Week - SUNY Geneseo
Professor Celia A. Easton HUMANITIES 220:04 (CRN12733) Fall 2006
T TH 8:05-9:45 am NEWTON 206
For another syllabus, http:geneseo.edu/~easton
Office: Welles 228b 245-5270
English Dept.: (585) 245-5273 Home (never after 9:00 p.m.) (585) 442-5716
Center for Community (Fridays) (585) 245-5852
Geneseo Online Writing Guide:
OFFICE HOURS (Welles 228b)—no appointment necessary, first come, first served. Mondays, 2:00-3:45 pm; Tuesdays, Thursdays, 10:00-11:30 a.m. and by appt (just ask).
"SOCIAL" HOUR (Welles 228b)—everyone is welcome; don't wait on line; you may be here by yourself or with a group. You can spend this time talking about class or anything you like. Bring a cup—there's always hot water and tea bags. Thursdays 2:00-3:00 pm.
Required texts:
Sophocles, Antigone in Three Theban Plays
Thucydides, On Justice, Power, and Human Nature (this is an edition of selections from The Peloponnesian War)
Plato, The Republic, trans. Grube
Livy, The History of Rome, book 1, in The Early History of Rome
The Bible (whichever translation you prefer; avoid paraphrased editions; you will need copies of both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures, conventionally called "Old Testament" and "New Testament")
Augustine, Confessions
Dante, The Inferno
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies
Shakespeare, King Lear
Learning Outcomes for HUMANITIES 220:
1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the contributions of significant Western thinkers to ongoing intellectual debate about moral, social, and political alternatives.
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the major trends and movements that have shaped and responded to this debate: e.g., monotheism, humanism, etc.
3. Students will demonstrate the ability to think critically about moral, social, and political arguments in the Western intellectual tradition, evaluating the logic of these arguments and relating them to the historical and cultural context.
4. Students will consider moral, social and political issues from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Humanities I challenges you to read, write, and think about significant works of literature, history, and philosophy written between the fifth century BCE (before the common era) and the seventeenth century CE. It is a fast-paced attempt to study political, social, spiritual, and aesthetic positions in an historical context.
Success in this course demands attentive and regular reading, avid participation in discussions, conscientiously written essays, and successful demonstration of an understanding of material on essay exams. Please come to see me during my office hours, or by appointment, to discuss any works that interest you, baffle you, offend you, or excite you.
Prepare the assigned readings BEFORE coming to class, even if you find them difficult. It slows the class down too much when I have to explain the content of the text you should have read. Some assignments are relatively short. Use that time to think about your papers or get ahead on your reading. Obviously, with some difficult works, we will spend more class time with explication, but mostly I would like you to consider the ideas of the works and your reaction to them during our class discussions. Some days I will give brief lectures on background material. You will be expected to relate this background material to the texts you read on the exams.
When I list a WEB-HANDOUT on the syllabus, I want you to visit my web site and find the handout on my "courses" page. It will be useful to have these handouts before you do the reading.
Accommodations
SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional, or learning disabilities. Students should notify the Director in the Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 105D Erwin, tbuggieh@geneseo.edu) and their individual faculty of any needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.
CLASS photographs
I photograph students on the first day of class to help me learn names. When you fill out your photo-info card, please indicate whether or not it is okay to post your photo and name on my website for the rest of the class to view. You are not required to have your photo posted, but if you don't mind, it is helpful to others in the course.
