Sunday, December 04, 2005
Wendy Brown
For Thursday, I would like everybody to read the first two and then the final two short pieces of the Brown book Politics Out of History. For those who are curious, if we had stuck to the syllabus and devoted another week to the Brown I would have also assigned Chapters 4 and 5. But as it is this will give us plenty to talk about. The Chapters for Thursday, then, are "Politics Out of History," "Moralism as Anti-Politics," "Democracy Against Itself," and "Specters and Angels." Enjoy!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Wikipedia: Critical Theory
Mabel pointed out to me that the Wikipedia entry for the term Critical Theory covers much of the same ground I rambled on about last week in our Introductory discussion. She's right, it's really pretty good. Check it out if you want a concise refresher or overview of the history, problems, methods of critical theory.
Syllabus
Critical Theory A
Critique, Subjection, Prostheses
Fall 2005
Thursdays, 9.00-11.45, Conference Room
Instructor: Dale Carrico, dalec@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: Before and after class and by appointment.
Sept 1 Introduction
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html
Sept 8 Diagnostic Essay Due, 2-3pp.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology
Sept 15 Marx and Engels, The German Ideology (continued)
Sept 22 Roland Barthes, Mythologies
Sept 29 Barthes, Mythologies (coninued)
Oct 6 Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
Oct 13 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Paper Due, 4-5pp. due
Oct 20 Foucault, Discipline and Punish (continued)
Oct 27 Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality
Nov 3 Foucault, History of Sexuality (continued)
Nov 10 Judith Butler, Undoing Gender
Nov 17 Butler, Undoing Gender (continued)
Nov 24-25 Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec 1 Wendy Brown, Politics Out of History
Take Home Exam Due
Dec 8 Brown, Politics Out of History (continued)
Dec 15 Concluding Remarks
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (revisited)
Paper Due, 4-5pp.
Critique, Subjection, Prostheses
Fall 2005
Thursdays, 9.00-11.45, Conference Room
Instructor: Dale Carrico, dalec@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: Before and after class and by appointment.
Sept 1 Introduction
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html
Sept 8 Diagnostic Essay Due, 2-3pp.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology
Sept 15 Marx and Engels, The German Ideology (continued)
Sept 22 Roland Barthes, Mythologies
Sept 29 Barthes, Mythologies (coninued)
Oct 6 Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
Oct 13 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Paper Due, 4-5pp. due
Oct 20 Foucault, Discipline and Punish (continued)
Oct 27 Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality
Nov 3 Foucault, History of Sexuality (continued)
Nov 10 Judith Butler, Undoing Gender
Nov 17 Butler, Undoing Gender (continued)
Nov 24-25 Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec 1 Wendy Brown, Politics Out of History
Take Home Exam Due
Dec 8 Brown, Politics Out of History (continued)
Dec 15 Concluding Remarks
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (revisited)
Paper Due, 4-5pp.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Four Aims of Argument
I've gotten a couple of questions about the reference in the Mid-Term to the "Four Aims of Argument." This is NOT a reference to the "Four Habits of Argumentative Writing." Here's a hint: One of the four "Aims" is -- Persuasion.
See everybody tomorrow morning in Dwinelle 188. Be on time!
See everybody tomorrow morning in Dwinelle 188. Be on time!
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Text of the Midterm Exam
For those few of you who were unable to attend class Thursday, this is the text of the take-home mid-term examination I distributed then. You are to hand it in Tuesday morning when you arrive in class. Remember, we are screening a film Tuesday in Room 188 of Dwinelle Hall. Please arrive on time, because the running time of the film demands we get right underway.
You still have plenty of time to complete the exam. It is adapted from an exam I have administered to students in my Rhetoric 10 course, and they are able to complete it, without notes or other resources at their disposal, in under three hours.
Your Name:
Rhetoric 110
Summer, 2005
Midterm Examination
Part I (50 pts., total)
Section 1: Short Answer (20 pts.)
1. Describe the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos.
2. Name the four Aims of Argument, as we have discussed them in class.
3. Name the four “Master Tropes”
4. What is the difference between a syllogism and an enthymeme?
5. What distinguishes a hypothetical from a categorical syllogism?
6. What is the inductive leap?
7. What is the difference between a scheme and a trope?
8. According to the Toulmin Schema, what is an argument’s warrant?
9. What is the difference between a paradox and an oxymoron?
10. What is the difference between the fallacies of division and composition?
Section 2: Identifications (10 pts. [incl. 2 free pts.])
Identify the form of the inference (the logical argument) in each of these syllogisms, and say whether they are valid or fallacious.
1. P, then q.
Not p.
So, not q.
2. If a, then b.
B is the case.
Thus, so is a.
3. S, then t.
Not t.
And hence, not s.
4. x, then y.
x
Therefore, y.
5. Circle the antecedent in this proposition:
If you studied for the exam, then I expect you will do quite well on it.
6. Is the following a deductive or inductive argument?
“Self-esteem appears to be at least a necessary condition for happiness. All the happy people I’ve known, whatever their other differences in personality and goals, seem to have basic self-esteem, whereas people who don’t have that trait never seem to be happy.”
7. Which of the following two sentences is a Trope and which a Scheme? Indicate your answer by putting a “T” or “S” in the space in front of the sentence.
“Band-Aids: Your child’s new body-guards.”
“I am stuck on Band-Aids, ‘cause Band-Aids stuck on me.”
8. What type of deductive syllogism is the following argument?
“According to the union contract, either we have to close the plant on labor day, or we have to pay the workers twice the regular pay. But we have too much work to close the plant, so we’ll have to pay the workers double time.”
Section 3: Matching
Matching Fallacies (10 pts. [incl. 1 free pt.])
1. Ad Ignoratiam
2. Ad Populum
3. Ad Misericordiam
4. Ad Baculum
5. Ad Verecundiam
6. Denying the Antecedant
7. Undistributed Middle
8. Petitio Principii
9. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
___ Teacher to Student: “And, finally, in reconsidering your position, you might want to remember who gives out the grades in this course.”
