Political philosophy of Central European dissidence

 

Instructor:                  Jakub Jirsa

Office Location:         Nám. Jana Palacha 2, door no. 220

Office Hours:             Friday, 2 – 4 pm

Email:                         jakub.jirsa@ff.cuni.cz

Thu 17.00 - 20.00 [room main building 129]

 

Course Description  

The main topic of the seminar will be political thought of dissidence and “unofficial” thinkers in Central European countries (Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia) during the seventies and eighties of 20th century. We will read and discuss texts written by Václav Havel, György Konrád, Adam Michnik and others. Since several of our primary texts are written in essayistic form far from strict academic standards, I will present them within the theoretical background of western political philosophy. Therefore we will analyse the differences between committed political writings (mostly) from behind of the Iron curtain on the one hand and parallel way of thoughts in the academic political philosophy of the West on the other hand.

We will discuss and analyse problems like moral responsibility, moral demands of resistance against authoritarian regimes, lie and nature of ideology. Since many authors criticise not only communist authoritarian state but “politics as such” (e.g. Havel or Konrád), we will try to find out whether these authors offer some kind of alternative to the usual conception of politics and liberal democracy.

 

Course Goals and Student Learning Objectives  

The discussed texts will (a) introduce specific political thought and (b) broaden student’s perspectives on several topics in political theory and philosophy. After participating in this course students will have a more complex knowledge concerning the last twenty years of communist regimes in Central Europe.

Required Readings

 

Václav Benda, “Catholicism and Politicsin Václav Havel et. al., Power of Powerless, Palach Press 1985, pp. 110-124.

Miklós Haraszti, A Worker in a Worker’s State, Universe Books, New York 1977, pp. 21-25, 42-52, 56-79, 147-157 and “The Trial of Miklós Haraszti” (pp. 159-175).

Miklós Haraszti, The Velvet Prison: Artists Under State Socialism, A New Republic Books, New York 1983, pp. 5-34, 129-159.

Václav Havel, “Power of powerless” in Power of Powerless, Palach Press 1985, pp. 23-96.

Tony Judt, "The Rediscovery of Central Europe", Deadalus, Winter 1990/119, 23-54.

George Konrád, Antipolitics, HBJ, New York and London 1984, pp. 11-16, 31-38, 91-98, 109-113, 216-243.

Milan Kundera, "The Tragedy of Central Europe", NYRB 31/7, April 26, 1984

Adam Michnik, Letters from Prison and Other Essays, University of California Press (1985), pp. 3-24, 41-63, 135-148.

Czeslaw Milosz, (1990): The Captive Mind, Vintage International, chap. 1 and 8, pp. 3-24, 191-222.

Jan Patočka (1996) “Is Technological Civilization Decadent, and Why?” in Heretical Essays in the History of Philosophy , Open Court Publishing, pp. 95-118.

 

The texts will be available in PDF.

Recommended Readings

 

Aron, R. (1957): The Opium of the Intellectuals, London: Secker & Warburg.

Dahrendorf, R. (2004): Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, Transaction Publishers.

Falk, B. J. (2003): The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe, CEU Press.

Goetz-Stankiewicz, M. (ed) (1999): Critical essays on Vaclav Havel, Hall New York.

Judt, Tony, „The Dilemmas of Dissidence: the Politics of Opposition in East-central Europe“, in East European Politics and Societies 1988; 2; 185-240.

Judt, Tony (2005): Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Penguin Press.

Klíma, Ivan (1994): The Spirit of Prague and Other Essays, Granta Books.

Rupnik, Jacques (1989): The Other Europe, Schocken.

Todorov, T. (2003): Hope and Memory, Atlantic Books.

Tucker, A. (2000): Philosophy and politics of Czech dissidence from Patocka to Havel, University of Pittsburgh Press.

 

Classroom Procedures

 

The meeting (180 min with a break) will start with a lecture followed by student presentations of the required texts and discussion. Students are asked to do the required reading before each class.

Assignments and Grading Policy

Grades based on letters A through F will be given. ECES does not provide courses with pass/fail grades.

·        presentation 30%

·        participation 20%

·        final essay (2000 words long) 50%

  Attendance  

Regular and punctual class attendance is mandatory for all students. Absence of 180 minutes
is allowed. Three or more absences (90 minutes each) lower the grade automatically (A to A-, A to B+ in case of 4 absences etc.)

 

Presentation Policy: Missing the presentation will result in an F (when applicable). If the student wants to switch the date, he/she must find someone to do it and both students must confirm the change in e-mails to the professor at least 10 days in advance. If the student is sick and has a medical note, then the professor must agree with the student on how the work will be made up for.

