另外值得一提的是，這門課也是我上過的所有人文社科類課程中，唯一將考試作為最終考核方式的。這與人文社科教學看重學生“自由發揮”能力的傳統大相徑庭。三次考試，都是由若干小作文和一篇大作文組成，重在考察學生對馬克思的基本概念、理論以及各個概念和理論之間的聯系是否有透徹的理解。這也再次體現了這門課的主旨：幫助學生理解馬克思究竟說了什么，而不是鼓勵學生在缺乏理解的情況下自由發揮。

這門課帶給我的收獲，大致可以歸結為三個層面：還原馬克思、拼接馬克思、超越馬克思。

既然馬克思有種種不是，我們還讀他干嘛？在我看來，馬克思主義的生命力在于，它為我們提供了兩樣東西，使我們能超越馬克思本人的具體論斷，去分析更為復雜的當今社會。這兩樣東西，一曰“視角”，二曰“概念”。

Course Goals

The basic goal of the course is to help students acquire a clear understanding of the central concepts of Marx’s thought, such as alienation, capital, communism, and surplus value. The exams will focus on these concepts. A second goal is for students to recognize and evaluate the ways in which Marx’s concepts play a central role in different scholarly disciplines, such as Marxist cultural theory, Marxist history, or Marxist anthropology. Third, the course should give students basic familiarity with the historical and intellectual context from which Marx’s thought emerged, including the history of European philosophy, politics, and economics, as well as European colonialism and capitalist development. Finally, I hope that students will be able to situate Marxist theory in relation to a series of other contemporary theoretical paradigms with which they are already familiar, such as theories of race, gender, sexuality, and ecology.