___ Parent to Child: “Fine. Go ahead. Quit school. Why should you care if you are breaking a poor parent’s heart?”
___ Why are you so skeptical about the existence of UFOs? Nobody has ever proved they don’t exist!”
___ Time is money, and time heals all wounds. So, it’s no surprise that money heals all wounds.
___ Anarchy would be a fine and beautiful system for society to adopt, if men were angels. Alas, they are not.
___ The Golden Rule is a sound moral principle, since it’s basic to every system of ethics in literally every known culture.
___ Order is indispensable to justice, for justice can only be achieved in the context of a social and legal order.
___ “I must say I’m not surprised Tara slipped on that banana peel and broke her leg, when not five minutes before I watched her step on a crack, walk under a ladder, cross a black cat’s path, and break her compact mirror without giving it a second thought.”
___ You should buy the new Bottle Blond Boyz Album. All the kewl kids are.
Matching Figures (10 pts.)
1. Prosopopeia
2. Litotes
3. Metaphor
4. Auxesis
5. Hyperbole
6. Metonymy
7. Alliteration
8. Assonance
9. Antanaclasis
10. Oxymoron
___ Summer session courses go on for an absolute eternity.
___ O miserable abundance, O beggarly riches! -- John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
___ Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance for the worse. – Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub
___ And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window panes. – T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
___ The prosecutor was a missile, zeroing in on his culminating point.
___ “Tho’ we’re apart, you’re a part of me still.” – lyrics of the song, Blueberry Hill
___ …and with firm confidence in justice, freedom, and peace on earth that will raise the hearts and the hopes of mankind for that distant day when no one rattles a saber and no one drags a chain. – Adlai Stevenson, acceptance speech, 1952
___ Progress is not proclamation or palaver. It is not pretense nor play on prejudice. It is not the perturbation of a people passion-wrought nor a promise proposed. – Warren G. Harding nominating William Taft in 1912.
___ It shreds the nerves, it vivisects the psyche – and it may even scare the living daylights out of more than a few playgoers. – Review in TIME, 1966
___ Whales in the wake like capes and Alps Quaked the sick sea and snouted deep. – Dylan Thomas, “Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait”
Part II (50 pts, total)
Section 1: Exercises (15 pts.)
A. Reconstruct the following arguments by identifying their conclusions and their premises. Then identify whether or not the arguments are valid.
1. The TELEBEARS system asks me all sorts of questions when I dial in. And we all know that if a computer were a conscious being it would ask me all sorts of questions. So TELEBEARS must be a conscious being.
2. If the United States completes a missile defense system before the rest of the world does, they wil gain enormous leverage over all other nations in any confrontation. For if the US completes its defensive shield firsdt, they will pose a credible threat of a first strike, and if they pose such a threat they will gain enormous leverage.
B. For each of the following enthymemes: 1. Supply the missing premise or conclusion. 2. Identify whether the missing element is a major premise, a minor premise, or the conclusion.
1. He must be annoyed, because he’s scowling all the time.
2. Mary crossed the picket line, so her lamb must have crossed it too.
3. New Yorkers are well-mannered, and no well-mannered people are uncivilized.
4. True freedom demands responsibility, and that is why most folks dread it.
5. No enthymemes are complete, and so this argument is incomete.
Section 2: Toulmin Schema (15 pts.)
Construct a strategy of support using the Toulmin Schema for the following enthymeme: “”Serpents make vile pets, because they cannot be trusted.” Be sure to identify all the parts of the Toulmin Schema, the claim, the stated reason, and to supply a plausible warrant, qualification, grounds, etc. [By “construct a strategy of support” I mean simply to provide an argument, but one which exhibits all the characteristics the Toulmin Schema identifies for analyzing arguments.]
Section 3: Short Essay (20 pts.)
Write an essay of approximately two pages in length [students who received the handout will probably produce handwritten essays that cover the blank space of the page on which this question appears, plus the back of the sheet, as necessary] analyzing the following passage from Frederixk Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Your essay should identify what you take to be the central claim of the passage, and then discuss how Douglass uses figurative language to make his claim and express it more forcefully.
“It was called by the slaves the Great House Farm. Few privileges were esteemed higher, by the slaves of the out-farms, than that of being selected to do errands at the Great House Farm. It was associated in their minds with greatness. A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American Congress, than a slave on one of the out-farms would be of his election to do errands at the Great House Farm. They regarded it as evidence of great confidence reposed in them by their overseers; and it was on this account, as well as a constant desire to be out of the field from under the driver’s lash, that they esteemed it a high privilege, one worth careful living for… The competitors for this office sought as diligently to please their overseers, as the office-seekers in the political parties seek to pelase and deceive the people. The same traits of character might be seen in Colonial Lloyd’s slaves, as are seen in the slaves of the political parties.”
You still have plenty of time to complete the exam. It is adapted from an exam I have administered to students in my Rhetoric 10 course, and they are able to complete it, without notes or other resources at their disposal, in under three hours.
Your Name:
Rhetoric 110
Summer, 2005
Midterm Examination
Part I (50 pts., total)
Section 1: Short Answer (20 pts.)
1. Describe the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos.
2. Name the four Aims of Argument, as we have discussed them in class.
3. Name the four “Master Tropes”
4. What is the difference between a syllogism and an enthymeme?
5. What distinguishes a hypothetical from a categorical syllogism?
6. What is the inductive leap?
7. What is the difference between a scheme and a trope?
8. According to the Toulmin Schema, what is an argument’s warrant?
9. What is the difference between a paradox and an oxymoron?
10. What is the difference between the fallacies of division and composition?
Section 2: Identifications (10 pts. [incl. 2 free pts.])
Identify the form of the inference (the logical argument) in each of these syllogisms, and say whether they are valid or fallacious.
1. P, then q.
Not p.
So, not q.
2. If a, then b.
B is the case.
Thus, so is a.
3. S, then t.
Not t.
And hence, not s.
4. x, then y.
x
Therefore, y.
5. Circle the antecedent in this proposition:
If you studied for the exam, then I expect you will do quite well on it.
6. Is the following a deductive or inductive argument?
“Self-esteem appears to be at least a necessary condition for happiness. All the happy people I’ve known, whatever their other differences in personality and goals, seem to have basic self-esteem, whereas people who don’t have that trait never seem to be happy.”