Final Test or Paper Policy: Completing the final test or paper is required. Failure to submit the final test or paper according to the deadline will result in a letter grade F for the entire course.

For further details, please see the Attendance Policy at the ECES website under “Academic Policies and Procedures” : http://eces.ff.cuni.cz/

Student Responsibility and Code of Conduct (required)

Students are subject to the general standards and requirements of Charles University in regard to attendance, examinations, and conduct, as well as to the specific requirements of the program. The student is expected to assume the initiative in completing all requirements at the time specified.


Weekly Schedule  

 

List the agenda for the semester including when and where the final exam will be held. Indicate the schedule is subject to change with fair notice and how the notice will be made available.

 

Example:

 

Week 1

Historical and geo-political introduction

 

Basic introduction to the modern history of Central Europe and into the political reality of late socialism. We will focus on the specifics and ideological usage of the term Central and Eastern Europe.

 

Required readings:

Milan Kundera, "The Tragedy of Central Europe", NYRB 31/7, April 26, 1984

Tony Judt, "The Rediscovery of Central Europe", Deadalus, Winter 1990/119, 23-54.

 

Suggested readings (this reading is not demanded, but it might help in understaning the topic and shaping the discussion):

Dahrendorf, R. (2004): Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, Transaction Publishers.

 

Judt, Tony (2005): Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Penguin Press.

 

 

Week 2

Forerunner: Czeslaw Milosz, The Captive Mind

 

Nobel prize winner Czeslaw Milosz wrote his penetrating analysis of totalitarian thinking already in the fifties we will analyse his thoughts on the seductive aspect of ideology, characteristics of a totalitarian mind, the role of an intellectual in authoritarian regime. A comparison with Raymond Aron’s well-known The Opium of the Intellectuals can be made.

 

Required readings:

Czeslaw Milosz, (1990): The Captive Mind, Vintage International, chap. 1 and 3, pp. 3-24, 54-81.

 

Suggested readings:

Aron, R. (1957): The Opium of the Intellectuals, London: Secker & Warburg.

 

 

Week 3

Jan Patočka, Heretical Essays in the History of Philosophy

 

Jan Patočka is an intellectual father of Czech intellectuals dissents, influenced by Heidegger and Husserl he analysis modern society and searches for the roots of the crisis of modernity. We will examine the political aspects of his thoughts.

 

Required readings:

Jan Patočka (1996) “Is Technological Civilization Decadent, and Why?” in Heretical Essays in the History of Philosophy , Open Court Publishing, pp. 95-118.

 

Suggested readings:

Tucker, A. (2000): Philosophy and politics of Czech dissidence from Patocka to Havel, University of Pittsburgh Press, chap. 1 and 2.

 

Week 4

Charter 77

 

The text of Charter 77 declaration will help us to understand the topos of dissident’s political philosophy: the illusion of the legal order on the one hand and despotism of the regime on the other. We will discuss the broader topic of relation between the law and morality as well.

 

Required readings:

 

Charter 77 declaration in Václav Havel et al. Power of Powerless, Palach Press 1985, pp. 217-221.

 

Václav Černý, „On the Question of Chartism“ in Václav Havel et al. Power of Powerless, Palach Press 1985, pp. 125-133.

 

Jan Patočka, "What Charter 77 Is and What It Is Not", in H. Gordon Skilling, Charter 77 and Human Rights in Czechoslovakia, London (Allen & Unwin) 1981, str. 217–219.

 

Suggested readings:

 

Tucker, A. (2000): Philosophy and politics of Czech dissidence from Patocka to Havel, University of Pittsburgh Press, chap. 5.

 

 

Week 5

Václav Havel, Power of Powerless I-XV

 

We will read the first part of Havel’s essay concentrating on the role of ideology and truth in politics.

 

Required readings:

Václav Havel et. al., Power of Powerless, Palach Press, pp. 23-67.

 

Suggested readings:

Leszek Kolakowski, “Totalitarianism & the Lie” in Commentary Magazine 1983, reprinted and re-edited as “Totalitarianism and the Virtue of the Lie” in Irving Howe, Geogre Orwell, 1984 Revisited: Totalitarianism in Our Century, Harper & Row, 1983.

 

Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” in Lenin and Philosophy and other essays, Monthly Review Press, New York & London, 127-186.

 

Week 6

Václav Havel, Power of Powerless XVI-XXII

 

Václav Havel opens an important theme: moral responsibility of an individual in (what he calls) post-totalitarian regime. With a help of Hannah Arendt paper we will discuss the demand of dissent and boundaries of moral responsibility.

 

Required readings:

Václav Havel et. al., Power of Powerless, Palach Press, pp. 67-96.

 

Suggested readings:

Hannah Arendt, “Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship” in Responsibility and Judgement, Schocken Books, New York 2003, 17-48.

