Humanities 211-01, 2
Western Humanities Tradition: Revolt against Authority
SPRING 2008
Helen Roulston
Department of English and Philosophy


FH 206
MWF 8:30, 9:30
Office: FH7B 1O
Office Hours: MW 11:30-12:30
TTH 9:00-11:00, T 12:30-2:30
Office Phone: 809-4712
E-mail: helen.roulston@murraystate.edu
Website: http://www.geocities.com/helenroulston
Humanities Website

II. Catalog Description: An exploration of humanistic themes, with emphasis upon revolting against authority, as reflected in literary and philosophical works to the to twentieth century.

III. Humanities Objectives:
        1. Engage in critical analysis of presented material,
        2. Demonstrate a familiarity with the world’s historical, literary, philosophical, and artistic traditions
        3. Critically analyze a variety of literary and philosophical works;
        4. Communicate ideas effectively, and
        5. Demonstrate the ability to make informed ethical choices.
IV. Course Objectives:

V. Course Outline: The course readings are divided into three units:
        2. Demonstrate an understanding of the diverse positions expressed in the works read in the course;
        3. Critically analyze a variety of literary and philosophical works;
        4. Communicate their understanding of literature and philosophy in both clearly-written essays and/or oral presentations.

Course Outline: The course readings are divided into three units:
        The Ancient World
        The Middle Period
        The Renaissance to the Modern Period.

V. The course as a whole will trace the development of the theme of revolting against authority: pro and con

VI. Instructional Activities: Class activities include discussion of readings and background lectures.

VII. Field, Clinical, and/or Laboratory Experiences: Films and forums are provided. Students are encouraged to use the world and the Internet as their laboratory as well.

VIII. Resources: Students may use computer labs to surf the Internet, which they must cite in their papes, which must be typed. Students are encouraged to communicate with the professor via e-mail about their papers and attendance.

IX. Grading Procedures: There will be 2 exams, both essay and objective, plus 2 typed papers, at least 750 words, on interpretive, analytic, or comparative topics.
        Extra papers, including major overhauls of poor essays, may be handed in for extra credit. All essays must be revised. Satisfactory minor revisions will get a check, more extensive revisions a check plus or double plus. Each paper and exam will be counted equally. This unit is 75% of the grade.
        Quizzes and optional extra-credit assignments, such as written evidence of attendance at previously approved university and community events, count a total of 10%. Each quiz and piece of written evidence will count 10 points towards the 10%. Alternatives to missed quizzes may be handed in provided the absences are excused and the professor approves.
        The final exam, both essay and objective, counts 15%.
        Essay grades are based on style, content, organization, spelling and grammatical accuracy, handling of any appropriate research material, as well as promptness. Papers late without excuse will be marked down one step of a grade (e.g., A to A-, B+, etc.) for each class period after the due date.)
        A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, E=0-59
        Students must complete all the work to receive a passing grade in the course.

X. Attendance Policy: Regular class attendance is vital to academic success.
        The official Humanities absence policy will be enforced. The course grade will be lowered one-third of a letter grade for each unexcused absence over three. To avoid the grade penalty, students must offer plausible excuses, preferably authorized written ones, whenever they miss classes. All students must be aware that missing more than 25% of scheduled class sessions (10 classes) without excuse will result in automatic failure of the course.

XI. Academic Honesty Policy: Students are responsible for following the College of Humanistic Studies policy on academic integrity.
        "Cheating, plagiarism (submitting another person's material as one's own or doing work for another person which will receive academic credit) are all impermissible. This includes the use of unauthorized copying of examinations, assignments, reports or term papers, or the presentation of acknowledged material as if it were the students' own work. Disciplinary action may be taken beyond the academic discipline administered by the faculty member who teaches the course in which the cheating took place." Students are also responsible for the Academic Honesty policy statement in the latest Undergraduate Bulletin.

XII. Texts:
3-volume Bedford Anthology of World Literature
Ibsen, Henrik, A Doll's House
Molière, Tartuffe
Stevenson, Robert Louis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Voltaire, