Faculty and Staff

“The dilemmas of the practical world are fundamentally resistant to policies that neglect the human question.” Gregory Ulmer, Internet Invention

What is theory? A theory is an account of what things are, why they are the way they are, and how and why they work. A "thing" can be a physical thing, like a person or book, or an abstract concept, like the proletariat or being or love.

From Wikipedia:

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in philosophy in Ancient Greek. As an everyday word, θεωρία, meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", but in more technical contexts it came to refer to contemplative or speculative understandings of natural things such as those of natural philosophers, as opposed to more practical ways of knowing things, like that of skilled orators or artisans.  The word has been in use in English since at least the late 16th century. Modern uses of the word "theory" are derived from the original definition, but have taken on new shades of meaning, still based on the idea that a theory is a thoughtful and rational explanation of the general nature of things.

In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do, but also will explore and practice thinking. Intended as a survey of critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature.

The discourses of theory in the 20th century and into the 21st include formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, semiotic, structuralist, post-structuralist, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and ecocriticism. We will examine works of literature using each theoretical discourse as a lens through which to view and understands them. Additionally, we will take time in the middle of the semester to gain a better understanding of interpretation itself.

“The dilemmas of the practical world are fundamentally resistant to policies that neglect the human question.” Gregory Ulmer, Internet Invention

This class will examine the use of language to persuade, and the capacity of persuasion to harm and to benefit ourselves and others. Persuasive language can be used to convince people, either through facts and logic, or by misrepresentation and twisted logic. At worst, this capacity can lead us into fiascos; during the housing bubble that preceded the 2008 financial collapse, so many people were fooled about the security of subprime loans that they brought on a global economic meltdown. More recently, tens of millions of Americans voted a con man with a horrifying agenda into the presidency. His followers repeatedly failed to heed warnings about the president's criminal and unethical behaviors and instead participated in his crimes while attacking his critics and perceived enemies, with the president’s incitement and often with lethal force. Why makes persuasive forms of writing (and speech) so powerful?

The course investigates persuasive writing as it relates to three areas of inquiry:

1.       The human capacity for being persuaded.

2.       The ability of con artists and propagandists to fool people.

3.       The ways in which people might protect themselves from being fooled.

We seek to understand how humans are prone to self-deception, ignorance, credulity, propaganda, prejudice, groupthink, and mass hysteria, so that we will have a greater chance to counteract the reasoning errors that lead to these outcomes. This learning process involves gaining critical self-awareness, and my bet is that we will discover that each of us holds beliefs, including our most cherished core beliefs, that are likely false and may also be dangerous (note: if you can't tolerate having your core beliefs challenged, you should not take this class!).

Learning how not to be fooled is a large part of critical thinking, which is central to a humanities education. This course teaches critical thinking in new and exciting ways by including lessons about how to stop our automatic reactions and about acquiring life management skills that will help us avoid getting fooled. We will examine this theme in relation to several areas of study:

1.       Modes of persuasion, ranging from dialogue to war

2.       Propaganda and public relations

3.       Science and pseudo-science

4.       Mental illness and health

5.       Technology and culture

The course draws upon materials from many knowledge areas—philosophy, cognitive science, economics, rhetoric, sociology, politics, and communications theory—to investigate our capacity to be fooled. The result will be an accessible, yet challenging and engaging course.

“The dilemmas of the practical world are fundamentally resistant to policies that neglect the human question.” Gregory Ulmer, Internet Invention

What is theory? A theory is an account of what things are, why they are the way they are, and how and why they work. A "thing" can be a physical thing, like a person or book, or an abstract concept, like the proletariat or being or love.

From Wikipedia:

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in philosophy in Ancient Greek. As an everyday word, θεωρία, meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", but in more technical contexts it came to refer to contemplative or speculative understandings of natural things such as those of natural philosophers, as opposed to more practical ways of knowing things, like that of skilled orators or artisans.  The word has been in use in English since at least the late 16th century. Modern uses of the word "theory" are derived from the original definition, but have taken on new shades of meaning, still based on the idea that a theory is a thoughtful and rational explanation of the general nature of things.

