The Anatomy of Cruelty

Catalog description

Drawing on a combination of philosophical texts and other genres (e.g., novels, films, TV shows), this course seeks to provide students with an opportunity to study contemporary constructions of cruelty and criminal violence. We will probe the central images and tropes that permeate contemporary depictions of cruelty and criminal violence, with an eye to discerning the philosophical sources, the socio-political contexts, and the political uses of these representations. Particular attention will be paid to the structure of torture, the philosophy of emotion and cruelty, the paradoxes of cruelty, the Gothic imagination, and the impact of social hierarchies on contemporary constructions of cruelty and criminal violence. Prerequisites or corequisites: PHL 101, 201 or the permission of the instructor.