7. Which of the following two sentences is a Trope and which a Scheme? Indicate your answer by putting a “T” or “S” in the space in front of the sentence.
“Band-Aids: Your child’s new body-guards.”
“I am stuck on Band-Aids, ‘cause Band-Aids stuck on me.”
8. What type of deductive syllogism is the following argument?
“According to the union contract, either we have to close the plant on labor day, or we have to pay the workers twice the regular pay. But we have too much work to close the plant, so we’ll have to pay the workers double time.”
Section 3: Matching
Matching Fallacies (10 pts. [incl. 1 free pt.])
1. Ad Ignoratiam
2. Ad Populum
3. Ad Misericordiam
4. Ad Baculum
5. Ad Verecundiam
6. Denying the Antecedant
7. Undistributed Middle
8. Petitio Principii
9. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
___ Teacher to Student: “And, finally, in reconsidering your position, you might want to remember who gives out the grades in this course.”
___ Parent to Child: “Fine. Go ahead. Quit school. Why should you care if you are breaking a poor parent’s heart?”
___ Why are you so skeptical about the existence of UFOs? Nobody has ever proved they don’t exist!”
___ Time is money, and time heals all wounds. So, it’s no surprise that money heals all wounds.
___ Anarchy would be a fine and beautiful system for society to adopt, if men were angels. Alas, they are not.
___ The Golden Rule is a sound moral principle, since it’s basic to every system of ethics in literally every known culture.
___ Order is indispensable to justice, for justice can only be achieved in the context of a social and legal order.
___ “I must say I’m not surprised Tara slipped on that banana peel and broke her leg, when not five minutes before I watched her step on a crack, walk under a ladder, cross a black cat’s path, and break her compact mirror without giving it a second thought.”
___ You should buy the new Bottle Blond Boyz Album. All the kewl kids are.
Matching Figures (10 pts.)
1. Prosopopeia
2. Litotes
3. Metaphor
4. Auxesis
5. Hyperbole
6. Metonymy
7. Alliteration
8. Assonance
9. Antanaclasis
10. Oxymoron
___ Summer session courses go on for an absolute eternity.
___ O miserable abundance, O beggarly riches! -- John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
___ Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her appearance for the worse. – Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub
___ And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window panes. – T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
___ The prosecutor was a missile, zeroing in on his culminating point.
___ “Tho’ we’re apart, you’re a part of me still.” – lyrics of the song, Blueberry Hill
___ …and with firm confidence in justice, freedom, and peace on earth that will raise the hearts and the hopes of mankind for that distant day when no one rattles a saber and no one drags a chain. – Adlai Stevenson, acceptance speech, 1952
___ Progress is not proclamation or palaver. It is not pretense nor play on prejudice. It is not the perturbation of a people passion-wrought nor a promise proposed. – Warren G. Harding nominating William Taft in 1912.
___ It shreds the nerves, it vivisects the psyche – and it may even scare the living daylights out of more than a few playgoers. – Review in TIME, 1966
___ Whales in the wake like capes and Alps Quaked the sick sea and snouted deep. – Dylan Thomas, “Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait”
Part II (50 pts, total)
Section 1: Exercises (15 pts.)
A. Reconstruct the following arguments by identifying their conclusions and their premises. Then identify whether or not the arguments are valid.
1. The TELEBEARS system asks me all sorts of questions when I dial in. And we all know that if a computer were a conscious being it would ask me all sorts of questions. So TELEBEARS must be a conscious being.
2. If the United States completes a missile defense system before the rest of the world does, they wil gain enormous leverage over all other nations in any confrontation. For if the US completes its defensive shield firsdt, they will pose a credible threat of a first strike, and if they pose such a threat they will gain enormous leverage.
B. For each of the following enthymemes: 1. Supply the missing premise or conclusion. 2. Identify whether the missing element is a major premise, a minor premise, or the conclusion.
1. He must be annoyed, because he’s scowling all the time.
2. Mary crossed the picket line, so her lamb must have crossed it too.
3. New Yorkers are well-mannered, and no well-mannered people are uncivilized.
4. True freedom demands responsibility, and that is why most folks dread it.
5. No enthymemes are complete, and so this argument is incomete.
Section 2: Toulmin Schema (15 pts.)
Construct a strategy of support using the Toulmin Schema for the following enthymeme: “”Serpents make vile pets, because they cannot be trusted.” Be sure to identify all the parts of the Toulmin Schema, the claim, the stated reason, and to supply a plausible warrant, qualification, grounds, etc. [By “construct a strategy of support” I mean simply to provide an argument, but one which exhibits all the characteristics the Toulmin Schema identifies for analyzing arguments.]
Section 3: Short Essay (20 pts.)
Write an essay of approximately two pages in length [students who received the handout will probably produce handwritten essays that cover the blank space of the page on which this question appears, plus the back of the sheet, as necessary] analyzing the following passage from Frederixk Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Your essay should identify what you take to be the central claim of the passage, and then discuss how Douglass uses figurative language to make his claim and express it more forcefully.
“It was called by the slaves the Great House Farm. Few privileges were esteemed higher, by the slaves of the out-farms, than that of being selected to do errands at the Great House Farm. It was associated in their minds with greatness. A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American Congress, than a slave on one of the out-farms would be of his election to do errands at the Great House Farm. They regarded it as evidence of great confidence reposed in them by their overseers; and it was on this account, as well as a constant desire to be out of the field from under the driver’s lash, that they esteemed it a high privilege, one worth careful living for… The competitors for this office sought as diligently to please their overseers, as the office-seekers in the political parties seek to pelase and deceive the people. The same traits of character might be seen in Colonial Lloyd’s slaves, as are seen in the slaves of the political parties.”
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Reading
I realize everybody is hard at work polishing up their papers for tomorrow -- but do remember to give the pieces by Alex Steffen (rather short) and Paulina Borsook (rather long, but very amusing) a good read to prepare for our discussion in class. Also, we will be moving to a classroom in Dwinelle Hall next Tuesday to screen the film "Desk Set." Be sure to remind me tomorrow to give you good directions how to get there.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Welcome!
People are starting to accept their blogger invites, and as they arrive I'm waking up your sidebar links so that the links connect readers directly with your e-mail accounts. If you indicated to me that you do not want your e-mail released I have not included you in the sidebar, but everybody can post to the blog, whether they are visible in the sidebar or not. If you would prefer that your sidebar link direct people to a different account or a home page or whatever else, please just let me know and I'll alter it. If I have misspelled your name or misremembered your nicknames or anything like that, let me know and I'll alter it.
Experiment with the blog and make it your own. Discuss the course, discuss your papers, discuss the readings, discuss the discussions, discuss your disgust with the weather, with politics, whatever you like.
There are some great technoloculture/technoethics links on the sidebar that I thought might interest folks in the class, as well as general writing resources. Check them out, and always feel welcome to discuss what you encounter in them in the course.
I hope this is a useful separate space for you all -- sorry it took me so long to bring it online! See everybody Tuesday morning. d
Experiment with the blog and make it your own. Discuss the course, discuss your papers, discuss the readings, discuss the discussions, discuss your disgust with the weather, with politics, whatever you like.
There are some great technoloculture/technoethics links on the sidebar that I thought might interest folks in the class, as well as general writing resources. Check them out, and always feel welcome to discuss what you encounter in them in the course.
I hope this is a useful separate space for you all -- sorry it took me so long to bring it online! See everybody Tuesday morning. d
Syllabus for Rhet 110, Summer, 2005
Rhetoric 110
Advanced Argumentation and Argumentative Writing:
Varieties of Techno-Ethical Discourse
Summer 2005
24 Wheeler Hall, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 9.30-12 noon
Course Instructor
Dale Carrico
Mailbox: 7408 Dwinelle
Messages: 642-1415
E-Mail: dalec@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: For an hour after class Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment.
Course Description
This course is devoted to the study and practice of advanced argumentative techniques and assumes a basic background in writing and argument. We will examine works of theory and cultural criticism, popular editorials, legal and political policy, as well as literary and media texts. The texts in the class are all broadly organized around the theme of technological development, considered as a space both of imaginative investment and social struggle.
The problems and skills that emerge from our focus should have a wide applicability for research and criticism across the humanities. We will divide our time between three argumentative modes: deliberation, demonstration, and debate. Among the topics and questions we will be grappling with are: How should an argument that seeks to call basic assumptions into question be different in form from one that hopes to arrive at conviction, or to impact conduct, or to reconcile antagonistic viewpoints? How do we properly anticipate and assess the demands of a variety of specific audiences? How do we identify and deploy the argumentative content of figurative language? Just what is this process that is called "close reading" and how precisely does it relate to the Toulmin schema for the analysis of arguments? What kinds of claims properly emerge from the close reading of texts and how are they substantiated? What constitutes a "fact" in philosophical and literary criticism devoted to practices of close reading?
Required Texts (Primarily to be found in our Course Reader)
Laurie Anderson, “The Language of the Future”
Hannah Arendt, “Prologue to The Human Condition”
John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”
Paulina Borsook “The Crypto Wars,” from Cyberselfish
David Brin, “The End of Photography as Proof of Anything at All”
David Brin, “Three Cheers for the Surveillance Society”
Octavia Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
Daniel Harris, “The Futuristic,” from The Aesthetics of Consumerism
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
Eric Hughes, “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto”
James Hughes, “Using Democracy to Cure Future Shock”
Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence.
Walter Lang, dir. Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy. Film: “Desk Set”
Timothy C. May, “The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto”
Katsuhiro Otomo. Film: “Roujin Z”
Nick Rombes, “Professor DVD”
Valerie Solanas, “The SCUM Manifesto”
Thomas Starr, “The Real Declaration”
Alex Steffen, “The Tech Bloom”
Bruce Sterling, “Maneki Neko,” from A Good Old-Fashioned Future
Marc Stiegler, “A Gentle Seduction”
Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
Also, each student is required to purchase a blank notebook in which they will keep a writer’s journal, as well as a folder to keep track of all written assignments.
Course Requirements and Policies
1. Attendance – This is a six week intensive course and absences must be kept to an absolute minimum. You should warn me in advance about absences. When this is not possible, call the Rhetoric Office (642-1415) and leave a message explaining why you are absent. Keep in mind that missing classes or arriving late disrupts the community of the classroom, especially since you will be doing a great deal of work with your peers this term. Absences and lateness will affect your performance negatively, and will lower your final grade significantly.
2. Deadlines -- You are required to observe assignment deadlines. If you anticipate trouble completing an assignment on time, you must speak to me in advance about an extension. Any paper or homework assignment handed in late without an extension will be reduced by a half of a letter grade for each day including Saturdays and Sundays –- that it is late. Try to break the procrastination cycle: leave enough time so that printer failures, disk errors, and lines at the printout place do not make you late.
3. Format -- All written work for this course must be printed on a word processor or typed. Written work that is not printed on a word processor or typed will not be accepted (unless of course it is an in-class assignment), and the late policy (see #2 above) will apply. Always spell-check your written assignments. Resist the use of your computer’s thesaurus. Use your own vocabulary. ALWAYS proofread your papers after you have printed them out. Excessive spelling and proofreading errors will be subject to significant grade reductions. Also, it is a good idea to keep copies of papers and other important written assignments. Papers do get lost, and if an instructor loses a paper it is your responsibility to provide a new copy.
4. Participation -– Participation in class discussion is REQUIRED. I know that some people are less enthusiastic about class participation than others. Let me state my philosophy on this: Classroom discussion is the only way I know to make visible the genuinely broad range of valid responses any complicated argument will provoke. Understanding objections to your viewpoint will either sharpen the effectiveness of that view or it will change your mind, and either outcome can only be a good thing. If you are pathologically shy it may be possible to satisfy the participation requirement by attending office hours regularly. But please make an effort at class participation –- I’ll do what I can to make the class a safe environment for the exploration and dispute of ideas. Feel free to disagree with one another or with me or with anybody, but always respect one another and keep an open mind about other viewpoints. And keep in mind also that borderline grades will be affected both positively and negatively by regular classroom participation or by its lack.
