Here is the Final  list of active participants for the Fall 1999 Cyberseminar in Objectivist Studies.

The cyberseminar will be oriented around a collection of formal posts, devoting three weeks to each of the readings we plan to discuss. Writing formal posts allows us to take the time to address essentials and to clearly state what we have in mind. In addition to the formal posts, participants and faculty members are encouraged to jump in with brief comments as the discussion moves them. We will actually begin the cyberseminar with such a contribution, Notes on Method from David Kelley.

FORMAL POSTS:

For each reading, there will be two REVIEW essays, that comment directly on the reading.  Each review essay should be 2000-3000 words in length, and analyze the work in question employing the insights of the Objectivistphilosophical system.  These will be posted at the beginning of the week to which they are assigned. This means REVIEW ESSAYS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED THE DAY BEFORE THE WEEK IN QUESTION BEGINS.

In addition to the review essays, there will be four COMMENTARIES for each three-week cycle. Comments should be 500-1500 words in length, and respond to the review essays. The comments will be posted to the end of the weekto which they are assigned. This means that commentaries should be submitted no later than the Thursday of the week to which they are assigned.

SUMMARIES: Stephen Hicks will be commenting on the ongoing discussion andon the formal posts. In the third week we should try to bring together the themes that have been raised about the work in question.

INFORMAL POSTS:

Informal posts should be succinct and to the point. These will be limited to no more than 500 words in length, to encourage efficient writing.

PARTICIPANTS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTRIBUTE TWO FORMAL POSTS, either a review essay and a comment, or two comments. 

PLAN A: Review essay + commentary.

PLAN B: Two commentaries

PARTICIPANTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTRIBUTE INFORMAL POSTS as they find theyhave an idea or suggestion to contribute, or an issue they wish to raise. Hopefully, we will generate a lively discussion on the basis of the formalposts.

ALL POSTS ARE SUBJECT TO MODERATION.  This means that the moderator may request changes in language or length of a post, to ensure that exchanges are courteous, well-expressed, and offer reasonable interpretations of the issue.    TO POST, send your message or essay to the cyberseminar moderator, Will Thomas at cyberseminar@objectivistcenter.org  .

FALL 1999 CYBERSEMINAR IN OBJECTIVIST STUDIES PARTICIPANTS:

NAME                                            "PLAN"
Plan A: Review Essay and commentary
Plan B: Two commentaries

Ammann, Melinda                             B
Dale, William                                      A
Donway, Roger                                  A
Hicks, Stephen (Scholar-in-Residence)    n/a
Klein, Shawn                                      A
Mellway, Jamie                                   B
Mozes, Eyal                                        B
Potts, David                                       A
Ross, David                                        B
Register, Bryan                                  A
Thomas, Will (Moderator)               A
Wilkinson, Will                                 A
Walker, Jason                                    B
Young, Michael                                 A

In addition, the following faculty members are currently lurking on thelist, and may post from time to time.

Fessler, Susanna (literature)
Kelley, David (philosophy)
Lennox, Jim (philosophy)
Livingston, Ken (psychology)
Minto, Rick (philosophy)
Minsaas, Kirsti (literature)
Wake, Susan Dawn (philosophy)

Some observers will also be receiving the cyberseminar discussions.  Please note that all cyberseminar posts are copyright of their authors. Cyberseminar posts may be archived on the web.

SYLLABUS AND SCHEDULE:

THEME: "The Continental Origins of Postmodernism"

Resident Faculty: Stephen Hicks

Week 1: September 13-19  INTRODUCTION, ORGANIZATION
Comment: David Kelley, Notes on Method.

First Reading)
Martin Heidegger. "What Is Metaphysics?"
The essay can be found in Walter Kaufmann's anthology, Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, Expanded Edition (New American Library, 1975), pp. 242-264.
Also in: Heidegger, Martin BASIC WRITINGS, David Krell, ed. (1993:
HarperCollins).

Week 2: September 20-26
Monday: Review Essay: Bryan Register
Comment: William Thomas
Comment: Michael Young
Comment: William Dale

Week 3: September 27-October 3
Review Essay:  Roger Donway
Comment: Eyal Mozes
Comment: Jamie Mellway

Week 4: October 4-October 10
Summary: Stephen Hicks

Second Reading)
Michel Foucault.  The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction.
Translated by Robert Hurley, Vintage/Random, 1980.
Part One, "We 'Other Victorians,'" pp. 3-13;
Part Four, Chapters 1-3, pp. 81-114.

