精神分析與倫理（文類課：其他）

When Sigmund Freud wrote his Totem and Taboo, one of his aims was to vet out the psychological root of Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative” that lays the foundation for modern ethics. Since then, however, little advancement has been made in psychoanalysis about the ethical thesis on “how to live.” Second- and third-generation analysts such as Erich Fromm, Melanie Klein, D. W. Winnicott, and Jacques Lacan, though dabbling occasionally in ethical matters, have not made a systematic inquiry into ethics proper either. In this class, we will read mainly two contemporary practicing psychoanalysts whose thoughts on ethics merit a serious attention. Indian-born Salman Akhtar attempts to psychoanalytically define the positive attributes and actions ranging from courage to sacrifice that have helped him to find his footing in racialized America. Christopher Bollas, whose earlier training includes comparative literature, delves into ancient Chinese philosophy to expound on how a modern Chinese speaker would subliminally lead his or her virtuous life. Virtues alone, however, are not enough to make the world a better place unless evils are also fully understood. The penultimate weeks of the class will be devoted to terrorism and fascism in both Lacanian and non-Lacanian perspectives. Students will be required to read the weekly assigned materials and write an online response. A term paper of 5 to 7 pages in length in English is required by the end of the semester. Students shall decide on what to write by the midterm that takes the form of a one-on-one interview with the instructor. All reading and writing assignments will be done in English, whereas class discussions might proceed bilingually.

Instructor: Kien Ket Lim, Ph.D.

GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Class attendance is mandatory. For any absences, an official leave of absence from the University Administration must be obtained at http://stuoffcourse.nycu.edu.tw/. 2. Requirements. To fulfill the course requirements, students should go over the assigned readings, submit their responses online, join the class discussions, make a presentation, and submit a term paper (including paper planning exercises). In all cases except the class discussion, English is the only language used. 3. Classroom decorum: a. No food or beverage (except drinking water) is allowed in class. b. Cellular phones must be switched to the flight mode. No texting or call answering is allowed in the classroom during the class sessions. c. Electronic devices (notebook computers, tablets, iPads, etc.) are discouraged from use. d. No taping, recording, or photographing is allowed in class without permission. 4. Reserved materials. To locate the book items on reserve at the library, follow these steps. a. At the “Library Search” slot, key in the course title in Chinese or English b. Select the tag “Course Reserves” (指定參考書) at the end of the slot. c. Click on the Search icon, and the reserve list will be presented. 5. Correspondence: a. You can write your e-mail in either English or Chinese. b. Always specify your English or Chinese name in full, as well as your student’s ID, in all your correspondence. c. All course-related announcements will be sent to your e-mail address on file at the NYCU Online Course Registration System (https://course.nycu.edu.tw/) and E3 (https://e3.nycu.edu.tw). Keep good maintenance of your mailbox and check your mails regularly. d. Internet activities and course grades will be posted at our site on our E3 page. To enter, key in the user ID and password you use for logging in at the Course Registration site. e. Whom to write to: write to the T.A. only if an error in your grades is suspected. Otherwise, direct all your queries to the instructor. 6. Rights. The instructor reserves the final and exclusive rights to amend any portion of the course syllabus, including the grading scale, course schedule, regulations, and instructions on assignments, examination, and term projects. Class Participation 1. Students will be graded in principle by the frequency of their participation in the class discussion, not necessarily by the quality of their inputs. 2. A student will earn 1 credit point for his or her input in class each week. The aggregate of all credit points earned will be factored into his or her “Class Participation” grade for the semester. Online Responses 1. Purpose. This assignment, to start in Week 5, intends to help you prepare what you can bring up as your input to our weekly discussion in class. 2. What to write. You write each week a response to all assigned reading(s). 3. Length & contents. What you write can either be a paragraph or two of 5 to 25 sentences, or some 5 to 25 questions and/or remarks (commands, criticisms, etc.). Remember, do not write beyond 25 sentences, and you are not writing a description, a summary, or a free association. And all internet protocols apply. 4. How to proceed. The responses must be submitted online by following these steps: a. On our page at E3, click on “Discussion” on the left. b. Click on the “Online Responses” forum of the corresponding week, such as “Weekly Response: Week 5.” c. Click on the “Reply” button in the instructor’s posting to begin. d. Always type your student’s ID, to be followed by a title of your choice, in the subject slot, such as “311451088 Was Freud Right?” Avoid such general headings as “Afterthoughts,” “My View,” etc. e. If there should be an error in posting, post your response again and delete your earlier message. 5. Grading. Your response will each be graded with the scale of 1.0 to 5.0. Expect it to fall between 4.0 and 4.9 on average. If no blog is posted, the grade is 0. 6. Deadline. The deadline to post your response is Sunday by 11:59 p.m. before the due date. There is a grace period between 12:00 a.m. and 1:20 p.m. Monday. Any work posted after 9:00 a.m. Wednesday shall receive 3.5 as the highest possible grade. Presentation 1. Pick one essay/chapter (if it is long) or a group of essays/chapters (if they are short) from any week to present in class. 2. The essays that are taken by one student cannot be chosen by another. 3. Your presentation should be in English, and should not exceed 15 minutes in length. 4. Presentation aids: a. A 1-2 A4 page outline of the presented materials is required, to be submitted to the instructor as a hard copy and shared at E3 as a soft copy. b. A PowerPoint file or the like visual is optional. 5. The presentation will be graded between the range of 1.0 and 5.0 of the semester grade. Midterm Interview 1. The interview will be focused on two aspects: (1) coursework, and (2) prospectus, each taking up 5 pts. Together, the Midterm Interview takes up 10 points of the semester grade. 2. Each student will meet the instructor in person for a 10-minute session, in the form of an open-book oral interview in English or Chinese, on the course materials assigned to read up to week 11 (inclusive). Students can bring in any materials they like to the interview. 3. Each student must also bring in a hard copy of the prospectus of his or her term paper. 4. Students will have to schedule their meetings, to take place in the department office, according to the available time slots in week 11. 5. Each interview will be graded according to the categories “substance” (whether materials represented by the student are solid and relevant), “comprehensibility” (whether he or she has a good grip of the materials), and “clarity” (whether he or she can communicate them in a forceful and logical manner). 6. To ensure fairness, students are advised not to discuss with each other the contents of their interviews until all interviews are over. TERM PROJECT Make honesty your priority. Plagiarism of any form will not be tolerated. Paper Planning 1. The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize the students with the MLA documenting style of paper writing (https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style). 2. Students are advised to get the latest edition of MLA Handbook to do this assignment. 3. Print and submit your homework assignment beginning week 6 on the A4 paper following the samples given at our website. 4. Exemption : a. A waiver from most of this assignment (exercises 1-10) will be granted, if a term paper in English written by you for a different class before is submitted and accepted upon inspection. b. Even with a waiver, students are required to do Paper Planning exercises 11 to 14. Term Paper 1. Your term paper must show that you have learned substantially from the class. 2. Paper topics must be approved by the instructor no later than week 16. Submission 3. You submit a term paper of 5 to 7 pages in length, including footnotes or endnotes, but not the “Works Cited” list. (If you plan also to submit the same paper to a different class, you must extend the number of pages to 10-15. You must also notify both instructors beforehand.) 4. Papers will be due in week 18. 5. Turn in both the hard and soft copies, the latter of which should adopt this format to write both the filename and the e-mail subject: “student’s ID, your name in Chinese, Term Paper.” For example, “311451088吳偉雄Term Paper.” 6. Unless all your online responses and paper planning exercises have been completed (including any rewrite that must be turned in), you will not be allowed to submit your paper. Failure to submit the term paper would mean receiving a failing grade. Format and Style 7. The latest MLA documenting style will be adopted. Other formats will be accepted upon the instructor’s approval. 8. All students must fulfill the “Paper Planning” requirements (q.v.). 9. No more than one third of your cited materials should be those from the internet or online database. Print materials available in the PDF format are not counted as electronic resources. Grading Scale for Term Paper 10. A paper will be graded according to the following scale: C (Contents, 5 pts.), L (Language, 5 pts.), O (Organization, 5 pts.), R (Relevance and Originality, 5 pts.), and S (Style and Format, 5 pts.). 11. Students with paper planning waiver: the subtotal is to be averaged and multiplied by 5 to make 25 points. “Paper Planning” takes up the remaining 5 points. Together the total is 30 points. 12. Other students: the subtotal is to be averaged and multiplied by 3 to make 15 points. “Paper Planning” takes up the remaining 15 points. Together the total is 30 points. 13. If the term paper is not submitted, the “Paper Planning” grade will be nullified. 14. For each page you fall short of or go beyond, 1.0 point will be deducted, with 5.0 points as the maximal deducted points. Further Grading Policy 1. The missing works. Unless a special permission has been granted, all missing works (online Responses, paper planning exercises, etc.) are due in week 18, after which, for each missing work, two (2) points from the overall semester grade shall be deducted till this grade goes below 60. 2. The term project. In the case in which a student should request to turn in the term project after the due date, he or she shall receive an “I” for “incomplete” as the temporary semester grade. If the student should fail still to turn in the term paper by the time when the “incomplete” must be resolved and the semester grade be sent, he or shall receive zero (0) as the grade of the said term project.

Class discussion and participation 15 points Online responses 30 points Presentation 5 points Midterm interview 15 points (coursework, 7.5 pts; prospectus, 7.5 pts) Term Project 35 points Student with paper planning waiver Paper planning 5 points Term paper 25 points Other students Paper planning 15 points Term paper 15 points Total 100 points

The Course Reader. Salman Akhtar, Good Stuff. Jason Aronson, 2013. Christopher Bollas, China on the Mind. Routledge, 2013. MLA Handbook, 9th ed., MLA, 2021.

地點

HC414

時間

Monday, 3:30-5:00 PM, and by appointment

聯絡方式

Kien Ket Lim 林建國 (limk@nycu.edu.tw) (Tel: 03-573-1792, or campus extension 3-1792)