Humn202, 1 The Modern World: Romantic to Postmodern Humanities 202 Spring 2010 The Faculty: Office: Email: Phone: Roger Levine Walsh-Ellett 307 rlevine 1785 Andrew Moser Guerry 125 amoser 3350 Tam Parker Walsh-Ellett 205 tparker 1539 Dawn Seckler Gailor 220 dseckler 1254 Course description: Humanities 202 examines the historical phenomena and the intellectual and artistic expressions of western civilization from 1789 to the present day – the events and perceptions which most immediately shape our own present worldview. Our “tutors” include canonical works by Wordsworth, Thoreau, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Picasso, and T. S. Eliot, as well as more unorthodox selections by Dziga Vertov and John Caputo. This course helps to fulfill Sewanee’s general education requirement. Our goal is to help you gain an understanding of connections between the fine arts, history, literature, philosophy, and religion. Your grade will be based on your ability to identify and articulate the connections between texts (broadly construed) belonging to these disciplines; to read these texts critically and analytically; to express yourself clearly and eloquently in speech and writing; and to demonstrate a basic acquaintance with the terms and methodologies of these disciplines. The longer interdisciplinary essay that you will write for the course will be used to assess how well we’ve met these goals. Required Texts and Materials: Caputo, On Religion Carson, Silent Spring Coffin & Stacey, Western Civilizations, v. 2, 16th ed. Conrad, Heart of Darkness Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground (067973452x; Vintage) Eliot, Waste Land Freud, Future of an Illusion (0393008312; Norton) Gardner, Art through the Ages (9780534605131; Thomson Wadsworth) Levi, Survival in Auschwitz Marx & Engels, Communist Manifesto Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (521779138; Cambridge) Thoreau, Walden Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (0156030357; Harvest Books) Zamyatin, We Images and musical selections used in this course will be accessible via Blackboard (blackboard.sewanee.edu). The day-by-day syllabus for Humanities 202, which follows this introduction, details your academic obligations for the semester. Communication: We expect all students to read their mail regularly. Information concerning tests, essays, and special events is often disseminated by e-mail. Important information may also be left at your voice mail box or announced in lecture and discussion. You are responsible for the content of all the information sent by your instructors via e-mail. If you must miss a class, be sure you check with a classmate or your instructor.Humn202, 2 Lecture: Lectures are held in the Gailor auditorium (G11). Out of consideration for the lecturers, please arrive on time; constant opening and closing of the auditorium doors is very distracting for the lecturers and students. The reading assigned for each lecture is to be completed before that lecture. Regular attendance at lectures is expected. Please initial the appropriate attendance sheet. Seminar: You have been assigned to a specific seminar group. These classes meet in the room indicated for the professor to whom you are assigned. Response papers are to be completed before seminars meet and handed in at the start of class. Three unexcused seminar absences will result in a cut warning, and will adversely affect your participation grade. Reading Assignments: All assigned reading should be completed prior to the lecture or discussion for which it is assigned. Please bring the relevant text(s) with you to lectures and discussions. Class Participation: 20% of your final grade is determined by your contributions to this course. Attendance at lectures, discussions, and co-curricular events is required. But class participation involves more than simply showing up on time. Thoughtful and informed contributions to class discussions will play a particularly large role in figuring this portion of your grade. So you should come to discussion sections prepared with salient questions or comments (along with your thoroughly-studied and well-marked copy of the text under consideration). Additionally, you will be responsible for leading seminar discussion at least once during the semester. Examinations: There will be a midterm and a final. The midterm will count 15% toward your final grade, and the final will be worth 20%. Examinations will be administered in your section; bring bluebooks. No exams will be administered early. Papers: Over the course of the semester you will write 5 response essays (aka ‘salient features’ essays), in addition to a longer interdisciplinary essay. Due dates for the response essays will be determined by your seminar instructor; the due date for the interdisciplinary essay is listed in the course schedule. Late papers will be penalized (see Late Work Policy below). Please note that papers should be critical essays that are responsive to the prompt (if one is given), advance a genuine (i.e., debatable) thesis that attempts to answer the question, and offer supporting textual evidence. Papers should be characterized by compelling logic and careful documentation of sources. Late Work Policy: Late response papers will not be accepted. Other late work will be subject to grade reduction at the rate of one letter grade for every 24 hours past due. Technical problems or computer glitches will not serve as an excuse for late work. (Back up your work!) Grade analysis: Midterm exam: 15% Final exam: 20% Essay: 20% Class Participation: 20% Response essays: 25% (5 @ 5% each) Class schedule: 1. Wednesday, January 20 Lecture: Modernity & Autonomy (Moser) Reading: Kant, “What is Enlightenment?” (1784), Coffin & Stacey, ch. 18 2. Friday, January 22 Lecture: Democracy for All? The French and Haitian Revolutions (Mansker) Reading: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789); De Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women (1791); Condorcet, “On the Admission of Women to the Rights of Citizenship” (1790); “An Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in. . . St. Domingo” (1792); letter from Toussaint L’Ouverture to theHumn202, 3 Directory; Robespierre, “On Political Morality” (1794) 3. Monday, January 25 Seminar: The Revolution & Its Critics Reading: Burke Discussion: Kant, Burke, Robespierre 4. Wednesday, January 27 Seminar: The Revolutionary Imagination Reading: Wordsworth, “O pleasant