Course Details

Historicism and the Humanities

$1,500.00

Course Code:

HAM8402

Credit Hours:

3

Course Level:

800

Area of Study:

History and Method

Course Description

HAM8402 - Historicism may be defined minimally as “the belief that an adequate understanding of the nature of anything and an adequate assessment of its value are to be gained by considering it in terms of the place it occupied and the role it played within a process of development.” On this definition, almost every aspect and every discipline in the humanities has succumbed to historicism. Thus, we have the history of ideas, the history of philosophy, art history, etc. The study of Hinduism becomes the study of the history of Hinduism: when did it originate, how did it develop from Vedic religion, did it experience a decline, what sociohistorical conditions explain it, and so on. This course interrogates the dominance of historicist concerns in the humanities, with a view to liberating thought from the burden of history. Guide by Nietzsche’s diagnosis of modern European culture as suffering from a “surfeit of history,” we shall ask what consequences “the historical sickness” has for the humanities. Can their contemporary crisis in fact be traced back to the crisis of historicism itself?

Program of Study

This course is part of the following programs:

Doctor of Hindu Studies

Ph.D. (advanced MA students may register for this course with the instructor’s permission)

Division

Prerequisites:

Admission into a qualifying Program of Study.
There are no prerequisite courses.
The ability to read complex texts and follow sustained arguments is required.

Semester / Quarter:

Quarter

Number of Weeks:

Required / Core / Elective:

Semester / Quarter Offered:

TBD

Days of the Week:

Time:

Start Date:

End Date:

Faculty

Dr. Joydeep Bagchee

Dr. Joydeep Bagchee is a core doctoral faculty member at the Hindu University of America and a visiting lecturer based in Berlin, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from New School for Social Research, New York.

joydeep.bagchee@hua.edu

Hindu University of America