Michael L.

Wilson Fall 2005

o: JO 5.424 Monday 7:00-9:45 p.m.
972-883-2080 mwilson@utdallas.edu

GST 3302.501/ HST 4380.501

GENDER IN WESTERN THOUGHT
This course examines the role of gender in the history of western thought and society,
with a particular emphasis on political theories and how they have tried to shape and
respond to that role. The social position of women in the western tradition is widely seen
as unusual, but theorists disagree over what the relevant differences between women and
men are, the source(s) of those differences, and how to interpret and value them. Special
attention will be given in the latter part of the course to understand ing the range of
feminist theory, as well as to understanding reactions to it.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Mitchell Cohen & Nicole Fermon, eds., Princeton Readings in Political Thought
Linda Nicholson, ed., The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory

COURSE REQUIREMENTS/ EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Class attendance and informed participation in discussions (20%); weekly discussion

questions (5%); informal writing assignments (15%); in-class mid-term examination on
October 10th (25%); take- home final examination (35%).

NOTE: --More than 2 absences, persistent tardiness, or failure to participate in

discussions will lower your final grade.
--All components of the course must be completed in order to pass the
course.
--No late assignments will be accepted.
--This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instruction.

All written work and class discussion for this course must employ gender-neutral, nonsexist
language and rhetorical constructions. Such practice is part of a classroom environment according
full respect and opportunity to all participants by all others.

Every effort will be made to accommodate students with disabilities. The full range of resources
available through and procedures concerning Disability Services can be found at:
<www.utdalla s.edu/student/slife/hcsvc.html>.

Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and falsifying
academic records. Please familiarize yourself with the University’s policies concerning scholastic
dishonesty: <www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html>.
 GST3302 /HST 4380: READING SCHEDULE
PRPT = Princeton Readings in Political Thought
TSW = The Second Wave

29 August:

Plato, The Republic , PRPT

Aristotle, The Politics, PRPT

12 September:

St. Augustine, City of God, PRPT

St. Thomas Aquinas, “Politics and Law,” PRPT
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, PRPT

19 September:

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, PRPT

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, PRPT
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, PRPT

26 September:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract and Discourse on

The Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, PRPT
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, PRPT
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, PRPT
Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens, PRPT

3 October:

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, PRPT

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and On the Subjection of Women, PRPT
Karl Marx, all selections, PRPT

17 October:

V.I. Lenin, What Is To Be Done? and The State and Revolution, PRPT
Sigmund Freud, all selections, PRPT
Emma Goldman, Victims of Morality, PRPT
Benito Mussolini, Fascism, PRPT

24 October:

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, PRPT

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, PRPT
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, PRPT
31 October:

Shulamith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex, TSW

Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement,” TSW
Wendy W. Williams, “The Equality Crisis ,” TSW
Gayle Rubin, The Traffic in Women,” TSW

7 November:

Radicalesbians, “The Woman Identified Woman,” TSW

Catherine A. McKinnon, “Sexuality,” TSW
Nancy Chodorow, “The Psychodynamics of the Family,” TSW
Carol Gilligan, “Woman’s Place in Man’s Life Cycle,” TSW
Patricia Hill Collins, “Defining Black Feminist Thought,” TSW

14 November:

Heidi Hartmann, “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism,” TSW

Michèle Barrett, “Capitalism and Women’s Liberation,” TSW
Nancy C. M. Hartsock, “The Feminist Standpoint,” TSW

21 November:

Monique Wittig, “One Is Not Born A Woman,” TSW

Luce Irigaray, “The Sex Which Is Not One,” TSW
Linda Alcoff, “Cultural Feminism versus Post-Structuralism,” TSW
Uma Narayan, “Contesting Culture,” TSW

28 November:

Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination” TSW

 Weekly discussion questions

For each week that we have scheduled readings, you are required to submit to me by email two
discussion questions about that evening’s texts. I will use your questions to inform and structure
class discussion. The success of our discussions will directly depend upon your ability to generate
insightful and open-ended questions as well as your willingness to explore your own and
colleagues’ points of view.

I must receive your questions, like all electronic correspondence, via your UTD email account.
Questions should be submitted by 6:00 p.m. the day of the class.

You may always submit questions of clarification, but as the semester progresses I will expect
your questions to become more analytical and comparative in character. By the final part of the
semester, you should be able to formulate questions that draw together or contrast groups of texts
and one week’s readings with previous readings.