Your final grade will be determined by summing the grades of the following assignments in the given proportions:
1. Peer Responses on the First Paper Draft 05%
2. First Paper 10%
3. Peer Responses on Second Paper Draft 05%
4. Second Paper 10%
5. Take-Home Mid-Term Exam 10%
6. Peer Responses on Third Paper Draft 05%
7. Third Paper 10%
8. Peer Responses on Final Paper Draft 05%
9. Final Paper 10%
10. Homework and In-Class Work 10%
11. Class Participation 10%
12. Final Report 04%
13. Journal 04%
14. Quizzes 02%
Course Requirements and Policies
I have read, I understand, and I agree to all of the course requirements and policies.
I. Attendance ________________
II. Deadlines ________________
III. Format ________________
IV. Participation ________________
Print Name:________________________________
Signature:_________________________________
A Provisional Schedule of Meetings
Week One
May 24
Course Introduction
SKILL SET: An argument is a claim supported by reasons. Ethos/Pathos/Logos.
May 25
2-3 Minute Introductory Speeches
SKILL SET: Four Habits of Argumentative Writing: 1. Formulate a Strong Thesis; 2. Define Your Terms; 3. Substantiate/Contextualize; 4. Anticipate Objections.
May 26
Hand in Diagnostic Essay (2-3pp) on Anderson’s Piece
Laurie Anderson, “The Language of the Future,” Brin, “The End of Photography”
SKILL SET: Audiences/Intentions; Reading Critically is a Kind of Writing
Week Two
May 31
Hand in Drafts of First Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
SKILL SET: Intentions – Interrogation, Conviction, Persuasion, Reconciliation
June 1
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”
Starr, “The Real Declaration”
SKILL SET: Audiences –- Sympathetic, Unsympathetic, Apathetic; Rogerian Rhetoric
June 2
Hand in Paper One, Precis (3-4pp.) of Wilde’s Essay
May, "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto"
Hughes "A Cypherpunk's Manifesto"
SKILL SET: The Toulmin Schema
Week Three
June 7
Hand in Drafts of Second Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Brin, “Three Cheers for the Surveillance Society”
SKILL SET: Literal/Figurative Language; Figures/Tropes; Four Master Tropes
June 8
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
SKILL SET: Syllogisms, Enthymemes; Formal Fallacies
June 9
Second Paper (4-5pp.) Due
Borsook "The Crypto Wars"
Steffen, “The Tech Bloom”
SKILL SET: Informal Fallacies
Week Four
June 14
Hand in Take-Home Mid-Term Exam
Screening of “Desk Set”
June 15
Rombes, “Professor DVD”
Discussion of “Desk Set”
SKILL SET: Terms for Film and Media Criticism
June 16
Sterling, “Maneki Neko”
Harris, “The Futuristic”
Week Five
June 21
Hand in Drafts of Third Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Stiegler, "The Gentle Seduction"
Hughes, “Using Democracy to Cure Future Shock”
June 22
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Solanas, “The SCUM Manifesto”
June 23
Third Paper (4-5pp) Due
Screening on “Roujin Z”
Week Six
June 28
Hand in Drafts of Final Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
June 29
Hand in Final Report
Hand in Journals
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
June 30
Final Paper (5-6pp) Due
Arendt, "Prologue to The Human Condition"
Closing Remarks: Technocriticism, Technoethics, Technocultures
Advanced Argumentation and Argumentative Writing:
Varieties of Techno-Ethical Discourse
Summer 2005
24 Wheeler Hall, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 9.30-12 noon
Course Instructor
Dale Carrico
Mailbox: 7408 Dwinelle
Messages: 642-1415
E-Mail: dalec@berkeley.edu
Office Hours: For an hour after class Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment.
Course Description
This course is devoted to the study and practice of advanced argumentative techniques and assumes a basic background in writing and argument. We will examine works of theory and cultural criticism, popular editorials, legal and political policy, as well as literary and media texts. The texts in the class are all broadly organized around the theme of technological development, considered as a space both of imaginative investment and social struggle.
The problems and skills that emerge from our focus should have a wide applicability for research and criticism across the humanities. We will divide our time between three argumentative modes: deliberation, demonstration, and debate. Among the topics and questions we will be grappling with are: How should an argument that seeks to call basic assumptions into question be different in form from one that hopes to arrive at conviction, or to impact conduct, or to reconcile antagonistic viewpoints? How do we properly anticipate and assess the demands of a variety of specific audiences? How do we identify and deploy the argumentative content of figurative language? Just what is this process that is called "close reading" and how precisely does it relate to the Toulmin schema for the analysis of arguments? What kinds of claims properly emerge from the close reading of texts and how are they substantiated? What constitutes a "fact" in philosophical and literary criticism devoted to practices of close reading?
Required Texts (Primarily to be found in our Course Reader)
Laurie Anderson, “The Language of the Future”
Hannah Arendt, “Prologue to The Human Condition”
John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”
Paulina Borsook “The Crypto Wars,” from Cyberselfish
David Brin, “The End of Photography as Proof of Anything at All”
David Brin, “Three Cheers for the Surveillance Society”
Octavia Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
Daniel Harris, “The Futuristic,” from The Aesthetics of Consumerism
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
Eric Hughes, “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto”
James Hughes, “Using Democracy to Cure Future Shock”
Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence.
Walter Lang, dir. Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy. Film: “Desk Set”
Timothy C. May, “The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto”
Katsuhiro Otomo. Film: “Roujin Z”
Nick Rombes, “Professor DVD”
Valerie Solanas, “The SCUM Manifesto”
Thomas Starr, “The Real Declaration”
Alex Steffen, “The Tech Bloom”
Bruce Sterling, “Maneki Neko,” from A Good Old-Fashioned Future
Marc Stiegler, “A Gentle Seduction”
Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
Also, each student is required to purchase a blank notebook in which they will keep a writer’s journal, as well as a folder to keep track of all written assignments.
Course Requirements and Policies
1. Attendance – This is a six week intensive course and absences must be kept to an absolute minimum. You should warn me in advance about absences. When this is not possible, call the Rhetoric Office (642-1415) and leave a message explaining why you are absent. Keep in mind that missing classes or arriving late disrupts the community of the classroom, especially since you will be doing a great deal of work with your peers this term. Absences and lateness will affect your performance negatively, and will lower your final grade significantly.
2. Deadlines -- You are required to observe assignment deadlines. If you anticipate trouble completing an assignment on time, you must speak to me in advance about an extension. Any paper or homework assignment handed in late without an extension will be reduced by a half of a letter grade for each day including Saturdays and Sundays –- that it is late. Try to break the procrastination cycle: leave enough time so that printer failures, disk errors, and lines at the printout place do not make you late.
3. Format -- All written work for this course must be printed on a word processor or typed. Written work that is not printed on a word processor or typed will not be accepted (unless of course it is an in-class assignment), and the late policy (see #2 above) will apply. Always spell-check your written assignments. Resist the use of your computer’s thesaurus. Use your own vocabulary. ALWAYS proofread your papers after you have printed them out. Excessive spelling and proofreading errors will be subject to significant grade reductions. Also, it is a good idea to keep copies of papers and other important written assignments. Papers do get lost, and if an instructor loses a paper it is your responsibility to provide a new copy.
4. Participation -– Participation in class discussion is REQUIRED. I know that some people are less enthusiastic about class participation than others. Let me state my philosophy on this: Classroom discussion is the only way I know to make visible the genuinely broad range of valid responses any complicated argument will provoke. Understanding objections to your viewpoint will either sharpen the effectiveness of that view or it will change your mind, and either outcome can only be a good thing. If you are pathologically shy it may be possible to satisfy the participation requirement by attending office hours regularly. But please make an effort at class participation –- I’ll do what I can to make the class a safe environment for the exploration and dispute of ideas. Feel free to disagree with one another or with me or with anybody, but always respect one another and keep an open mind about other viewpoints. And keep in mind also that borderline grades will be affected both positively and negatively by regular classroom participation or by its lack.
Your final grade will be determined by summing the grades of the following assignments in the given proportions:
1. Peer Responses on the First Paper Draft 05%
2. First Paper 10%
3. Peer Responses on Second Paper Draft 05%
4. Second Paper 10%
5. Take-Home Mid-Term Exam 10%
6. Peer Responses on Third Paper Draft 05%
7. Third Paper 10%
8. Peer Responses on Final Paper Draft 05%
9. Final Paper 10%
10. Homework and In-Class Work 10%
11. Class Participation 10%
12. Final Report 04%
13. Journal 04%
14. Quizzes 02%
Course Requirements and Policies
I have read, I understand, and I agree to all of the course requirements and policies.
I. Attendance ________________
II. Deadlines ________________
III. Format ________________
IV. Participation ________________
Print Name:________________________________
Signature:_________________________________
A Provisional Schedule of Meetings
Week One
May 24
Course Introduction
SKILL SET: An argument is a claim supported by reasons. Ethos/Pathos/Logos.
May 25
2-3 Minute Introductory Speeches
SKILL SET: Four Habits of Argumentative Writing: 1. Formulate a Strong Thesis; 2. Define Your Terms; 3. Substantiate/Contextualize; 4. Anticipate Objections.
May 26
Hand in Diagnostic Essay (2-3pp) on Anderson’s Piece
Laurie Anderson, “The Language of the Future,” Brin, “The End of Photography”
SKILL SET: Audiences/Intentions; Reading Critically is a Kind of Writing
Week Two
May 31
Hand in Drafts of First Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
SKILL SET: Intentions – Interrogation, Conviction, Persuasion, Reconciliation
June 1
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”
Starr, “The Real Declaration”
SKILL SET: Audiences –- Sympathetic, Unsympathetic, Apathetic; Rogerian Rhetoric
June 2
Hand in Paper One, Precis (3-4pp.) of Wilde’s Essay
May, "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto"
Hughes "A Cypherpunk's Manifesto"
SKILL SET: The Toulmin Schema
Week Three
June 7
Hand in Drafts of Second Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Brin, “Three Cheers for the Surveillance Society”
SKILL SET: Literal/Figurative Language; Figures/Tropes; Four Master Tropes
June 8
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
SKILL SET: Syllogisms, Enthymemes; Formal Fallacies
June 9
Second Paper (4-5pp.) Due
Borsook "The Crypto Wars"
Steffen, “The Tech Bloom”
SKILL SET: Informal Fallacies
Week Four
June 14
Hand in Take-Home Mid-Term Exam
Screening of “Desk Set”
June 15
Rombes, “Professor DVD”
Discussion of “Desk Set”
SKILL SET: Terms for Film and Media Criticism
June 16
Sterling, “Maneki Neko”
Harris, “The Futuristic”
Week Five
June 21
Hand in Drafts of Third Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Stiegler, "The Gentle Seduction"
Hughes, “Using Democracy to Cure Future Shock”
June 22
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Solanas, “The SCUM Manifesto”
June 23
Third Paper (4-5pp) Due
Screening on “Roujin Z”
Week Six
June 28
Hand in Drafts of Final Paper to Peer Revision Groups
Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night”
June 29
Hand in Final Report
Hand in Journals
Peer Revision/Discussion of Drafts
Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
June 30
Final Paper (5-6pp) Due
Arendt, "Prologue to The Human Condition"
Closing Remarks: Technocriticism, Technoethics, Technocultures
Monday, May 09, 2005
This is it.
Hey, check this place out. Tomorrow's the last day, people. Definitely bring your final papers and any other odds and ends you may have on hand. We'll try to tie together the loose ends and talk through the major themes and finish up Smart Mobs. Any final questions, comments, perplexities, flights of fancy -- tomorrow's your last chance!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Tomorrow's Class
We're coming down to the wire folks. Is anybody giving an in class presentation tomorrow? Anybody handing in late writing assignments? We'll be talking about the next two chapters (5-6) of Smart Mobs and talking about your final papers. You should have a thesis in mind and we'll talk about what the final papers should be shaping up as.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Professor Peevish
First off, tomorrow looks to be pretty enjoyable. The reading from Smart Mobs is Chapter Four, "The Era of Sentient Things," some of which dovetails in interesting ways with one of the in-class presentations, on David Brin's Salon.com piece, "Three Cheers for the Surveillance Society." The next presentation is Nick Rombes' "Professor DVD" which is short, but packs a lot of punch and ties in to a number of discussions we have had all along about how the availability of information on digital networks alters the credentializing role of professional criticism.