|Week |TUESDAY |THURSDAY |
|1 |8/29 Introduction The history of the Greek City State. Note: |8/31 Antigone, read at least half. |
| |if you miss this class, make friends with someone in the |WEB-HANDOUT |
| |course and get the notes. | |
|2 |9/5 Antigone, complete discussion. WEB-HANDOUT Aristotle's |9/7 Thucydides, introduction and chapters 1-2 Make sure the |
| |definition of tragedy. IN-CLASS written question: Is Creon |version you have is On Justice, Power, and Human Nature |
| |“tragic” or just “repulsive”? | |
|3 |9/12 Thucydides, chapters 3-4 |9/14 Thucydides, chapters 5-8 |
| |IN-CLASS written question: How does Pericles’ funeral oration| |
| |contrast with Thucydides’ account of the plague? | |
|4 |9/19 Plato Republic, book 1 |9/21 Plato, Republic, books 2, 4 |
| | |IN-CLASS written question: Are people just because they fear |
| | |punishment or because they want to be good? |
|5 |9/26 Plato Republic, books 5, 6 |9/28 Plato, Republic, books 7, 8 |
|6 |10/3 Background on the history of Rome; Livy begin book 1 |10/5 Livy finish book 1 IN-CLASS written question: What is an|
| |WEB-HANDOUT |allegorical interpretation of the rape of Lucretia? |
| | |WEB-HANDOUT |
|7 |10/10 Fall Break, no class. |10/12 1st EXAM |
|8 |10/17 Genesis |10/19 Exodus IN-CLASS written question: Why is there a |
| |WEB-HANDOUT |"exodus," who are the major players, and how is the exodus |
| | |brought about? |
|9 |10/24 Isaiah, chapters 1-14; Esther (all) WEB-HANDOUT |10/26 John (all) (office hours today cancelled) 1st paper |
| | |due: (I'll accept this essay as late as Monday 10/30/06 at |
| | |12:00 noon in my English Dept. Mail Box). |
|10 |10/31 Romans CH 1-7 |11/2 Augustine (Books 2-4) |
| |IN-CLASS written question: What is Paul’s point about | |
| |following “the law” or not following “the law”? | |
| |Augustine (READ BOOK 1) WEB-HANDOUT | |
|11 |11/7 Augustine (Books 5-8) |11/9 2nd Exam |
|12 |11/14 Dante (cantos 1-5) 2 WEB HANDOUTS (Inferno background |11/16 Dante (cantos 6-20) |
| |and Aristotle) IN-CLASS written question: What is an example | |
| |of Dante the Pilgrim’s naivete? | |
|13 |11/21 Dante (cantos 21-34) |11/23 Thanksgiving Break, no class. |
|14 |11/28 Christine de Pizan, Book of the City of Ladies part 1, |11/30 Christine, part 3, all |
| |chapters 1-8 and 27-48 (very short chapters); part 2, | |
| |chapters 13-44 WEB-HANDOUT |Background on transition from the Middle Ages to the |
| |IN-CLASS written question: What are three false claims |Renaissance WEB-HANDOUT |
| |Christine says men make about women? | |
|15 |12/5 Shakespeare, King Lear, Acts 1-2 IN-CLASS written |12/7 King Lear, 3-5. |
| |question: What does Lear give away and what is the Fool's |Course Evaluations distributed Paper due (I'll accept this |
| |opinion of that gift? |essay as late as Monday 12/11/06 at 12:00 noon in my English|
| | |Dept. Mail Box). |
|16 |12/12 STUDY DAY—NO CLASSES |
|17 |TUESDAY 12/19 FINAL EXAM from 8:00-11:00 am. |
I cannot not change exam dates, except for documented emergencies or religious observances. Please make sure at the beginning of the semester that you have no conflicts with the final exam scheduled for this course. I realize we have our final on the last day of exams, but transportation needs do not qualify as an emergency.
Requirements:
You must attempt both papers and all three exams in order to pass this course. If you omit any assignment you will fail the course, even if your other grades give you a passing GPA. Both papers should be five pages long (at least 4 1/2; no more than 6). In-class exams are closed book essay exams.
What about late papers? Late papers will be accepted without penalty only with a DOCUMENTED medical or family-crisis excuse. You have plenty of time to prepare for and complete your out of class essays. Unexcused late papers will receive a grade penalty of 3 points per 24 hour period they are late (including weekends!).
|2 papers |35% |
|1st exam |18% |
|2nd exam |18% |
|Final exam |19% |
|Participation & in-class writing |10% |
Participation grades are determined as follows:
A-/A (92-100): You respond to ~95% of the IN-CLASS questions with informed answers and contribute regularly to class discussions (you may miss one—so don't waste it on a non-sick day)/
B-/B/B+ (82-91): You respond to ~85% of the IN-CLASS questions with informed answers and contribute to class discussions.
C-/C/C+ (72-81): You respond to ~75% of the IN-CLASS questions with informed answers and contribute to class discussions.
D-/D/D+ (62-71): You respond to ~65% of the IN-CLASS questions with informed answers and contribute to class discussions.
E (61 and below): You respond to ~50% or fewer of the IN-CLASS questions with informed answers or you miss 25% or more of in-class participation, whether or not there are IN-CLASS questions.
ESSAYS
Please read my document, "Conventions of Writing Papers in Humanities" (see my web site geneseo.edu/~easton, where you will also be able to get another copy of this syllabus).
Your assignments for this course are analytical papers and should each be five pages long (at least 4 1/2 pages; no longer than 6). An "analytical" paper means that you should not consult secondary sources to write this paper, but you should analyze or pull apart and interpret passages from the texts to support the argumentative thesis that you come up with about one of the following topics. The most important step you can take in preparing to write these papers is to formulate an argument about the topic. For example, if you had a topic like "Justice in The Republic," a POOR THESIS would be, "Plato writes about justice in The Republic." A more interesting thesis would be, "Socrates' definition of justice in The Republic as the harmony of different parts of the soul and the state is not compatible with democratic systems of government." As you can see, you have to do most of the work. That is one of many thousands of arguments that could be made about the topic of justice. I am not looking for a particular thesis, but I am looking for a thesis with originality and one that is well supported.
