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| [Texts] | [Requirements] | [Grading] | [Course Outline] |
| John Maynard Keynes |
Ideas won by our intelligence, embodied in our outlook, and forged in our conscience, are chains from which we cannot tear ourselves away without breaking our hearts; they are demons we can overcome only by submitting to them.
| Karl Marx |
. . . the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
| John Maynard Keynes |
TEXTS
This is a seminar. This means student preparation for and
participation in class discussion is essential.
Preparation involves doing the assigned reading and, depending on
the type of reading and on your particular assignment for the day,
doing one of the following:
Participation in class will take two forms: Those of you who have
a writing assignment will be presenters: you will either summarize,
react, or raise questions, based on your preparation. Those of you
who do not have a writing assignment will listen carefully and
offer comments on the presentations.
Henry William Spiegel, The Growth of Economic Thought
(S)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Robert Heilbroner, Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy
(Teachings)
Jerry Z. Muller, Adam Smith In His Time and Ours (M)
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto
(M&E)
Robert Heilbroner, Marxism: For and Against (H2)
(1) Writing an outline or summary of the assigned
reading
What to write or ask about? Generally, it is a good idea to begin
by asking yourself the following questions: What are the most
important topics addressed in the readings? Why are they
important? Are the author's ideas on these topics relevant to our
current situation: that is, do they help us understand and/or
evaluate ourselves and/or the economy and society we inhabit?
Why or why not? More specifically, you are encouraged to do the
following: relate an idea to other ideas you have encountered in
other courses, compare or contrast the idea with others encountered
in this course, apply the idea to your own experience or to a
current event, describe the "big picture" of the economy that the
economist or school of thought subscribes to, discuss a normative
issue raised in the reading, discuss an explanatory hypothesis
offered in the reading, discuss the nature of the argument (e.g.,
use of analogy, deduction, induction, evidence, etc.) used in the
reading, address specific ideas, concepts, arguments you find
interesting, persuasive, flawed, debatable, etc.
(2) Writing a non-critical reaction paper
(3) Writing a critical reaction paper
(4) Writing questions about the reading