In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do, but also will explore and practice thinking. Intended as a survey of critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature.

The discourses of theory in the 20th century and into the 21st include formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, semiotic, structuralist, post-structuralist, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and ecocriticism. We will examine works of literature using each theoretical discourse as a lens through which to view and understands them. Additionally, we will take time in the middle of the semester to gain a better understanding of interpretation itself.

“The dilemmas of the practical world are fundamentally resistant to policies that neglect the human question.” Gregory Ulmer, Internet Invention

What is theory? A theory is an account of what things are, why they are the way they are, and how and why they work. A "thing" can be a physical thing, like a person or book, or an abstract concept, like the proletariat or being or love.

From Wikipedia:

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in philosophy in Ancient Greek. As an everyday word, θεωρία, meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", but in more technical contexts it came to refer to contemplative or speculative understandings of natural things such as those of natural philosophers, as opposed to more practical ways of knowing things, like that of skilled orators or artisans.  The word has been in use in English since at least the late 16th century. Modern uses of the word "theory" are derived from the original definition, but have taken on new shades of meaning, still based on the idea that a theory is a thoughtful and rational explanation of the general nature of things.

In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do, but also will explore and practice thinking. Intended as a survey of critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature.

The discourses of theory in the 20th century and into the 21st include formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, semiotic, structuralist, post-structuralist, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and ecocriticism. We will examine works of literature using each theoretical discourse as a lens through which to view and understands them. Additionally, we will take time in the middle of the semester to gain a better understanding of interpretation itself.

One thing a theory does is to explain how and why things work. In this course, we will explore the question of how and why literary and other texts work as they do. Intended in part as a survey of modern critical theory, this course is about how to think about and through literature. Literature is not separate from other kinds of writing, and it is open to everyone. It shares common structures, such as narrative, argument, and metaphor, with other kinds of writing. It represents the world and our thoughts, it exists in relationship to other texts, and it allows us to push into the unknown. We can learn about literature by practicing some of its methods. As we will see, written theory has a lot in common with literature too.

Modern theory, born in the 19th century and continuing into the 21st includes formalist, psychological, Marxist, feminist, reader-response, semiotic, structuralist, deconstructive, gender and queer, and cultural studies areas such as new historicism, postnolinialism, and multiculturalism. Of these, only the formalists set out to study literature as their first order of business. The other theorists came to literature by other routes, often through the sciences or through social movements. Each of these approaches includes multiple schools; for example, the Marxist schools include Lukacsians, the Frankfurt School, Gramscians, and others. We will examine works of literature using many of these theoretical discourses as guides. Additionally, we will seek to gain a better understanding of interpretation and of invention.

Course Description

Note: this is a face-to-face class, but we will be doing much of our work (discussions, quizzes, and papers) online. You should jump right into the webcourse ASAP.

This course examines our capacity to be fooled, either by another's misrepresentation or by our own reasoning errors. At worst, this capacity can lead us into fiascos. For instance, during the housing bubble that preceded the 2008 financial collapse, so many people were fooled about the security of subprime loans. that they brought on a global economic meltdown. Could this crisis have been avoided? More recently, tens of millions of Americans voted a con man with a horrifying agenda. into the presidency. His followers repeatedly failed to heed warnings. about the president's criminal and unethical behavior. before and after taking office and instead became complicit in his crimes. and attacked his critics and perceived enemies, with the president's incitement, and often with lethal force. Why are people fooled? We will be refining this questions throughout the semester to ask, "why are some people fooled more than others and why are we fooled about some things more than about other things?"

