Violence in Contemporary Thought:
Philosophy and the Aesthetics of Speculative Violence
Instructor and office hours
-
Dr. Georgia M. Roberts email: gmr2@uw.edu
Course Description
This course will consider how modern philosophy and aesthetic theory have shaped popular understandings of the relationship between society, violence, and the future. The first half of class will focus on texts by Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt and others. In the second half of the course, we will examine the sublime and speculative violence related to the technological future. We will read short stories and watch popular films, including The Matrix (1999), Minority Report (2002), and Ex Machina (2014).
The class is fully online and asynchronous. All readings and films will be available on Canvas, and assignments will alternate between quizzes and discussions, with a final creative/research assignment. Students will also have the option to sign up for biweekly Zoom sessions for informal discussion.
Course Structure
Each week you will be assigned a selection of readings and either a documentary film or other media (podcast, etc.) In general, students will need to complete readings and films by Tuesday of each week and will be expected to either submit an initial discussion post by Wednesday or submit a quiz before Saturday at midnight.