Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/CUNY, Lehman College/Nihilism in Germany (Fall 2013)/Course description

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Course Description

Today Germany is one of the most advanced and developed cultures, one of the largest exporters in the world, and the de facto leader of the European Union–but it was not always this way. This course will focus on German politics and culture in the period between World War I and II. We will begin with an analysis of the concept of “nihilism” and the historical development of the concept in the context of German history from the late 19th through the early 20th century. Many of the thinkers associated with nihilism are German, and the bleak and tragic history of Germany in this century only emphasizes this. The devastating experiences of the First World War (1914-1918), the psychological trauma of losing the war, economic depression, hyper-inflation, revolution, and the rise of Nazism all contributed to a unique cultural perspective that still has value today, even though it is challenging and disturbing.

All of the misery and despair, perhaps not surprisingly, contributed to a very vibrant artistic scene that combined revolutionary new artistic techniques like photomontage and film with a revolutionary message that urged for a radical break with a culture that had led to militarism and war. Germans were forced to confront a sense of nihilistic meaninglessness in the world brought on by a dehumanizing scientific rationality. Forced to confront hard questions of the superiority of Western civilization and progress, the answer to these questions remains a part of culture today.

This is an interdisciplinary humanities and social science course that combines: political science, history, and philosophy. Besides these three main disciplines other academic fields of study will be used including: sociology, economics, psychology, media studies, art history, and cultural studies. We will also utilize technology like "blogs" and "wikis" to complete assignments.

As part of the course, students will select an article from Wikipedia to edit related to this course. This will be a real article that will be displayed on Wikipedia. Instead of writing a research paper or taking an exam this will be the assignment for the semester. The process of completing this assignment will be broken down into parts: 1) Selecting an Article; 2) Researching the Article; 3) Writing/Editing the Article; and 4) Presenting the article on Wikipedia. The assignment can be completed individually or students can form groups of two or three and communicate with each other via e-mail or in person. Deadlines are as follows: Select Topic (Oct 10); Bibliography of Sources (Oct 22); First Draft of Article (Nov 12); Final Article (Dec 17).

Learning Outcomes:

• Outcome 1: To gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.

The interdisciplinary structure of the course permits a wide array of sources and media to be incorporated in the lectures and the student's work, including: painting, sculpture, architecture, music, film, photography, and literature, both fiction and non-fiction, the latter including works in political science, sociology, history, and philosophy.

• Outcome 2: To evaluate evidence and arguments critically and be able to appraise their usefulness.

The course is structured around a central idea, nihilism, which the students use mediately to interpret the various cultural, political, and economic sources used in the class. All readings and sources are referred back to its specific historical context, and the students are asked to relate these ideas to the present through weekly assignments where they analyze and interpret a specific selection from the readings that they choose. Finally, a diverse set of viewpoints and ideologies are incorporated and analyzed ranging from political ideologies and movements: liberalism, conservatism, fascism, communism, social-democracy; to cultural and civil rights issues like racism, anti-Semitism, feminism and LGBT rights; to various counter-culture movements, like dadaism, expressionism, and Marxist humanism.

• Outcome 3: To produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.

Students are expected to create their own blog and post assignments regularly using various online resources as well as provide feedback for the other student's blog postings. Students are also expected to create or revise an article on Wikipedia relevant to the course, and requiring a higher standard of research (using the library as opposed to online resources) and a more developed scaffolding process than blogging.

• Outcome 4: To demonstrate familiarity with methods of theoretical or abstract analysis and philosophical reasoning.

The course will emphasize a historical institutionalist analysis of Germany between World War I and World War II by isolating the variables leading to outcomes like the fall of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazism, the beginning of World War II and the Holocaust. Students will be exposed to philosophical reasoning in the context of debate between Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Frankfurt School. Students will also be exposed to various aesthetic and psychoanalytic theories related to painting, film, photography, etc, and be asked to analyze and critique them in assignments.

• Outcome 5: To understand the role of theoretical and abstract reasoning in society and public policy or public concerns in which ethics or other aspects of philosophy play a role.

The course stresses the sociological bases of knowledge and intends to develop a reflexive self-awareness in the students of their own values and opinions. The interdisciplinary and multimedia structure of the course breaks down the arbitrary barriers separating the various academic disciplines allowing for a more in depth and concrete experience of the topic under analysis. This, in turn, will allow the students to connect organically what they learn in class to their real lives. Assignments are intended to help develop participatory skills in an online setting, first by developing basic competencies using information technology (IT), and then by learning to interact with others using this media and to utilize its potential for educational purposes.

• Outcome 6: To produce an essay or written piece of research or other creative work, in “scaffolded” stages, demonstrating both an ability to express complex ideas for an educated audience as well as the ability to evaluate and utilize a variety of information of an abstract, theoretical or philosophical nature.

The students will create several blog postings throughout the semester which will require them to analyze philosophical, political, and aesthetic ideas and to incorporate pictures, music, and other multimedia. The students will create and edit an article on Wikipedia that is broken down into a scaffolding process: choose a topic, complete a bibliography using reputable sources, complete a draft of the article and get feedback before completing the final project.

74.102.91.65 (talk) 16:28, 28 August 2013 (UTC)Barry Murdaco