Assignments

First Essay:

How do sacrifice and the scapegoat (as logics, concepts and/or phenomena) help to illuminate (the origins of) human civilization and/or the nature of capitalist society?

Construct an argument responding to this question. Cite at least two sources from unit one. 500 words. No outside research. Please submit as a PDF on Quercus by Friday October 21 at midnight.

Antonio Tempesta, The Death of Orpheus (1606)

Second Essay:

How do Foucault’s views on power, discourse and repression challenge and/or complicate the accounts of desire articulated by Freud and/or Bataille?

Construct an argument responding to this question. Cite at least two sources from unit two. 500 words. No outside research. Please submit as a PDF on Quercus by Friday November 18 at midnight.

Henri Matisse, Le Bonheur de vivre (1905-6)

Third Essay:

Can Freud and/or Marx help us understand the pharmacological aspects of religion?

Construct an argument responding to this question. Cite at least two sources from unit three. 500 words. No outside research. Please submit as a PDF on Quercus by Friday December 9 at midnight.

After Andrea Mantegna, European et al., Bacchanal with a wine vat (engraving, circa. 1490)