Week 5: October 11-October 17
Review Essay:  William Dale
Comment: Melinda Ammann
Comment: Jason Walker

Week 6: October 18-October 24
Review Essay: David Potts
Comment: Eyal Mozes
Comment: David Ross

Week 7: October 25-October 31
Summary: Stephen Hicks

Third Reading)
Jacques Derrida. "Cogito and the History of Madness" and "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences." Appears as Chapters 2 and 10, respectively of Writing and Difference, translated by Alan Bass (University of Chicago Press, 1978), pp. 31-63 and 278-293.

Week 8: November 1-7
Review Essay:  (focus on Ch. 2) Michael Young
Comment: Shawn Klein
Comment: Roger Donway
Comment: Will Wilkinson

Week 9: November 8-14
Review Essay: (focus on Ch. 10) Will Thomas
Comment: Bryan Register
Comment: Melinda Ammann

Week 10: November 15-21
Summary: Stephen Hicks

Fourth Reading)
Richard Rorty. "Solidarity or Objectivity?" In Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth, Cambridge U.P. 1991, pp. 21-34.  And pp. 3-9 of "The Contingency of Language."  In Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Cambridge U.P., 1989.

Week 11: November 22-28
Review Essay:  Will Wilkinson
Comment: David Potts
Comment: Jason Walker

Week 12: November 29-December 5
Review Essay: Shawn Klein
Comment: Jamie Mellway
Comment: David Ross

Week 13: December 6-12
Summary: Stephen Hicks
Wrap up.
Please note that all cyberseminar posts are copyright of their authors.

Cyberseminar posts are being archived on the web at:

The Username is TOC
The Password is PM

To: TOC Cyberseminar <cybersem@objectivistcenter.org>

Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 8:20 AM

Subject: Cyberseminar: Schedule Revision

Dear Cyberseminarians:

Over the last few weeks we have slid behind schedule. This week, with
Stephen Hicks on the road, he has not been able to wrap up the Foucault
discussion on schedule, and for my part I have not yet finished my review
essay on the Derrida reading. So, in order to impart some sense of realism
to the schedule once again, I have revised it, moving everything back a
week. I think this still allows us to wrap up just before most schools'
winter breaks.

I hope this will not prove too much of an inconvenience. Review writers are
welcome, and indeed encouraged, to submit their essays ahead of schedule if
they like, so those who want to stick to the original schedule are welcome
to. Comment writers are in a more difficult position, but then are not
expected to produce as substantial an essay.

I would also like to invite any of you who have suggestions for Spring
cyberseminar topics to put in your two cents. Among the possibilities that
have occurred to me are further explorations of Continental philosophy and
postmodernism, theory of objectivity, and recent theories of individual
rights. This invitation goes out to cyberseminar observers as much as it
does to active participants.

Here is the new schedule. Let's make the most of it! We are just getting
to two scholars who have substantially affected the current intellectual
climate in the humanities.

REVISED FALL 1999 CYBERSEMIMAR SCHEDULE

Week 7: October 25-October 31 Week 8: November 1-7

Summary: Stephen Hicks


Third Reading)
Jacques Derrida. "Cogito and the History of Madness" and "Structure, Sign
and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences. Appears as Chapters 2 and
10, respectively of Writing and Difference, translated by Alan Bass
(University of Chicago Press, 1978), pp. 31-63 and 278-293.

Week 9: November 8-14

Review Essay: (focus on Ch. 2) Will Thomas
Comment: Shawn Klein
Comment: Roger Donway
Comment: Will Wilkinson

Week 10: November 15-21
Review Essay: (focus on Ch. 10) Michal Fram-Cohen
Comment: Bryan Register
Comment: Melinda Ammann(?)
Comment: Michael Young

Week 11: November 22-28
Summary: Stephen Hicks

Fourth Reading)
Richard Rorty. "Solidarity or Objectivity?" In Objectivity, Relativism, and
Truth, Cambridge U.P. 1991, pp. 21-34. And pp. 3-9 of "The Contingency of
Language." In Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Cambridge U.P., 1989.

Week 12: November 29-December 5
Review Essay: Will Wilkinson
Comment: David Potts
Comment: Jason Walker

Week 13: December 6-12
Review Essay: Shawn Klein (?)
Comment: Jamie Mellway
Comment: David Ross
Comment: Michal Fram-Cohen

Week 14: December 13-19
Summary: Stephen Hicks
Wrap up.

--------------------------------------------------------------

--Will Thomas

William Thomas
Manager of Research & Training,
The Objectivist Center
[Moderator]