During Week 3, you’ll be reading Emma Goldman’s “Anarchy: What It Really Stands For,” in which Goldman harshly criticizes the effects of religion, property, and government on individuals. Today, anarchy is associated with events like the World Trade Convention riots (which took place in downtown Seattle almost a dozen years ago) or the riots and looting that were widespread in London this summer).
In short, it’s tempting to approach Goldman with suspicion; and it’s important, therefore, to try and understand her. In order to help you with that, I recommend that you look at the Cornell University digital exhibit on the Triangle Factory Fire of 1911. It occurred the year after Goldman’s “Anarchy” essay was published as part of a book-length collection. While it was certainly one of the largest industrial disasters of the time, and one of the best remembered, the conditions that caused the fire were sadly not unusual at the time. The exhibit is only optional and recommended reading — but I recommend it because I think it will make Goldman’s perspective easier to understand.
For Monday’s class: You should have all of Goldman read. We’ll be talking about her approach to arguments and critique — how does she make points?
For Wednesday’s class: we’ll be talking about Goldman’s statements on natural law and autonomy, so I expect to focus primarily on pp. 20-22. We’ll also be looking back at Plato, and specifically at Socrates’ claim that he has “a divine or spiritual sign” (31d-33c), and which he also mentions at 40a-40c. But we’ll be focusing especially on Goldman’s statement on p. 20, the paragraph which begins “A natural law is that factor in man…” We’ll also be talking about strategies for quoting and summarizing the texts you’re working with.
For Friday’s class: you should bring Hobbes, because we’ll be talking about annotating readings, and annotating Hobbes will help; and talking more about ways of fitting Plato and Goldman together — specifically about comparing not just their ideas, but aspects of their thought. I anticipate the blog posts from Week 3 being relevant to this discussion.
Leave a Reply