490 Special Problems

1. Student will demonstrate knowledge of the significance of Karl Marx in the history of philosophy, economics, and political thought through class discussion and writing assignments.
2. Through engaging with the works of Karl Marx, students will articulate and employ the methodologies of philosophical enquiry and textual engagement in class discussion and writing assignments.
3. Student will engage with central philosophical concepts and ideas concerning value, justice, alienation, authenticity through discussion and make use of those concepts and ideas in their written work.
4. Students will demonstrate philosophical argumentation and clear communication through writing assignments.

590 Graduate Seminar

1. Student will demonstrate advanced knowledge of the significance of Karl Marx in the history of philosophy, economics, and political thought through class discussion and writing assignments.
2. Through engaging with the works of Karl Marx, students will analyze complex texts in the history of philosophy, politics, and science in class discussion and writing assignments.
3. Student will consider the bearing of multiple secondary source texts that are assigned or found through research, evaluate those sources, and integrate them into their own written interpretations.
4. Students will demonstrate rigorous argumentation and clear communication through a research-based seminar paper.

Primary Texts

• Karl Marx, Writings of the Young Marx on Philosophy and Society (Hackett) [WYM]
• Karl Marx, Capital Volume I, new transl. by Paul Ritter
• Karl Marx, Capital Volume II, & Volume III (Penguin Classics)

Some additional readings will be distributed as PDFs.

I have chosen to use the new Ritter translation of Capital vol I, which I have no doubt will become the scholarly standard. I encourage you to use this edition. Because the chapter numbering is slightly different from the more common Penguin Classics edition of vol I, translated by Ben Fowkes, I have noted in the syllabus where the chapter numbers depart.

Secondary Texts

The following are required for 590 students, and recommended for 490 students:

• Michael Heinrich, An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx’s Capital
• Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development: Principles of Marxian Political Economy
• Robert Paul Wolff, Understanding Marx: A Reconstruction and Critique of Capital [UM] (available as a free PDF)
• Robert Paul Wolff, Moneybags Must Be So Lucky: On the Literary Structure of Capital (available as a free PDF)
• Allen W. Wood, Karl Marx (Second Edition)

The books below will not be assigned for the course, but may be helpful in exploring possible paper topics and generally supplementing your interest in the topics of the course.

Suggested Primary Sources

• Karl Marx, Grundrisse – Marx’s notebooks of 1857-58, consisting of a length unfinished manuscript on “Fundamentals of a Critique of Political Economy.” Valuable in tracing the development of Marx’s thinking in Capital and on clarifying certain aspects of his theories.
• Karl Marx with Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, including Theses on Feuerbach (Great Books in Philosophy) – This edition includes valuable work on various aspects of Marx’s views on ideology, history, political economy, and his vision of socialism. Fragmentary and unpublished work, much of it coauthored with Engels.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party – Marx’s most widely read and programmatic work.
• Karl Marx, Theories of Surplus Value – A draft of what would have been Volume IV of Capital (or vols. IV, V, and VI, given that it is typically published in 3 volumes itself). It is primarily a critical history of the economic theories of Marx’s time.

Suggested Secondary Sources

• Jaime Edwards & Brian Leiter, Marx – Brand new, cutting edge resource on Mar’x work in general. Similar in scope and approach to Woods’ book, but a bit briefer and more recent.
• David Harvey, A Companion to Marx’s Capital: The Complete Edition – Another valuable source of aid in grasping the core ideas and arguments of Marx’s Capital.
• Steve Paxton, Unlearning Marx: Why the Soviet Failure was a Triumph for Marx – Many see the collapse of the Soviet Union and the move of China towards a capitalist framework as evidence that Marx is no longer relevant. Paxton argues the opposite, that these are exactly what a Marxist should expect — the historical reality of the Soviet experiment matches closely the predictions of Marx’s historical materialism.
• Sidney Hook, Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx: A Revolutionary Interpretation – An influential early interpretation of Marx by an American philosopher and student of John Dewey. Some see it really as a Marx-Dewey synthesis.
• William Clare Roberts, Marx’s Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital – Situates Marx’s work in the context of political theory, the worker’s movement, and the literary structure of Dante’s Inferno.
• Joan Robinson, An Essay on Marxist Economics (free download at archive.org) – A reading of Marx’s theories by a leading post-Keynesian economist.
• Tom Rockmore, Marx’s Dream: From Capitalism to Communism – Situates Marx in the philosophical tradition primarily as a moral philosopher.
• Helena Sheehan, Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History – Traces the influence of Marx on the history of the philosophy of science, with special attention to the history of debates about dialectical materialism.
• Jonathan Wolff, Why Read Marx Today?
• G.A. Cohen, If You’re an Egalitarian, How Come You’re So Rich? – Explores the connections between Marxism and Rawlsian liberalism.

Video Series on Marx

• Robert Paul Wolff, Lectures on Marx’s Critique of Capitalism
• Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey

1. Participation (15%) – Participate in class discussion and peer activities regularly and well, in such a way that demonstrates you are well prepared.
2. Discussion Questions (25%) – Each week students will submit 1-2 substantive, interpretive or evaluative questions about the reading.
3. Term Paper (60%) – 2,500-4,000 word paper engaging philosophically with some aspect of Marx’s thought.

1. Participation – Participate in class discussion and peer activities regularly and well, in such a way that demonstrates you are well prepared.
2. Term Paper – 5,000 word paper involving original research, focused on philosophical interpretation or historical context of Marx’s work, or philosophical argument on a Marxian theme of contemporary relevance. The paper will have multiple preparatory stages such as topic proposal, initial bibliography, draft.