Professor: Eugene R. Sheppard
Spring 2018
Class Meetings M,W 2-3:20
E-Mail:
Phone: x62965
Office: Lown 307
Office Hours: M 10-11, W 3:30-4 and by appointment
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NEJS 158a
Divided Minds: Jewish Intellectuals in America
Jewish intellectuals in the United States have exerted tremendous influence on the changing landscape of American culture and society over the last century. This course explores the political, cultural, and religious contours of this diverse and controversial group. Theories about intellectuals and Jewish intellectuals in the United States will be explored through various individual and group case studies that rely on both primary and secondary sources. Among the many questions to be addressed are whether Jewish intellectuals have natural alliances with or oppositions to particular socio-economic classes, other minority/diasporic groups, political ideologies, aesthetic movements, and religious traditions. Several conditioning factors will be taken into consideration in determining Jewish intellectuals’ place in American public culture and society: country of origin, educational pedigree, generation, religious affiliation, institutional and political affiliation (universities, independent journals, think tanks, and branches of the government). The formation and changing character of African-American intellectuals will serve as a comparative component to the course.
Required Books:
1. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford U Press 2007). PLEASE ACQUIRE THIS EDITION AND TRANSLATION.
2. Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition ()
Recommended:
1. Thomas Bender, Intellectuals and Public Life (Johns Hopkins U. Press)
2. Lila Corwin Berman, Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity (U of Cal. Press 2009)
3. Judith Butler, Parting ways: Jewishness and the critique of Zionism. (New York: Columbia University Press 2012)
4. Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals: American Culture In The Age Of Academe (Basic Books)
I. Requirements: The following requirements apply to undergraduate students and graduate students.
A. Seminar Participation:
1. Following the seminar format, students are expected to discuss course material in an informed and thoughtful manner. Active participation requires critical reading and thinking about each week’s assigned material. This will most likely require that students read most of the material multiple times before each seminar meeting.
2. Students will be asked to present a text or set of texts (in consultation with the professor) at least once during the semester. An oral presentation (approximately 20 minutes) should provide basic historical background and interpretation of the material at hand and will thus act as the springboard for each seminar’s discussion.
B. Written Assignments:
1. One review (one-two pages) of a weekly reading is due at the beginning of the seminar meeting in which the material is to be discussed. The reviews should not merely summarize the readings, but rather attempt to grapple with the problem/s posed and should demonstrate a close reading and critical engagement with the assigned readings of that week. The review, which is to be turned in by the fifth week, should concentrate on the most significant intellectual, methodological, and/or conceptual issues raised by an historically informed reading of the text/s.
2. There will be a take-home midterm (4-5) pages
3. Students will write a final paper (9-12 page paper for undergraduate students and 13-18 page paper for graduate students) due at the end of the semester. This paper will contextualize and offer an interpretive analysis and evaluation of a figure(s) or text(s) studied in the seminar. There will be suggested paper topics, but the choice of subject may also be suggested by each student with approval by the instructor. A paper topic and outline must be handed in to the instructor no later than the 10th week of instruction. Students may choose, but are not required, to write their final papers on issues related to the material they presented orally in seminar.
III. Grades:
1. Class Participation 15%
2. Presentation/s 15%
3. Short Review Essay 10%
4. Take-home midterm 30%
5. Final Paper 40%
Learning Goals:
Students in NEJS 258a will be introduced to fundamental debates regarding what it means to be a public thinker in America from a wide spectrum of Jewish figures. Students will learn to critically read and engage charged and sometimes dense political, theological, and philosophical texts. Students will learn to develop the ability to identify, articulate and evaluate clashing claims and arguments. Students will also be asked to develop these skills in written form by developing interpretive positions regarding central questions that appear in the force field of Jewish intellectuals in 20th century America.
Attendance Policy
Your presence in class is a minimum condition of your success in this course. Attendance as well as lateness will be noted and factored into your final grade, as follows:
4 absences: final grade lowered by ½ grade (e.g. from B- to C+)
5 absences: final grade lowered by a full grade (e.g. from B- to C-)
6 absences: failure; no credit given
In general, the distinction between “excused” and “unexcused” absences is not recognized (an absence
is an absence). Repeated lateness in arriving to class will count as an absence.
Other Important Information
1. Unless otherwise noted readings, handouts, assignments, and other announcements will be posted on the course Latte page
2. The readings for this class are listed above by the week. If homework is not explicitly assigned in class, these readings are your homework. The reading schedule may change due to events. If it does I will update the schedule on the latte site.
5. Unless an arrangement is made with me, a paper will be penalized a whole grade if it is up to one week late. Thereafter, it will be penalized a whole grade each additional week that it is late. I do not accept emailed papers unless I explicitly agree to it.
Late work policy: Unless there are legitimate reasons (e.g., serious illness or personal circumstances), work will not be accepted more than one week past the due date. Work turned in late will be docked 2% per day. Undergraduate incompletes are governed by the policy outlined in the university Bulletin. A similar policy will be applied to graduate students.
Academic integrity: Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person–be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner–without proper acknowledgment of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student.
Violations of University policies on academic integrity, described in Section three of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, or in suspension or dismissal from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification.
Students with documented disabilities: Students with disabilities certified by the Coordinator of Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs and First Year Services will be given reasonable accommodations to complete required assignments. Disabilities that are not documented and approved by the Office of Academic Affairs will not be given accommodations.
Preparation time: Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, and preparation for exams) and writing assignments.
LAPTOPS AND CELLPHONES IN CLASS
Use of laptop computers in class often proves to be a distraction. If you wish to use your laptop for note-taking or other academic purposes please limit your use of electronic devices as much as possible. Resist the temptation to check for updates or even to run searches related to class material. If use of laptops becomes distracting, I reserve the right to change my policy regarding them.
Use of cell phones in class for talking, texting or reading/writing email is prohibited. If you wish to leave your cell phone on in silent mode because of an ongoing emergency situation that you may need to respond to, please speak to me at the start of class to let me know.
Weekly Assignments
Note: Readings with the * are posted on Latte
1/10 Introduction: The Problem of the Jewish Intellectual
1/15 No School MLK holiday
1/17 Methods and the Decline of the American Intellectual?
1/18 BRNDEIS MONDAY
Required Reading:
1. Paul Mendes-Flohr, Divided Passions*
2. R. Jacoby, Last of the Intellectuals* Part 1
1. Film: Arguing the World
Required Reading:
1. Daniel Bell, “A Parable of Alienation” (1946) in The Jew in the Modern World, 2nd ed., pp. 295-7.
2. Ben Halpern, “Letter to an Intellectual. A Reply to Danie Bell” (1946) in The Jew in the Modern World , pp. 298-301.
3. Russell Jacoby, Last of the Intellectuals, Part 2*
2. New York Jewish Intellectuals: Socialism and Conservatism
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