History 3394: Sec. 11817
History 3395: Sec. 11821

University of Houston
THE HISTORY OF EVIL
Spring 2002

 

Professor Hannah Decker
534 Agnes Arnold Hall
713-743-3095
hsdecker@uh.edu

Professor Steven Mintz
548 Agnes Arnold Hall
713-743-3109
smintz@uh.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This experimental seminar explores the origins and nature of evil in modern history. It will trace the history of evil in its most important historical embodiments, including the slave trade and slavery, colonialism and imperialism, and the Nazi Holocaust. It will examine the way that evil has been treated in Western Culture's basic myths and texts and by popular culture; the psychological and sociological roots of evil; and the historical circumstances that permit torture, rape, and genocide to occur.

Most history courses focus on a particular historical era and society. But if history is to have meaning, it must address fundamental questions of morality and ethics. This experimental seminar looks at the way that theologians, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and historians have conceived, explained, and interpreted evil.

THINKING ABOUT EVIL:

Evil lurks all around us. It takes the form of political torture, genocide, terrorism, and assassination. It also exists within the private sphere, in the form of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual abuse. Our popular culture is saturated with images evil and violence: with psychopaths, sociopaths, and serial killers.

For more than two millennia, theologians, philosophers, and their modern counterparts have pondered the problem of evil. Religious thinkers have asked how an all powerful and benevolent God can tolerate evil and suffering and whether evil serves some rational purpose or whether it is utterly inexplicable.

Philosophers, too, have explored the origins and nature of evil. Among the questions they have pondered are whether people are responsible for evil acts committed as the result of unconscious drives and whether rational explanations of evil reduce human responsibility. In the twentieth century, secular explanations of evil have largely replaced religious ones. Marxists attribute evil to "exploitative classes." Psychologists blame evil on mental disease, past abuse, or dysfunctional patterns of development. Sociologists link evil to social, demographic, economic, and political dislocations.

Yet the source of evil seems obscure. Modern explanations of evil--such as authoritarian parenting or overcrowding--seem painfully inadequate to explain the horrors of the twentieth century and the barely begun twenty-first. A reasonable account of evil must recognize that much evil is caused not by moral monsters but ordinary people going about their ordinary lives.

In this class, we will treat evil as a historical subject in its broadest sense. We will analyze the circumstances and ideologies that have given rise to history's greatest horrors. We will look at specific case studies--including the Holocaust, the Atlantic slave trade, the destruction of Native American populations, and European imperialism in order to understand the ways cultures have "demonized" the Other; the mechanization and bureaucratization of mass death; and the relationship between collective violence and utopian and messianic ideals. Our goal is nothing less than to understand the historical circumstances that give rise to collective evil and allow it to flourish.

COURSE GOALS:

1. To introduce you to the ways that theologians, philosophers, anthropologists, great writers, psychologists, and sociologists have explained human violence and cruelty.

2. To use specific historical case studies to understand the factors that make radical evil possible.

3. To examine the similarities and differences between the Holocaust and other examples of mass murder, ethnic cleansing, population displacement, and genocide, including the Atlantic slave trade, the destruction of Native Americans, the Armenian genocide, Stalin's great famine, and the Cultural Revolution in China.

REQUIREMENTS:

Examinations: There will be a mid-term examination on Tuesday, February 19, and a second examination on Tuesday, April 23. Each examination will consist of multiple choice, identification, and essay questions based on the lectures, discussions, and readings. There will be no make-up exams without a physician's letter describing a serious illness.

Essay: By the 4th class session (Tuesday, February 5), you must submit a written proposal for a 6-8 page double-spaced typed (or printed) research paper. Topics, which must be approved by the instructors, must deal with one of the following sets of topics:

1. A very specific example of terrorism: how it was explained, evaluated, and responded to by the media and by public authorities.

2. An evaluation of the success or failure of a specific example of an attempt to punish or raise awareness of genocide or some other example of collective evil, including war-crimes trials, truth­and-reconciliation commissions, or economic sanctions.

3. An original essay on the treatment of a particular form of evil (e.g., the Holocaust, terrorism, or sociopathology) in film, drawing on a minimum of three feature-length films or documentaries from three different decades plus the relevant critical literature. A succession of plot summaries or film reviews is not acceptable. The exact films must be approved in advance by the instructors.

The essay must be submitted both in hard copy and on diskette. It is due in class no later than Tuesday, April 2, 2002.

Grading:

Your course grade will be based on your exams, essay, and contribution to class discussions.

