PHIL 276.001 – Ideology, Capitalism, and Critique

Instructor: Pavel Nitchovski. This course meets MTWRF 9:45 – 11:15 a.m. in CW 208 via in-person (IP) instruction.

In this class, we will study texts that consider how (oftentimes implicit or concealed) ideological commitments shape our culture and our social reality. Questions to be addressed include: What is ideology? What role does it play in socio-cultural life, especially in the capitalist market? Does it present a special problem for the possibility of social criticism? What would a critique of ideology look like? Can a critique of ideology helpfully contribute to critiques of anti-semitism, racism and misogyny?

Authors to be discussed include: Marx and theorists in the Marxist tradition; the protagonists of the Frankfurt School Critical Theory (Adorno, Horkheimer); and contemporary philosophers (such as Jaeggi, Fraser, Shelby and Haslanger) on social, sexist, and racist ideology.