CHID 480 B: Special Topics: Advanced Study of the History of Ideas

"POWER - LANGUAGE: PHILOSOPHICAL GRAMMAR FOR A BINARIZED WORLD" TAUGHT BY JONATHAN REY LEE ACCORDING TO LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN, "A WHOLE MYTHOLOGY IS DEPOSITED IN OUR LANGUAGE." AGAINST THIS MYTHOLOGY, WE WILL COLLECTIVELY EXPLORE PHILOSOPHICAL GRAMMAR AS "A FIGHT AGAINST THE FASCINATION WHICH FORMS OF EXPRESSION EXERT UPON US." WEAVING TOGETHER WITTGENSTEIN'S PHILOSOPHICAL PROVOCATIONS, JHUMPA LAHIRI'S POIGNANT AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEDITATIONS ON LINGUISTIC DISPLACEMENT, AND OTHER THEORETICAL AND CREATIVE WRITINGS, THIS COURSE CONSIDERS SOME OF THE MANY WAYS OUR LANGUAGE SPEAKS SYSTEMS OF POWER INTO BEING. AND IT ASKS WHAT IT MIGHT TAKE TO SPEAK SOMETHING ELSE INTO BEING INSTEAD.