FALL 2001 PROFESSOR BALBUS

POLITICAL SCIENCE 399: SEMINAR IN POLITICAL THEORY

This seminar is devoted to a) the feminist psychoanalytic theory of Dorothy Dinnerstein and Nancy Chodorow; b) critical interpretations of Marx, Habermas, Foucault and Marcuse that have been informed by that theory; and c) my recent re-thinking of that theory in the light of my own effort to co-parent my daughter. Thus it serves at one and the same time as an introduction to feminist psychoanalysis, to psychoanalytically-informed social theory, to four of the most important Critical theorists (in the broad sense of that term) of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, and, finally, to the problem of the relationship between (supposedly) impersonal theory and eminently personal practice. Selections from, and my critiques of, Marx, Habermas, Foucault and Marcuse, are assembled in a packet that is available in my office. My Emotional Rescue: The Theory and Practice of a Feminist Father should be purchased at the university bookstore in Circle Center.

One term paper of from 18 to 15 pages is required and is due on the last class of the semester, Tuesday November 27. Either a rough draft of this paper or a more finished draft of roughly one-half of it fulfills the mid-term requirement and is due on Tuesday October 9. Regular attendance and class participation is expected.

Week 1 I. Introduction: Reason and Passion in Political Theory

II. Critical Theory

Weeks A. Marx

2-4

Weeks B. Habermas

5-7

Weeks C. Foucault

8-10

Weeks D. Marcuse

11-13

Weeks III: Self-Reflexive Social Theory

14-15

Required: Emotional Rescue