SYLLABUS – PST3127

“Science, Technology & Human Values”

Summer 2010. Tues, Thurs 4:00-5:45pm
DM Smith 105

“The Contemporary Enlightenment”

Prof. Hans Klein Email: hans@gatech.edu
School of Public Policy Office hours: Tues, Thurs 3-4 and after class
Room 313, D.M. Smith Building and by appt.

PST3217 explores the philosophical theme of enlightenment. Philosophers throughout

the ages, from ancient Greece to contemporary times, have maintained that human
consciousness suffers from error, be it in our store of formal knowledge, our beliefs and
values, or our interests and desires. In this view, we live in a world of “false”
consciousness or illusion. In the enlightenment view, illusion is not accidental but is
created with intent, produced and propagated by society’s institutions of education,
religion, business, and government. Through critique individuals can come to recognize
illusion, both as they have internalized it and as it manifests itself in the world around
them. In a state of greater enlightenment, individuals may work to reform the illusion-
creating systems, thereby attaining a higher degree of freedom.
PST3127 is not a class in ethics per se, but addresses core issues in ethics, most
notably the presuppositions of ethical behavior. Rather than grounding ethical action on
the presupposition of a rational agent acting on the basis of higher principle, such as
utility maximization (Mill) or universality (Kant), we consider human rationality to be
incomplete but to be capable of development and improvement. We examine cognitive
impediments to ethical action (“false consciousness”), various accounts of the origins of
such impediments, methods for the critique of consciousness, and visions of freedom.
Readings will draw not only on philosophy but also on literature and social science.

Readings
• Texts to Purchase:
1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
2. Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John de Graaf, et al. (2001)
3. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen (1995)
4. Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky (2002)
• All other readings are available on the T-square site
• The New York Times: subscribe to the free on-line edition at www.NYTIMES.com.
Have the national & international news summary emailed to you.

Teaching Assistant
Our teaching assistant is:
Victor Wanningen <victor.wanningen@gatech.edu>
He should be your first stop for any administrative questions about the course.
Web site and Email list
The T-square site contains:
• Lecture notes (in Powerpoint)
• Some class readings
• Announcement archive
• Old quizzes
• Paper-related materials
• Syllabus
• Movies and videos

In-class Note-taking
Before coming to class, students download the Powerpoint slides from T-square and print
them out in Handout format with 3 slides per page. In the classroom, students should
take additional notes on those hardcopies.

Internet in Class
Computers may not be used in the lecture hall. Students lost in cyberspace during class
will be marked absent.

Assignments and Grading

• There will be 4 short-answer quizzes. Together, they will count equally for 50% of
your grade. If you miss a quiz for an excused absence you can take a makeup quiz.
• There will be 2 papers (7-9pp.) Together they count equally for 50% of your grade.
• Absences can lower your grade. Attendance is mandatory. Two unexcused absences
are allowed, but each additional absence will lower your final grade by 1 point.
Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class.

Honor Code
Students are expected to do original work in the class. Students must uphold an Honor
Code that seeks "to cultivate a community based on trust, academic integrity, and honor
(Article II, Section 2)." You must always attribute the thoughts, knowledge, and findings
of other scholars when you are using them in your own work. If you have any questions
about how this applies in your work, please bring it up with me or in class. For the full
text of the Honor Code, please see www.honor.gatech.edu.

Plagiarism: Plagiarizing is defined by Webster’s as “to steal and pass off (the ideas or
words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source.”
You should quote and attribute any words that are not your own. (Students educated
outside the US should be especially careful, as cultural differences can be big here. The
US rules are significantly stricter than those of some other educational systems and the
consequences are also more severe.)

For any questions involving these or any other Academic Honor Code issues, please
consult the instructor or see www.honor.gatech.edu.
 READING and LECTURE SCHEDULE

PART 0:
THE CLAIM OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Date / WEEK 1
Filename
Tues, 5/18 • The Matrix (scenes 8-12.) This is essential material for PST3127. If you miss
this first class be sure to watch the DVD in the library’s collection.
Thursday • Plato, “Allegory of the Cave,” (on T-square)
010 • Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, “Forward”, especially the discussion of
“The Happy Slave” (on T-square).
WEEK 2
Tues, 5/25 • Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, “Preface” then “Introduction” in
Manufacturing Consent (2002 edition)

Thursday • Immanuel Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”

013 • Leary, Timothy and Richard Alpert, “The Politics of Consciousness
Expansion”, The Harvard Review 1:33-37 (1963).
WEEK 3
Tues., 6/1 • Harries,Owen, “What Conservatism Means,” The American
014 Conservative,11/27/03
• Allan Bloom, “The Relation Between Thought and Civil Society,” [The
Enlightenment], The Closing of the American Mind, pp. 256-268.
Thursday • Allan Bloom, “Tocqueville on Democratic Intellectual Life” (in “Introduction:
015 From Socrates' Apology to Heidegger's Rektoratsrede”), The Closing of the
American Mind, pp. 243-256.
• John de Graaf et al., Affluenza, through chap. 9
• QUIZ 1
PART 1: ILLUSION

WEEK 4
Tues., 6/8 • John de Graaf et al., Affluenza, through chap. 20
040
Thursday • John de Graaf et al., Affluenza, to end of book.
050

WEEK 5
Tues.,6/15 • Huxley, Brave New World, through Chapter XI (read chap. III closely.)
060
Thursday • Huxley, Brave New World, to end of book (read chapter XVI closely)
065 • QUIZ 2
 PART 2. INTENT

WEEK 6
Tues.,6/22 • Smith, Adam, “The Division of Labor” in The Wealth of Nations (1776).
• Rostow, “The Five Stages-of-Growth” in The Stages of Economic Growth

Thursday • McMath, et al., Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech 1885-1985
020

WEEK 7
Tues., 6/29 • Ewen, “Intro” and “Mobilizing the Instincts” in Captains of Consciousness
030 • Stauber and Rampton, “The Torturers Lobby” in Toxic Sludge is Good For
You: Lies Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
Thursday • Sally Reed, NEA: Propaganda Front of the Radical Left (selections)
070 • QUIZ 3
PART 3: CRITIQUE

WEEK
Tues.,7/6 140 • Guest speaker: Gary Yourofsky
• Review his website: www.adaptt.org (and do a web search on the author)
• Start reading Herman & Chomsky, “Introduction” and “Preface” (re-read)
Thursday 150 • Herman & Chomsky, Chapter 1, Manufacturing Consent
WEEK 9
Tues., 7/13 • Herman & Chomsky, Chapter 2
Thursday • Herman & Chomsky, Chapter 3 and Conclusions

WEEK 10
Tues., 7/20 160 • Loewen, Lies My Teachers Told Me, Intro & Chaps. 1 & 2
Thursday 165 • Loewen, Lies My Teachers Told Me, Chap. 9

WEEK 11
Tues.,7/27 170 • Loewen, Lies My Teachers Told Me, Chaps. 5 & 6
Thursday 175 • Loewen, Lies My Teachers Told Me, Chap. 11
• QUIZ 4