In this course, we explore scientific developments since the eighteenth century that have significantly shaped modern notions of what it means to be human. Human nature has been a central topic of scientific inquiry throughout this period. Philosophers, scientists, and imaginative writers have all considered what science can teach us about our own nature. The development of new industries and technologies has changed the conditions of human life and offered new models for understanding human nature. We shall consider how humans’ self-image was reshaped by Enlightenment philosophy and by Darwinian evolutionary theory. We shall use Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and novels by H. G. Wells to illuminate these themes. We shall also consider how the scientific study of human beings was affected by technological change. Finally, we shall look at how developments in information technology and the life-sciences have again changed ideas about human nature in the late twentieth century.

Classes: T R 3.40-5.00 (Horton 304)

Office: Horton 301D

Office hours: T 2.00-3.00, R 11.00-12.00.

Tel.: 862-3789 E-mail: jan.golinski@unh.edu

http://www.unh.edu/history/golinski/index.html

Roger Smith, The Norton History of the Human Sciences (Norton, 1997; 0393317331)
Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Dover, 1996; 0486290360)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Dover, 1994; 0486282112)
Charles Darwin, The Portable Darwin (Penguin, 1993; 0140151095)
H. G. Wells, Time Machine/Island of Dr. Moreau (Oxford, 1996; 0192828258)
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (Norton, 1989; 0393301583)
John Casti, The Cambridge Quintet (Perseus, 1999; 0738201383)

There is also a READER (available from the UNH Printing Services in the MUB), with essential readings for the course.

654: 6 reports on reading (30%); mid-term test (20%); final paper (20%); final exam (20%); class participation (10%).

854: 6 reports on reading (30%); monograph review (20%); final paper (25%); final exam (25%).

Schedule:

18 Jan    Introduction to the course

20 Jan    Human nature and the Enlightenment
Reading: Smith, "Language of Human Nature" from the READER

25, 27 Jan    Enlightenment thinkers on human nature
Reading: Smith, Norton History (extracts); extracts from Locke, Hume,
Montesquieu in the READER
REPORT DUE on one of the readings

1, 3 Feb    Enlightenment feminism
Reading: Wollstonecraft, Vindication (extracts); Jordanova, "Sex and Gender" from the READER
REPORT DUE on Wollstonecraft

8, 10 Feb    Artificial humans in the Enlightenment
Reading: Shelley, Frankenstein
REPORT DUE on Shelley

15, 17,22 Feb    Darwin and the theory of evolution
Reading: Smith, Norton History (extracts); Portable Darwin (extracts)

24, 29 Feb    Darwinism in society
Reading: Smith, Norton History (extracts); Huxley, "Evolution"; Pick, Degeneration from the READER

2, 7 Mar    H. G. Wells on eugenics and degeneration
Reading: Wells, Time Machine and Island of Dr. Moreau
REPORT DUE on one book by Wells

9 Mar    MID-TERM TEST (654) / MONOGRAPH REPORT DUE (854).

SPRING BREAK

21 Mar   INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATIONS
ABSTRACT DUE for final paper

23, 28 Mar    Freud on human self-knowledge
Reading: Smith, Norton History (extracts); Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
REPORT DUE on Freud

30 Mar, 4 Apr    Machines and cybernetics
Reading: Smith, Norton History (extracts); Conrad, "Trains"; Galison, "Ontology of Enemy" from the READER

6, 11 Apr    Film, Angels and Insects, and discussion

13 Apr    Thinking machines
Reading: Casti, Cambridge Quintet
REPORT DUE on Casti

18, 20 Apr    Reading the genetic code
Reading: Kevles, "Out of Eugenics"; Kay, "Book of Life" from the READER

25, 27 Apr    The construction of gender and sexuality
Reading: Keller, "Gender"; Haraway, "Cyborg Manifesto" from the READER

2 May    INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATIONS
REPORTS DUE FOR GRADING

4 May    Concluding class
FINAL PAPERS DUE

Thu 11 May 3:30 – 5:30    FINAL EXAM (654 and 854)