HON 205: HONORS
HUMANITIES I (3 credits)
Dr. Laura Newhart, Dept. of
Philosophy & Religion SYLLABUS Dr. Charlotte Rich, Dept. of English
& Theatre
TR
Purpose
The central goal in this course is to
explore some issues that confront anyone who thinks seriously about how to lead
his or her life. We will try to meet
this goal by studying some great works from philosophy and literature and by
engaging in careful thought, discussion and writing. In order to achieve this
goal effectively, we will be trying to promote the development of several
skills, (1) some having to do with the reading of philosophic and literary
texts, (2) some with the practices of effective thinking and writing, and (3)
some with working effectively with other people.
To help with (1) and (2), we will engage in various sorts
of classroom activities, group discussions, lectures, etc. The first goal of these activities will be to
enhance our ability to use the various resources in the course (the texts we
read, the instructors’ and students’ ideas) to help us to think deeply and
carefully about how we decide to live our lives. A second goal will be to improve our skills
at monitoring and correcting our own practices of thinking. These practices will include both cognitive
abilities and non-cognitive abilities as we learn to notice how both logic and
emotions (for better or worse) play important roles in our reflection on how we
are to live.
The instructors in this course hope that you will not
leave this course believing that the only purpose of education is for you to
learn to express the views of your teachers.
(This would be particularly hard in this course since it is not true
that your teachers agree about all intellectual matters.) We also hope that you will not leave here
believing that all views about how humans should live their lives are equally
reasonable and worthy of approval. We do
hope that you will develop habits and skills that will help you examine your
own value-judgments more deeply and that you will gain some practice at using
these habits and skills to help others think well about their
value-judgments. We hope that in this
class a spirit of helping each other to think about the issues under discussion
will emerge.
Students will
be able to:
·
Use appropriate
methods of critical thinking and quantitative reasoning to examine issues and
to identify solutions. (Goal two)
·
Analyze the
values, cultural context, and aesthetic qualities of artistic, literary,
philosophic, and/or religious works. (Goal six)
·
Distinguish the
methods that underlie the search for knowledge in the arts, humanities, natural
sciences, history, and social and behavioral sciences. (Goal seven)
·
Integrate
knowledge that will deepen their understanding of, and will inform their own
choices about, issues of personal and public importance. (Goal eight)
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
(1)
demonstrate an
understanding of the similarities and differences between reading
literary,
philosophical, and historical texts;
(2)
articulate
(orally and in writing) and understanding of the philosophical ideas and
literary themes studied;
(3)
use philosophical
ideas to critique and analyze literature, and use literary works to understand
and critique philosophy;
(4)
articulate
(orally and in writing) connections between literary and philosophical works and
their historical/cultural contexts;
(5)
use the
philosophical and literary works studied to evaluate received value systems;
(6)
work effectively with others to generate some consensus.
Disabilities Statement
If you are registered with
the Office of Services for Individuals with Disabilities, please make an
appointment with the course instructors to discuss any academic accommodations
you need. If you need academic accommodations and are not registered with the
Office of Services for Individuals with Disabilities, please contact the Office
directly either in person on the first floor of Turley House or by telephone at
(859)622-1500 V/TTY. Upon individual request, this syllabus can be made
available in alternative forms.
Required Texts
Michael L.
Morgan, Classics of Moral and Political Theory, third edition
(Hackett Publishing, 2001).
Betty Radice, trans. and ed.,
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise,
(Penguin Books).
Shakespeare, King Lear,
(Signet Classics, New American Library, 1982).
These books are
available in paperback at the university bookstore.
Attendance
You are expected to attend all classes. If you miss
any classes for whatever reason, you are still responsible for anything said or
done in class during your absence.
Access to your Instructors
Rich’s office hours are: T/TH
Office: Case Annex 499. Office phone: 622‑3178.
Home phone: 859-523-4497.
E-mail: charlotte.rich@eku.edu
Newhart’s office hours are: MWF
Office: Case Annex 257. Office phone: 622-2574. Home
phone: 626-3054.
E-Mail: laura.newhart@eku.edu
Neither instructor wishes to restrict your access to
him or her to formal office hours. You
should feel free to ask for appointments at other times and to visit them in
their offices whenever they happen to be there.
Grading
There will be three in-class exams. The final exam will have two parts. The first part will be over material from the
last unit of the course; the second part will be a traditional final exam type
question dealing with various ideas discussed throughout the semester.