"Why Are People Fooled?" is a Gordon Rule course, which means you will produce at least 6000 words of evaluated writing as required by the English Department. Each Gordon Rule assignment has the following characteristics:

1. The writing will have a clearly defined central idea or thesis.
2. It will provide adequate support for that idea.
3. It will be organized clearly and logically.
4. It will show awareness of the conventions of standard written English.
5. It will be formatted or presented in an appropriate way.

The course investigates this enduring question - Why Are People Fooled? - as it relates to three areas of inquiry:

1. The human capacity for being fooled.
2. The ability of con artists and propagandists to fool people.
3. The ways in which people might protect themselves from being fooled.

We will seek to understand how humans are prone to self-deception, ignorance, credulity, propaganda, prejudice, groupthink, and mass hysteria, so that we will have a greater chance to counteract the reasoning errors that lead to these outcomes. This learning process involves gaining critical self-awareness, and my bet is that we will discover that each of us holds beliefs, including our most cherished core beliefs, that are likely false and may also be dangerous (note: if you can't tolerate having your core beliefs challenged, you should not take this class!). Learning how not to be fooled is a large part of critical thinking, which is central to a humanities education. This course teaches critical thinking in new and exciting ways by including lessons about how to stop our automatic reactions and about acquiring life management skills that will help us avoid getting fooled. We will examine this theme in relation to several areas of study:

1. Modes of persuasion, ranging from dialogue to war
2. Propaganda and public relations
3. Science and pseudo-science
4. Mental illness and health
5. Technology and culture

The course draws upon materials from many knowledge areas—philosophy, cognitive science, economics, rhetoric, sociology, politics, and communications theory—to investigate our capacity to be fooled. The result will be an accessible, yet challenging and engaging course.

Course Objectives

1. To understand how aspects of human psychology and society leave us vulnerable to manipulation.
2. To develop professional skills in research and in writing to persuade.
3. To understand the differences between science and pseudo-science and also between history and pseudo-history.
4. To understand the differences between propaganda and ethical forms of persuasion.
5. To enter into academic and professional discourse communities. My teaching aims to help you enter these communities by integrating four knowledge areas: literacy, critical thinking, self-knowledge, and citizenship.
   • • Literacy is more than the ability merely to read and write; it is also the ability to read reality and to interpret the "instrument panels" that tell us about it. At the university level, it means the ability to communicate within academic and professional communities using specialized discourses. Such work requires new habits of reading and writing, habits that do not come easily or naturally for most people. My mentor in graduate school, Professor Gregory Ulmer, used to remind me that a pencil was probably about the cheapest technology a person could buy but the most expensive to learn to use effectively. I focus on improving each student’s abilities regardless of his or skills on the first day of class.
     • Critical thinking is the ability to think abstractly and to assess the merits of an idea or text. It requires skills in analysis and interpretation. Analysis describes what type a text is, how it functions, details its elements and explains how it achieves its effects. Interpretation declares what a text means, what its major themes are, and what morals or lessons the reader should draw from it. When students become adept at these skills, they are ready to assess the merits of ideas, including their own.
     • Self-knowledge lies at the origins of scholarly learning, beginning with the Delphic Oracle’s instruction to Socrates: “Know thyself!” Self-knowledge is the process of creating an inventory of one’s thoughts and behaviors, discovering one’s values, and checking for congruence. The processes for attaining self-knowledge derive as much from art as they do from science; thus I ask students to study literature, and, in several of my classes, to produce literature. By studying and producing literature, we explore ways of being in the world.
     • Citizenship is a process of engagement with the world, one that balances empowerment with humility. It begins with an understanding of self, of groups, of traditions, and of actions and their consequences. The citizenship process is similar to the self-knowledge process. It entails examination of a group’s values and its beliefs and behaviors. Again, the arts are powerful agents for understanding what it means to have responsibility, power, and limitations in our own place and time.
   • By integrating these four areas, you should gain a sense of confidence about your place in academic and professional worlds. You should have the ability to find, evaluate, and use information effectively.