I was "expecting" to see short essays from several of you on the blog this week (remember those diagnostics you never got around to?), and there are in fact several outstanding writing assignments from some of you. I want to stress now as the term winds down that it is crucial that everybody hand in all the assigned work from the class if they expect to receive a passing grade in the course. I will not be accepting late work after next Tuesday, because at that point I have to devote myself to grading final papers.
Everybody in our little community can easily do well in the course, and I want you to do well, but you simply must do the work to do well.
Since a couple of you have attended the last classes only sporadically, I'm blogging this to all in the hopes that everybody will see the entry here or that in the spirit of civic mindedness you knock some sense into slack classmates if you stumble into any of them on campus over the course of the week. Questions, problems, comments contact me or talk to me after class or schedule an appointment to talk to me.
I was "expecting" to see short essays from several of you on the blog this week (remember those diagnostics you never got around to?), and there are in fact several outstanding writing assignments from some of you. I want to stress now as the term winds down that it is crucial that everybody hand in all the assigned work from the class if they expect to receive a passing grade in the course. I will not be accepting late work after next Tuesday, because at that point I have to devote myself to grading final papers.
Everybody in our little community can easily do well in the course, and I want you to do well, but you simply must do the work to do well.
Since a couple of you have attended the last classes only sporadically, I'm blogging this to all in the hopes that everybody will see the entry here or that in the spirit of civic mindedness you knock some sense into slack classmates if you stumble into any of them on campus over the course of the week. Questions, problems, comments contact me or talk to me after class or schedule an appointment to talk to me.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Tomorrow
Actually, I'm thinking there won't be a student presentation tomorrow. If I'm wrong about that, and you are planning to deliver one, please let everybody know asap so we can find and read the paper you mean to present on. Otherwise, it looks like we'll be catching up on Smart Mobs. We can devote a section of class to Chapter One, and then the next section to Chapter Two. It would be great if everybody came to class with a claim from the text that they were willing to defend as the thesis of each of these chapters, and at least one problem or perplexity they found in each chapter. In order to be sure everybody has a chance to do their presentations in class we may need to double up next week. Anyone who isn't clear about presentations or other assignments due to this point should talk to me tomorrow or e-mail me. See you all tomorrow.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Up For Next Class
We'll be talking about Chapter One of Smart Mobs, so be sure to remember we're switching from the Lunenfeld volume to the Rheingold book. We've got two in-class presentations coming up, one on Valerie Solanas' SCUM Manifesto, and the other on James Boyle's essay, "Enclosing the Genome." Also, be sure to read "The Four Habits of Argumentative Writing," and be prepared to ask me what I mean by it, because my expectations for the final paper will be defined by the guidelines you'll find there and we should talk about them in the weeks to come as you begin to think about what you'll be writing next. Looks like another jam-packed Tuesday morning coming up.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Tomorrow
There's a huge amount happening tomorrow so hold on to your hats. In-class presentations on two of my favorite essays in the world: Wilde's Soul of Man Under Socialism, and Solanas' SCUM Manifesto. Links available elsewhere on the blog, so scoop them up and read them. I suspect it will take more than one class to work our way through these pieces. The Hyptertext as Collage essay from DD will start us off. I have papers to hand back and discuss, plus we'll need to get back our bearings in general. Fun/intriguing stuff on the blog to play around with as well. There's lots to talk about, so see you bright and early.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Back in the Saddle Again
Howdy, all. Taura, I have you down for an in-class presentation Tuesday, but I cannot remember what you'll be talking about. Can you let us all know again, and possibly post a link to the text online? We'll also be talking about Wilde's Soul of Man Under Socialism, so be sure to look over that piece again before you arrive. We'll also discuss George P. Landow's essay, “Hypertext as Collage-Writing,” from The Digital Dialectic. I'm still missing one mid-term paper that needs to get handed in to me, preferably via e-mail asap. If you have questions, comments, recriminations, etc. you know how to reach me. Enjoy the last bits of the break, see you all soon.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Hm.
Maybe when we return to class from break at the end of the month we can turn our attention briefly to issues of exponentially recursive dissemination and ponzi schemes and other assorted annoyances that propagate with special virulence on digital networks.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
I'll be teaching a couple of courses at SFAI next fall
So, you know, tell your friends, warn your friends, or what have you...
English Composition A: "Ranting, Raving, Writing"
This is a course in argumentative reading and writing, which means for me a course in expository writing and critical thinking. But the works we will be reading together are anything but exemplary argumentative texts. Our texts rant and rave, they are brimming with rage, dripping with corrosive humor, suffused with ecstasies. In ranting and raving arguments are pushed into a kind of crisis, and in them rhetoric becomes a kind of poetry.
What does it tell us about argument in general to observe it in extremis like this? How can we read transcendent texts critically, in ways that clarify their stakes without dismissing their force, and enable us to communicate intelligibly to others the reactions they inspire in us and the meanings we find in them?
Anonymous, “Fuck the South”
Plato, Symposium
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
Fiodr Dostoievski, “Notes From the Underground”
Virginia Woolf, Orlando
Allen Ginsberg, Howl
William Burroughs, “Immortality”
Film, Network. Dir: Sidney Lumet
Valerie Solanas, The SCUM Manifesto
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
Gary Indiana, “Reproduction”
Diane Dimassa, Hothead Paisan
Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
Cintra Wilson, “Statement of Intent”
Critical Theory A: "Critique, Subjection, Prostheses"
The potted description in the catalogue says that "[t]he Critical Theory sequence develops students¹ facility in understanding and assessing theoretical models such as psychoanalysis, historical and dialectical materialism, structuralism and semiotics which extend their understanding of the visual image, the written word, and cultural phenomena."
