HUMANITIES 150
Spring 2002
Art, Nature,
Knowledge
Professor Slava Yastremski
Professor Katherine M. Faull
tel. 7-1746 or
tel. 7-1289
Texts
Course Reader -- available on e-reserve (either
in pdf format or on-line)
1.
Pico della
Mirandola, “On the Dignity of Man,” pp.
3-7.
2.
Marcia Hall,
“Introduction” in Raphael’s School of Athens, pp. 1-21 (view paintings
online)
3.
Martin Luther,
“Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation,” pp. 124-143.
4.
Charles L. Mee,
Jr., “Rembrandt’s Portrait,” pp. 108-120 (view paintings online)
5.
John Milton,
“Paradise Lost,” pp. 245-295.
6.
Isaac Newton,
“Mathematical Principles”
7.
David Hume, “A
Treatise of Human Nature”
8.
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, “The Magic Flute”
9.
Immanuel Kant,
“What is Enlightenment?”
10.
Charles Darwin,
“The Origin of the Species,” pp. 35, 108-208
11.
Frederick
Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”
12.
Paul Cezanne,
“Letters” (view paintings online)
Books—available at the
bookstore
1.
Machiavelli, The
Prince, Chapters 5-9, 17-18, 21-25
2.
Shakespeare, King
Lear
3.
Galilei Galileo, Discoveries
and Opinions of Galileo, (“The Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina” and
editor’s Introduction
4.
Rene Descartes, Discourse
on Method and Meditations (Parts 1-2, 5-6; recommended 3-4)
5.
Hobbes, Leviathan
(Chapters 13-15 to page 202; 17-19, 21)
6.
Jean Jacques
Rousseau, Rousseau’s Political Writings (Discourse on the Origin of
Inequality)
7.
Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe, Faust (Part One)
8.
Mary
Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women (selections)
9.
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
10.
Marx/Engels, The
Communist Manifesto
11.
Fyodor
Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground
CDs
1.
CDs of Bach’s
cantata “Actus Tragicus” and Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” (on reserve in
the library and available on-line)
Class Format
This course consists of a
lecture/seminar format. Lectures are
delivered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am.
Your section will discuss the lecture and the reading on Mondays and
Wednesdays in a seminar format. Please
attend all lectures and seminars. The
course moves very quickly through the material and just one missed day could
constitute a large hole! Please also be
sure to read the assigned material prior to the day on which it is presented in
a lecture or seminar. Please also bring the relevant text (either as a book or
as a print out of the material on e-reserve) to class each day so that we can
refer to passages during our discussions.
On the days we will be discussing artists please bring the prints to
class.
This course asks that you read a large
amount of material. It would be
advisable to read ahead as much as possible, especially during weeks where
there are especially large amounts of texts to cover. For example, you might want to read ahead for Shakespeare,
Descartes, Hobbes, Shelley, Goethe and Dostoevsky.
Wednesday,
January 16 Course
introduction/discussion
Part 1: The Renaissance (The Sixteenth Century)
Thursday,
January 17 Lecture: Course introduction by Professor Katherine
Faull
Monday,
January 21 Discussion of Pico, “On the Dignity of Man” (e-reserve)
Tuesday, January 22 Lecture: Raphael, “The School of Athens” plus
Michelangelo and Leonardo by Prof. Mary Brantl (Art Building 201)
Wednesday,
January 23 Discussion of Raphael
Thursday,
January 24 Lecture: Machiavelli, “The Prince” ch. 5-9, 17-18,
21-25 by Prof.