Grading essays:

A = An intelligent, insightful, clear essay that has an original thesis, clear organization, careful attention to detail, free of errors in content and form, thoughtful insights

B = An accurate, well written essay that does not sparkle with independent thinking or analysis

C = An essay that contains errors of fact or interpretation and/or numerous stylistic problems; clear evidence of having done the required reading and research, but with difficulties in expression and understanding

D = An essay that shows evidence of poor preparation, superficial analysis, and/or significant errors in content or failure

F = An essay that contains plagiarism, is submitted late, or exhibits little effort and contains very significant errors.

CLASS POLICIES:

Attendance is required at class meetings; roll will be taken. Three absences will result in your being dropped from the course.

Tardiness disturbs the instructors and your classmates. Two late arrivals constitute an absence.

Due dates will be strictly enforced. Reading assignments are to be completed by the date given in the syllabus. Failure to read assigned material constitutes being unprepared for class and will negatively affect your class participation grade.

Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses that will be penalized severely. Plagiarism or cheating on any assignment will result in failure in the class and the possibility of additional penalties. You are plagiarizing or cheating if you:

· present someone else's words or ideas as your own present ideas without citing the source

· paraphrase without crediting the source use direct quotes without quotation marks

· use direct quotes without footnotes or proper citation

· submit material written by someone else as your own submit a paper for which you have received so much help it is no longer your on work

· copy someone else's exam, allow another student to copy your work, collaborate with others on an essay.

REQUIRED READING:

Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghosts

Alan S. Rosenbaum, ed., Is the Holocaust Unique?

Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

On-Line Sourcebook:

http://www.class-uh-edu/mintz/reader.htm

CALENDAR:

 

Part I. Understanding Evil: How Evil Has Been Explained

Week 1. Tuesday, January 15.

Introduction: The Roots of Human Cruelty and Violence

Topics:

Defining Evil

Evil in Myth, and Classic Literature

Philosophic and Religious Perspectives on Evil

Anthropological, Biological, Psychological, and Sociological Explanations of Evils

The Gothic Imagination: The Moral Monster, the Psychopath, and the Sociopath

Reading: Online Sourcebook (reading must be completed prior to the first examination)

Part II. The Holocaust: How Could a Nation Persecute and Kill Millions of Innocent People? How Could the World Stand by While These Atrocities Occurred?

Week 2. Tuesday, January 22.

Adolf Hitler: The Personal Roots of Evil

Reading: Ordinary Men Is the Holocaust Unique?, introduction, chaps. 1-3

Week 3. Tuesday, January 29.

Germany: The Cultural Roots of Evil

Week 4. Tuesday, February 5.

The "Banality" of Evil: The Roles of Perpetrators, Victims, and Bystanders

Part III. Case Studies in the History of Evil

Week 5. Tuesday, February 12. The Origins, Development, Significance, and Legacies of New World Slavery

Reading: Is the Holocaust Unique?, chap. 4

Week 6. Tuesday, February 19

First Examination

Week 7. Tuesday, February 26
The American Holocaust: The Destruction of Native Americans

Reading: Is the Holocaust Unique?, chap. 8

Week 8. March 4-9 SPRING BREAK

Week 9. Tuesday, March 12

Hearts of Darkness: The Evil of Imperialism

Reading. King Leopold's Ghost

Week 10. Tuesday, March 19

Genocide, Torture, and War Crimes in the 20th Century

Reading: Is the Holocaust Unique?, chap. 5, 6

Week 11. Tuesday, March 26.

Totalitarianism, Terror, and Torture During the Twentieth Century

Reading: Is the Holocaust Unique?, chap. 7

Part IV. Political Violence

Week 12. Tuesday, April 2

Terrorism in Historical Perspective

PAPER DUE

Reading: Hoffman, Inside Terrorism

Week 13. Tuesday, April 9

Terrorism in the Contemporary World

Topics:

The Changing Nature of Terrorism

The Secular and Religious Roots of Terrorism

The Impact of Terrorism Combating Terrorism

Part V. Facing Evil: Responding to Collective Violence, Genocide, and Torture

Week 14. Tuesday, April 16.

Conclusion: Vengeance and Forgiveness

Topics:

Collective Violence and Historical Memory: Remembering and Forgetting the Past--The Cases of Germany and Japan

Judgment and Reconciliation after Mass Violence

Week 15. Tuesday, April 23. Second Examination

 Steven Mintz     Copyright 2004