My reading list begins with the very basic post-Emersonian turn against Platonic philosophy (in Europe post-Nietzschean philosophies, in America pragmatisms) and so Richard Rorty's “Hope in Place of Knowledge” provides the broad situation, then we shift into ideologiekritik, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, into culture and ideology, Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” Roland Barthes, Mythologies, and then use Louis Althusser's, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” to take us from ideology into subjection. For subjection we read from Michel Foucault's, History of Sexuality, Part One, then Wendy Brown, “Wounded Attachments” and Judith Butler, “The Lesbian Phallus and the Morphological Imaginary,” turning then to Franz Fanon's, Black Skin, White Masks, and then read Gayatri Spivak's, “History.” There we turn into "prostheses," techocriticism and technopolitical discourses, Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Marshall McLuhan, “Understanding Media,” Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” sections of Hannah Arendt's magisterial, The Human Condition, and then conclude with Donna Haraway's, “Manifesto for Cyborgs.”
English Composition A: "Ranting, Raving, Writing"
This is a course in argumentative reading and writing, which means for me a course in expository writing and critical thinking. But the works we will be reading together are anything but exemplary argumentative texts. Our texts rant and rave, they are brimming with rage, dripping with corrosive humor, suffused with ecstasies. In ranting and raving arguments are pushed into a kind of crisis, and in them rhetoric becomes a kind of poetry.
What does it tell us about argument in general to observe it in extremis like this? How can we read transcendent texts critically, in ways that clarify their stakes without dismissing their force, and enable us to communicate intelligibly to others the reactions they inspire in us and the meanings we find in them?
Anonymous, “Fuck the South”
Plato, Symposium
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo
Oscar Wilde, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
Fiodr Dostoievski, “Notes From the Underground”
Virginia Woolf, Orlando
Allen Ginsberg, Howl
William Burroughs, “Immortality”
Film, Network. Dir: Sidney Lumet
Valerie Solanas, The SCUM Manifesto
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”
Gary Indiana, “Reproduction”
Diane Dimassa, Hothead Paisan
Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
Cintra Wilson, “Statement of Intent”
Critical Theory A: "Critique, Subjection, Prostheses"
The potted description in the catalogue says that "[t]he Critical Theory sequence develops students¹ facility in understanding and assessing theoretical models such as psychoanalysis, historical and dialectical materialism, structuralism and semiotics which extend their understanding of the visual image, the written word, and cultural phenomena."
My reading list begins with the very basic post-Emersonian turn against Platonic philosophy (in Europe post-Nietzschean philosophies, in America pragmatisms) and so Richard Rorty's “Hope in Place of Knowledge” provides the broad situation, then we shift into ideologiekritik, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, into culture and ideology, Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying,” Roland Barthes, Mythologies, and then use Louis Althusser's, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” to take us from ideology into subjection. For subjection we read from Michel Foucault's, History of Sexuality, Part One, then Wendy Brown, “Wounded Attachments” and Judith Butler, “The Lesbian Phallus and the Morphological Imaginary,” turning then to Franz Fanon's, Black Skin, White Masks, and then read Gayatri Spivak's, “History.” There we turn into "prostheses," techocriticism and technopolitical discourses, Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Marshall McLuhan, “Understanding Media,” Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” sections of Hannah Arendt's magisterial, The Human Condition, and then conclude with Donna Haraway's, “Manifesto for Cyborgs.”
Monday, March 07, 2005
Progress Report
Howdy, all. I've just returned from New York where I gave a talk on Peer-to-Peer Network Culture to a conference of advocates for a Basic Income Guarantee. It was a great meeting, but I've spent a whole lot of time in airplanes (no games of Simon Says with the pilots, I'm happy to report) and am a bit wiped out. So, I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the blog very well, and I realize I have a few e-mails in my inbox to respond to. Never fear, I'll get around to everything.
For tomorrow, the crucial thing, of course, is that your papers are due. I'll get those graded and back to you, along with presentation papers you've handed in, when we all return from the Spring Break later in the month.
Also, be sure to read Oscar Wilde's wonderful, hilarious (in my opinion) rant "The Soul of Man Under Socialism," for which we'll have an in-class presentation, and also Florion Brody's "The Medium Is the Memory," from The Digital Dialectic anthology. Big day coming up, but a big break afterwards in which to recuperate. Reading over the blog from the last few days, things are looking pretty good -- keep up the conversation and I'll see you all tomorrow.
For tomorrow, the crucial thing, of course, is that your papers are due. I'll get those graded and back to you, along with presentation papers you've handed in, when we all return from the Spring Break later in the month.
Also, be sure to read Oscar Wilde's wonderful, hilarious (in my opinion) rant "The Soul of Man Under Socialism," for which we'll have an in-class presentation, and also Florion Brody's "The Medium Is the Memory," from The Digital Dialectic anthology. Big day coming up, but a big break afterwards in which to recuperate. Reading over the blog from the last few days, things are looking pretty good -- keep up the conversation and I'll see you all tomorrow.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Til Tuesday
(How depressing is it that I'm probably the only reader of this blog playing out the "Voices Carry" video in my head now...) Okay, all, for tomorrow we are talking about William Mitchell's short piece "Replacing Place" -- but be sure to read Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky)'s Material Memories as well, and to bring along your Lev Manovich from last week, too. There will be a couple of in-class presentations tomorrow.
Also, I mean to force you to talk about your papers in class since you aren't doing it here for the most part. Come prepared to tell me which essay you are writing about and have a nice short clear thesis statement in mind you might want to argue for (fear commitment? don't worry, I won't hold you to anything -- but you need a point of departure and that's that). Attendance isn't optional, and having something in hand to work with for the paper is also non-optional. The paper's due a week from tomorrow and I want everybody to do well. Please come in a talkin' mood, even if you need to be juiced to get there.
Also, I mean to force you to talk about your papers in class since you aren't doing it here for the most part. Come prepared to tell me which essay you are writing about and have a nice short clear thesis statement in mind you might want to argue for (fear commitment? don't worry, I won't hold you to anything -- but you need a point of departure and that's that). Attendance isn't optional, and having something in hand to work with for the paper is also non-optional. The paper's due a week from tomorrow and I want everybody to do well. Please come in a talkin' mood, even if you need to be juiced to get there.
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