Jean
Peterson
Monday,
January 28 Discussion of Machiavelli
Tuesday, January 29 Lecture:
Martin Luther, “Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” (e-reserve)
by Professor Katherine Faull
Wednesday,
January 30 Discussion of Luther
Thursday,
January 31 Lecture: Shakespeare, “King Lear” by Professor
Michael Payne
Monday,
Feb. 4 Discussion of “King
Lear”
Tuesday,
Feb. 5 Preparation for
Comprehensive Exam
Wednesday,
Feb. 6 Presentations
Part II: New Modes of Knowledge (The Seventeenth
Century)
Thursday, Feb. 7 Lecture: Galileo, “The Letter
to the Grand Duchess Christina” by Professor Harold Schweizer (recommended:
also read the Editor’s Introduction)
Monday, Feb. 11 Discussion
of Galileo
Tuesday, Feb. 12 Lecture: Descartes, Discourse on Method by Professor Gary
Steiner (required reading: parts 1-2, 5-6; recommended 3-4)
Wednesday,
Feb. 13 Discussion of Descartes
Thursday,
Feb. 14 Lecture: Hobbes, Leviathan by Professor Amy
McCready
(read
chapters 13-15 through p. 202; 17-19, 21)
Monday,
Feb. 18 Discussion of Hobbes
Tuesday,
Feb. 19 Lecture: Rembrandt, “Dr. Tulp’s Anatomy Lesson” by Professor Mary Brantl
Wednesday,
Feb. 20 Discussion of Rembrandt
Thursday, Feb. 21 Lecture: Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4
(e-reserves) by Prof. John Hunter
Friday, Feb. 22 1st
draft of 1st paper due
Monday,
Feb. 25 Discussion of Milton
Tuesday, Feb. 26 Lecture: Bach, Cantata “Actus Tragicus” (“Gottes Zeit
ist die allerbeste Zeit”) by Prof. Jackson Hill
Wednesday,
Feb. 27 Discussion of Bach
Thursday,
February 28 Lecture: Newton, Laplace, and Hume by Prof. Tom Solomon
Monday,
March 4 Discussion of
Newton, Laplace, and Hume
Part III: The Enlightenment (The Eighteenth Century)
Tuesday, March 5 Lecture:
Rousseau, selections from Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
by Professor
Wednesday,
March 6 Discussion of Rousseau
Thursday,
March 7 Preparation for
Comprehensive Exam
Final draft of 1st paper due
March 9-19—Spring Recess
Monday,
March 18 Presentations
Tuesday, March 19 Lecture: Mozart, “The Magic Flute” (e-reserves) by Professor
Christopher Para
Wednesday,
March 20 Discussion of Mozart
Thursday,
March 21 Lecture: Kant, “What is Enlightenment?” by Professor
Peter Groff
Monday,
March 25 Discussion of Kant
Tuesday,
March 26 Lecture: Goethe, Faust 1 by Professor
Katherine Faull
Wednesday,
March 27 Discussion of Goethe
Thursday,
March 28 Lecture: Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the
Rights of
Women” by
Ghislaine McDayter
Monday,
April 1 Discussion of
Wollstonecraft
Tuesday,
April 2 Lecture: Shelley, “Frankenstein”
by Professor John Rickard
Wednesday,
April 3 Discussion of Shelley
Thursday,
April 4 Preparation for
Comprehensive Exam
Monday,
April 8 Presentations
Part IV: The
Secularization of Society
Tuesday, April 9 Lecture: Darwin, “Origin of the Species” and “The
Descent of Man” by Professor David Fletcher
Wednesday,
April 10 Discussion of Darwin
Thursday, April 11 Lecture: Marx
and Engels, “The Communist Manifesto” by Professor Charles Sackrey
Friday, April 12 1st draft of 2nd
paper due
Monday,
April 15 Discussion of Marx
and Engels
Tuesday,
April 16 Lecture: Dostoevsky,
“Notes from Underground” by Prof. Slava
Yastremski
Wednesday,
April 17 Discussion of Dostoevsky
Thursday,
April 18 Lecture: Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life
of Frederick
Douglass” by
Professor Glyne Griffith
Monday,
April 22 Discussion of
Douglass
Tuesday,
April 23 Lecture: Cezanne by Professor Slava Yastremski
Wednesday,
April 24 Discussion of Cezanne
Thursday,
April 25 Discussion of Part 4
Final draft of 2nd paper due
Monday,
April 29 Comprehensive Exam
Tuesday,
April 30 Comprehensive Exam
.