History 499 / Humanities 499 / Philosophy 498
The Idea of Tradition

Course Description

This seminar course is meant to explore the relationship between tradition and freedom, as two equally necessary but often conflicting elements in social and political life. The tension between the two has become particularly pronounced in the modern age, when the independence and creativity of the autonomous self has increasingly been understood as standing in opposition to the "dead hand" of inherited tradition. This seems to have been especially true in modern America. Indeed, the United States has often been depicted as a fundamentally anti-traditional culture, whose glory lies precisely in its sweeping disregard for the determinants of birth and origins---a nation whose economic and technological dynamism naturally undermines all settled customs and usages, and whose generous and open-ended spirit is perhaps best symbolized by the self-transforming act of immigration. Even social philosophers who want to re-emphasize the individual's "social embeddedness" generally have very little good to say about tradition as a source of social authority. Although there is much talk of recovering traditions, "tradition" itself seems to have been reduced to yet another consumable in the modern marketplace culture, where individual choice reigns as supreme as ever.

That being the case, it would seem to be time to recover a clearer sense of what is meant by tradition, what the proper relationship between tradition and individual liberty might be, and what a genuine recovery of "traditional" knowledge and authority might entail, under present circumstances. I envision this course as a small step forward in the clarification and exploration of those issues. It will entail the reading of a wide diversity of texts, related thematically rather than historically, each of which deals in some manner with the generic problem of tradition's role in a free society. Some of the central themes are Tradition and Liberty, Tradition and Politics, Tradition and Morality, Tradition and Art, Tradition and Traditionalism, and Tradition and Modernity.

Examinations and Papers

There will be no examinations in this course. Instead, students will be required to write a semi-weekly paper of 5-10 pages or so---six papers in all---dealing with some aspect of the reading material assigned for that day. In general, students should strive to produce papers that are interpretive or critical, rather than being mere summations or reports. Because we will be using these papers as a starting place for much of our seminar discussion, students should come to class prepared to read their papers aloud. I will be describing the papers in greater detail during our first class meeting.

Grading

It is futile to use a mathematical formula to determine a final grade in a course like this one. For one thing, there is simply no way that I can adequately recognize the varying strengths and weaknesses of particular students if I am bound to a rigid formula. It is often the case that the best writers are among the poorest oral discussants, and vice versa. A reasonable and flexible grading system, which gives the instructor maximum latitude, will be able to accommodate this fact. However, students should be aware that, in rough terms, I weigh their writing and their contributions to seminar discussions approximately equally.

Reading Schedule

Activities
Events Index
Current Events
Courses Index
Current Courses