmodified.
- Feminist Frameworks. Jaggar and Strahl, eds.
- Rawls. A Theory of Justice.
- Fanon. The Wretched of the Earth.
- Malcolm X. Autobiography.
- West. Prophesy Deliverance!
- Foucault. Discipline and Punish.
- United States Supreme Court. Decisions.
Source: Denby, David. Great Books: My Adventures with
Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western
World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. © 1996 by David Denby.
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