HIST 339/1
HIST 339: “Capitalism in modern European thought”
Spring, 2008
Prof. Jerry Z. Muller
Gibbons B-1
T Th, 11:10-12:25
Office hours:
Cardinal Hall 205
T 2:30-3:15 and by appt.
email:
This course deals with the ways in which western intellectuals have thought about capitalism, not only as an economic system, but in terms of its moral, political, and cultural ramifications. It explores the historical roots of thinking about what has come to be called “globalization.” Does the spread of the market — across geographical borders and into ever deeper regions of our lives — make us better off or worse? What effect does it have on personal development, on the family, and on collective identities? This course focuses on the response to such questions by major European thinkers from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries.
Requirements:
(1) Students are expected to attend all classes, and to participate actively in the discussions of the assigned readings.
(2) A research paper of 12-15 pages on one of the thinkers or issues dealt with in the course, to be handed in on April 22. Students must discuss their topics with Professor Muller and submit a prospectus no later than April 10.
(3) A final take-home examination of approximately 15 pages, due on May 8.
Course Schedule (revised)
T Jan. 15Introduction to the Course
Th Jan. 17 I: Historical Backdrop: Defining capitalism. Thinking about money in the Greek tradition.
II: Thinking about money in the Christian tradition.
The identification of money with the Jews.
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 1
T Jan. 22 (no class; Administrative Monday)
Th Jan. 24: I: Hobbes, the critique and reformulation of the Greek and Christian Traditions
II: The uses of self-love – Nicole to Mandeville
Reading: Pierre Nicole, “Of Charity and Self-Love” (1671) (distributed) and Barbon, “A Discourse of Trade” (1690) in Clark, pp.66-69.
T Jan. 29 I Voltaire. The defense of worldly happiness and of luxury
II: Rousseau’s critique of luxury
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 2
Th Jan.31 Discussion of Voltaire selections (1736-1738) in Clark, pp.265-281, and Rousseau, “Luxury, Commerce and the Arts,” (1754) in Clark
T Feb. 5 I: Adam Smith’s explanation of the market
II: Smith on merchants, politicians and workers
Th Feb. 7 Discussion of Smith, Wealth of Nations, pp. 1-37, 66-104.
T Feb. 12Smith on the problems of commercial society
I: Negative effects of the division of labor
II: Defense
Th Feb. 14 Discussion of Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book V, pp.689-731; 758-816
T Feb. 19I: Justus Möser: the market as destroyer of local culture
II: Edmund Burke and the conservative critique of commerce: The East India Company
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch.3
Th Feb. 21 I: Burke and the French Revolution
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 5
II: G.W.F. Hegel. The link between capitalism and modern individuality
T Feb. 24 I: Hegel on the political and cultural prerequisites and hazards of capitalism.
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 6
II: Alexander Hamilton, Friedrich List and the case for national protectionism
Th. Feb. 26 I: Discussion of Hamilton, “Report on Manufactures”
(distributed)
II: Karl Marx’ and Friedrich Engels’ cultural critiques of capitalism. The Jewish question and the capitalist question
T Mar. 11I: Marx’ and Engels’ economic analysis of capitalism
II: Discussion of “The Communist Manifesto”, pp. pp.125-129, 132-143, 63-85, all in Toews (ed.)
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch.7
Th. Mar. 13 I: Matthew Arnold on capitalism and culture
II: Friedrich Tönnies on capitalism and the decline of community
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch.8 and 9.
Tu Mar. 18I: Georg Simmel on community and individuality under capitalism
II: Max Weber on the nature of capitalism
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch.9.
Tu Mar. 25 I: Weber and Sombart and the debate on the origins of capitalism
Th Mar. 27 I: Lenin and the reformulation of Marxism.
II: György Lukács and theory of false consciousness
Recommended: The Mind and the Market pp.258-74
T Apr. 1 I: Hans Freyer and the radical conservative critique of capitalism
II: Joseph Schumpeter on the dynamics of capitalism
Recommended: The Mind and the Market pp.274-287
Th Apr. 3I: Joseph Schumpeter on the possible decline of capitalism
II: Schumpeter on the family under capitalism
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch.11
T Apr. 8 Discussion of Schumpeter, _Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, pp. 69-163.
Th Apr. 10I: Herbert Marcuse and the New Left critique of affluence
II: Friedrich Hayek and the critique of planning
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 12
T Apr. 15I: Discussion of Hayek, pp. 119-180
II: Hayek on the market as a generator of knowledge
Recommended: The Mind and the Market ch. 13
Th Apr. 17Discussion of Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order pp.77-106.
T Apr. 22 – No class, paper due at noon as attached file to
Th Apr. 24 I: Hayek on “spontaneous order”: an explanation and critique
II: Ernest Gellner on capitalism and nationalism
Recommended: Muller, “Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnonationalism,” Foreign Affairs, March/April, 2008 (distributed)
T Apr. 29I: Social Democracy and the Varieties of Capitalism
II:Capitalism and Democracy: the tensions
Recommended:
Muller, “The Democratic Threat to Capitalism,” Daedalus, Summer, 2007, pp.77-86.
William Baumol et al, Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism (Yale UP, 2007), ch.4.
Th May 1Thinking about capitalism: some recurrent issues
Recommended: The Mind and the Market conclusion
Th. May 8 – Takehome exam due
Books
Required:
Clark, Henry (ed) Commerce, Culture, and Liberty: Readings on Capitalism before Adam Smith (978-0-86597-379-4)
Smith, Adam The Wealth of Nations (Liberty Classics edition, two volumes)
Toews, John (ed.), The Communist Manifesto
Schumpeter, Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Hayek, Friedrich, Individualism and Economic Order
Recommended:
Muller, Jerry Z. The Mind and the Market – any edition