 

 

Week 7

Václav Benda, Catholicism and Politics

 

There are two main currents in Václav Benda’s political thought: (i) parallelism of official structures and dissident polis and (ii) Catholicism as a source of spiritual and social renewal. Benda’s ideas will be analysed with a help of literature suggested below.

 

Required readings:

Václav Benda, “Catholicism and Politicsin Václav Havel et. al., Power of Powerless, Palach Press, pp. 110-124.

 

Suggested readings:

Václav Benda et al., "Parallel Polis, or An Independent Society in Central and Eastern Europe: An Inquiry", in  Social Research 55.1-2, 214-222.

 

Hannah Arendt, “Religion and Politics” in Essays in Understanding, Shocken Books, New York 1994, 368-390.

 

 

Week 8

Adam Michnik, On Resistance, Why You Are Not Emigrating

 

Adam Michnik belongs to main representatives of the Solidarity movement; this meeting we will discuss his thoughts on political resistance and civil (dis)obedience.

 

Required readings:

Adam Michnik (1985): Letters from Prison and Other Essays, University of California Press, pp. 16-24, 41-63.

 

Suggested readings:

Falk, B. J. (2003): The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe, CEU Press, chap. 5.

 

Michael Walzer, The Obligation to Disobey, Ethics, Vol. 77, No. 3 (Apr., 1967), pp. 163-175

 

Week 9

Adam Michnik, A New Evolutionism, Why You Are Not Singing

 

Adam Michnik’s most important essay “A New Evolutionism” will be discussed with a special focus on one question: is the dissident movement solely anti-communist, or is it essentially anti-political as well?

 

Required readings:

Adam Michnik (1985): Letters from Prison and Other Essays, University of California Press, pp. 3-15, 135-148.

 

Suggested readings:

Renwick, A., “Anti-Political or Just Anti-Communist?”, in East European Politics and Societies, 2006 20: 286-318.

 

 

Week 10

Miklós Haraszti on worker’s unfreedom

 

Haraszti’s sociological analysis is written as if it were a prose; however it uncovers deeper problems persisting in socialistic regimes: dissolution of any community, problems of cooperation, communication etc. Haraszti faced trial for writing the book, the minutes from the trial will be discussed as well. Since the main topic of Haraszti’s work is freedom (or its absence), we will discuss his text from the point of view of Berlin’s famous essay “Two Concepts of Liberty”.

 

Required readings:

Miklós Haraszti, A Worker in a Worker’s State, Universe Books, New York 1977, 21-25, 42-52, 56-79, 147-157 and “The Trial of Miklós Haraszti” (159-175).

 

Suggested readings:

Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty” in Liberty (revised and expanded edition of Four Essays On Liberty), Oxford University Press, 2002.

 

G. A. Cohen, "The Structure of Proletarian Unfreedom" in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 12, No. 1. (Witnter 1983), pp. 3-33.

 

Week 11

Miklós Haraszti on censorship and freedom of art

 

Haraszti’s highly ironical book concerns art and censorship in communist countries, it is not only amusing to read but it offers deep insights into the mind of “state artists” and “state intellectuals” as well. The main general topic of our meeting will be freedom of speech.

 

Required readings:

Miklós Haraszti, The Velvet Prison: Artists Under State Socialism, A New Republic Books, New York 1983, 5-34, 129-159.

 

Suggested readings:

Thomas Scanlon, "A Theory of Freedom of Expression” in: Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1972), pp. 204-226

 

John Milton, Areopagitica (published in 1644) – anyone having time to read Milton’s short pamphlet on freedom of press will not regret; it will not be used in the discussion much, but it belongs to the very best of the classical texts on this topic. The text is available on the web.

 

 

Week 12

György Konrád, Antipolitics

 

Konrád’s essay introduces two main themes: the monistic character of any ideological thinking and the critical role of an intellectual in the authoritarian regime. The text will be discussed and analysed in the contexts of Berlin’s writing on pluralism and Kolnai’s analysis of relation between morality and politics.

 

Required readings:

George Konrád, Antipolitics, HBJ, New York and London 1984, pp. 11-16, 31-38, 91-98, 109-113, 216-243.

 

Suggested readings:

Aurel Kolnai, “The Moral Theme in Political Division” in The Utopian Mind and Other Papers, Athlone, London 1995, pp. 133-154.

 

Isaiah Berlin, “The Pursuit of the Ideal” in The Crooked Timber of Humanity, Princeton University Press 1959 (1990 reprint), pp. 1-19.

 

Week 13

Closing discussion, paper presentations

 

During the last meeting we will try to discuss and assess the main theoretical problems that arose during our readings and discussions so far. Students will have opportunity to present and discuss their final essays.