A Spirit of Trust:

A Semantic Reading of Hegel’s Phenomenology

Philosophy 2180—Fall 2013

Tuesdays 1:00-4:00, CL 1001

Course Website at

Bob Brandom

  1. Week One (8/27/2013): Bob’s Introduction tothe Phenomenology

Phenomenology:

None

Brandom:

“Animating Ideas of Idealism: A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel”

(= 2007 Woodbridge Lectures)

“Sketch of a Program for a Critical Reading of Hegel”

  1. Week Two (9/3/2013): Hegel’s Introduction to the Phenomenology

Phenomenology:

Read the Introductionto the Phenomenology in the Kenley Dove translation.

Brandom:

“Conceptual Realism and the Semantic Possibility of Knowledge”

“Representation and the Experience of Error”

“Following the Path of Despair to a Bacchanalian Revel”

(= 2011 Munich Lectures)

  1. Week Three (9/10/2013): Immediacy, Authority, and Repeatability

Phenomenology:

Consciousness I: Sense Certainty: Or the ‘This’ and ‘Meaning’

Brandom:

“Mediating the Immediate: Sense Certainty”

  1. Week Four (9/17/2013): Determinate Sense Universals and Negation

Phenomenology:

Consciousness II: Perception: Or the Thing and Deception

Brandom:

“Mediating the Immediate: Perception”

  1. Week Five (9/24/2013): Theoretical Objects and Holism

Phenomenology:

Consciousness III: Force and Understanding: Appearance and the Supersensible World

Brandom:

“Mediating the Immediate: Force and Understanding”

“Holism and Idealism in Hegel’s Phenomenology”

  1. Week Six (10/1/2013): From the Natural to the Normative by Recognition

Phenomenology:

Self-Consciousness IV A: Independence and Dependence of Self-Consciousness:

Lordship and Bondage

Brandom:

“The Structure of Desire and Recognition”

  1. Week Seven (10/8/2013): Asymmetries of Authority and Responsibility

Phenomenology:

Self-Consciousness IV B: Freedom of Self-Consciousness: Stoicism, Skepticism,

and the Unhappy Consciousness

Brandom:

“Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness”

No Class on 10/15.

(Fall Break: Monday classes meet Tuesday, Tuesday classes do not meet this week.)

  1. Week Eight (10/22/2013): “Reason is purposive agency.”

Phenomenology:

Reason VA (quickly) and VB (carefully).

Brandom:

“Hegel’s Expressive Metaphysics of Agency” Sections I-VI

  1. Week Nine (10/29/2013): The Structure of Agency

Phenomenology:

Reason VC: Individuality which takes itself to be real in and for itself.

Brandom:

“Hegel’s Expressive Metaphysics of Agency” Sections VII-XI

  1. Week Ten (11/5/2013): Immediate Sittlichkeit

Phenomenology:

Spirit VIA: The true spirit: The ethical order

Brandom:

“From Irony to Trust: Modernity and Beyond” Sections I-VII

  1. Week Eleven (11/12/2013): Alienation

Phenomenology:

Spirit VIB: Self-alienated Spirit: Culture

Brandom:

“From Irony to Trust: Modernity and Beyond” Sections VIII-XI

  1. Week Twelve (11/19/2013): Confession, Forgiveness, and Trust

Phenomenology:

Spirit VIC: Spirit that is certain of itself. Morality

Brandom:

“From Irony to Trust: Modernity and Beyond” Sections XII-XIII

  1. Week Thirteen (12/3/2013): Brackets and Conclusion

Phenomenology:

VIII: Absolute Knowing

and Preface