You will also be asked to write a paper on issues
related to the first unit of the course (Ancient Greece). The paper should be a
5-6 page (1200-1400 word) essay on a topic either selected from the list we
provide or devised by yourself and approved by your instructors. The whole paper process will involve 150
points. 40 of these points will be
awarded for “good faith” efforts in producing your proposal and rough drafts
and discussing them with an instructor.
Another 10 points will be awarded for the way your essay improves from
the rough draft to the final draft in response to the suggestions made by that
same instructor.
Important: Along
with your rough draft and final draft you must submit substantial evidence of
your writing process in the form of previous drafts, notes, outlines, etc., or
the rough and/or final draft will not be graded. Also, papers must be submitted
and scanned through the Safe Assignments tool on the Blackboard course website.
Late Paper Policy: 5 points will be deducted for each class meeting that the rough draft
and final paper are late. Drafts or papers submitted electronically after
You will participate with two or three other students
in a group presentation. You will choose a presentation topic from a list
provided or may generate your own with professors’ approval. The topic must
deal with some issue related to the Middle Ages or
Renaissance.
Finally, there will be 10 required 1-2 page reading
responses each worth at most 5 points. All of these assignments will be related
to the assigned readings. Each of these assignments will have the following
values in determining your final grade:
|
Assignment |
Value for each item of this type |
Total points from this type |
|
In-class exams (3), (2),
(1) |
100 |
300 |
|
Final Exam (4), (3), (2),
(1) |
200 |
200 |
|
Term Paper (5), (3), (4),
(2), (1) |
150 |
150 |
|
Reading Response Papers (2),
(5), (3), (6) |
5 |
50 |
|
Group Presentation (6),
(4), (3), (2), (1) |
100 |
100 |
Each assignment furthers the learning outcomes listed
above in the ways noted in descending order by prominence.
You may also earn a maximum of 10 extra credit points
by completing additional Reading Response Papers of your choice. Each of these
will be worth at most 5 points.
Your final grade will be determined on the following
scale: 720-800 = A, 640-719 = B, 560-639 = C, 480-559 = D, 0-479 = F.
Your midterm grade, which will be made available
through Banner shortly before the midpoint of the semester, will be based on
your first in-class exam grade.
List of Tentative Due Dates for
(CMPT = Classics of Moral and Political Theory. HO = Handout)
|
Date |
Reading
Assignment |
Exams and Papers |
|
January 16 |
Introduction to course and each other |
|
|
January 18 |
Aristotle, CMPT, 195-205 |
|
|
January 23 |
Aristotle, CMPT, 205-224 |
|
|
January 25 |
Aristotle, CMPT, 2224-235 |
|
|
January 30 |
Aeschylus, Agamemnon (HO) |
|
|
February 1 |
Aeschylus, Agamemnon
(HO) |
|
|
February 6 |
|
Exam 1 |
|
February 8 |
Plato, CMPT, 5-17 |
|
|
February 13 |
Plato, CMPT, 18-27 |
|
|
February 15 |
Plato, CMPT, 18-27 cont. |
Paper proposal due |
|
February 20 |
Sophocles, Antigone,
CMPT |
|
|
February 22 |
Sophocles, Antigone,
CMPT |
|
|
February 27 |
|
Exam 2 |
|
March 1 |
Early Islam: Al Farabi (HO) |
|
|
March 6 |
Early Islam: Al Gazali (HO) |
Paper rough draft due |
|
March 8 |
Early Islam: Rumi (HO)
|
|
|
March 20 |
Abelard (HO) |
|
|
March 22 |
Heloise & Abelard |
|
|
March 27 |
Heloise & Abelard |
|
|
March 29 |
Heloise & Abelard |
Paper final draft due |
|
April 3 |
|
Exam 3 |
|
April 5 |
Hobbes, CMPT, 531-538 |
|
|
April 10 |
Hobbes, CMPT, 538-544 |
|
|
April 12 |
Finish Hobbes, begin King Lear |
|
|
April 17 |
King Lear |
|
|
April 19 |
King Lear |
|
|
April 24 |
King Lear |
|
|
April 26 |
Group Presentations |
|
|
May 1 |
Group Presentations |
|
|
May 3 |
General Review |
|
|
May 8 ( |
|
Final Exam |
|
May 10 ( |
|
Final Exam |