Work from your books, not from class notes, not from study guides such as “Cliffs” or “Spark Notes.” See me in my office to discuss texts you do not understand.
Keep a back-up copy of your essays. I have never lost a student's paper, but should yours be misplaced, you will have no difficulty providing a second copy.
Your essays should represent your original thinking. If you want to include someone else’s ideas, whether from class discussions or notes from one of our texts, include a citation. PLAGIARISM is taking someone else’s words OR IDEAS and representing them as your own. Any plagiarism on Humanities papers will result in a score of E on the paper, or possibly failure of the course, and a report to the Dean of Students.
PAPER SET UP: No cover sheets, no binders. Put your name, my name, the course, and the date in the upper right hand corner of the first page. Skip a couple of lines and type your paper’s title. Don’t underline it. Type your paper double-spaced and include page numbers. Don’t paginate manually—use the “insert page numbers” command. My preference is pagination in the upper right hand corner. Conventionally, the page number is not put on the first page. Font size should be no greater than 12 point (Most of this syllabus is in 10 point); margins should be no greater than 1 1/4 inches on the side and 1 inch top & bottom. For this class, list your WORKS CITED directly below the end of your paper rather than starting a new page, unless your essay finishes at the bottom of a page. Papers are due in class in hard copy.
TOPICS
Paper #1 Select ONE of the following:
1. Analyze a recent (2004-2006) political event/situation involving the United States through the political lens of Sophocles, Thucydides, Plato, or Livy. Be very specific in your analysis of the author your are discussing. Make multiple references to the text rather than vague analogies, and explain precisely why you found similarities between the ancient and modern political events.
2. Choosing at least two of the Greek/Roman writers (Sophocles, Thucydides, Plato, Livy), explain to a politician in the United States today why writers in these centuries expressed concerns about democracy.
3. Drawing upon Sophocles and Thucydides with great detail, write an essay for members of the military in the United States today about courage and sacrifice in war.
Paper #2 Dante's Inferno:
Invent another canto. Write in prose, not poetry. Using Dante's conventions in The Inferno (such as who it is appropriate to find in a circle in hell, climate, mythology, type of punishment, etc.), write a canto in which Dante meets one of the following people in the afterlife. Make sure you make it clear where the person you choose belongs in hell (such as with the lustul, the angry, etc.) If you do some research to find out information about your subject matter, please indicate your sources in a note to your paper.
1. Aileen Wuornos
2. Belle Boyd
3. Idi Amin
4. James Earl Ray
5. Joseph Goebbels
6. Ken Lay
7. Mary Mallon
8. Pol Pot
What about grades on essays? An "A" paper is an "excellent" paper. It conveys original thinking in a well organized, logical argument, with virtually flawless presentation in terms of grammar and mechanics. I consider a "B" a very good grade, although I realize that some students are disappointed with "B's." A "B" paper successfully does the assignment but falls short in terms of original thought, organization, logic, or presentation. For this course, both "A" and "B" papers will include significant TEXT ANALYSIS. That means quoting a few well chosen passages and analyzing them. Analysis does not mean paraphrase. It means "pulling apart" and looking at the pieces in order to make a point about the whole work you are discussing.
Students receive grades of "C" and "D" when they write poorly, substitute plot summary for analysis, or fail to address the question posed to them.
ALL students are encouraged to use the tutoring services of the Writing Learning Center (in Welles or Milne Library) to work on original thinking, organization, analysis, or presentation. See Michele Feeley in the English Department Office (2nd floor Welles) for Walk-in schedules or appointments.
• An "E" range paper means that you do not understand the assignment or the texts you are discussing. Don’t earn an "E" range paper.
• A "D" range paper means that you have made some attempt to address the thought question, but you have not satisfied all the requirements of the paper.
• A "C" range grade means that you have satisfied all the requirements of the paper, you have demonstrated an understanding of the texts, but you offer no original thinking and have simply reorganized information discussed in class.
• A "B" range paper means that you have satisfied all the requirements of the paper, you have demonstrated an understanding of the texts, and you have shown some original thinking in arguing your point.
• An "A" range paper means that you have satisfied all the requirements of the paper, you have demonstrated an understanding of the texts, you have shown outstanding original thinking in arguing your point, and you have expressed yourself with care and craft.
Numerical Grade Translation
A:94-100; A-:91-93 B+:88-90; B:84-87; B-:81-83 C+:78-80; C:74-77; C-:71-73
D+:68-70; D:64-67; D-61-63 E: 60 and below
EXAMS: You will find sample exams linked to the current “courses” page on my website. These are exams I have given to previous classes. The format for this class’s exams will be very similar, short answer and long essay, but be sure to read all exam directions carefully.
Information on the FINAL EXAM: The first part of the final exam will be just like the two mid-term exams, covering material studied since the second exam. The final exam will also include a cumulative question worth 15 points. You have three hours for the final, but you probably will not need them.
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