The Great Unread Radicals (Seminar: Reading and discussion intensive)

We are surrounded by the “Great Unread Tradition”—texts we know mainly by reputation despite their radical or even revolutionary influence on our world. In this course, we will discuss shorter works by major writers who overturned various complacent traditions and inaugurated the radically new perspectives with which we still struggle. Plato’s Trial and Death of Socrates, Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto, and Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents are key texts that we will debate, disagree about, and actively discuss.

You may take this course as part of the following program:

What will I learn?

We will examine the following topics and works:

• Critical ideas and key concepts
• Plato and Socrates: city, state, and self
• Marx: The Communist Manifesto
• Marx: Summarizing Kapital
• Freud: self and society
• Century of the self

How will I learn?

• Lectures
• Required Reading
  
• Discussion (may vary from class to class)
• Papers (applicable only to certificate students)

Who should take this course?

This course is for anyone who is interested in learning more about these classic texts, and enjoys participating in class discussions.

How will I be evaluated?

(For certificate students only)

Your instructor will evaluate you based on an essay you will complete at the end of the course. You will receive a grade of “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.”

Textbooks and learning materials

Reading materials will be available for purchase at the SFU Vancouver bookstore.

• Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues (by Plato, 1st ed., 1992, ISBN: 9780486270661) $2.50
  
• Communist Manifesto & Other Writings (by Marx and Engels, 1st ed. Ed Blaisdell, 2003, ISBN: 9780486424651) $4.50
• Civilization and its Discontents (by Freud, 1st ed., 2010 Ed Hitchens, ISBN: 9780393304510) $13.95
  

Some course materials may be available online.