Topic Description
Oppositional argument is older than the current political television talkshows would have us believe. In this unit, students read about of dialectical argument, and ask why news and political television-theater gravitated so strongly to that mode of difference resolution.
Readings
Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von. "The Meaning of General System Theory." In General System Theory. New York, NY: George Braziller, 1976. ISBN: 9780807604533.
Ovid. "Narcissus and Echo." In Selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses. New York, NY: Longman Publishing Group, 1987. ISBN: 9780582367487. [Preview a version of this book in Google Books.]
Resources
Modern History Sourcebook: G. W. F. Hegel: The Dialectic of History, 1812 - 1820 (Two brief selections on dialectical method according to G. W. F. Hegel.)
Blunden, Andy, Hegel's Science of Logic, Hegel-by-HyperText. (Full text of Hegel's 1831 opus.)
Morris, Errol. "The Case of the Inappropriate Alarm Clock (Part 1)." The New York Times, October 18, 2009. (NYTimes opinion piece by documentary filmmaker, Errol Morris.)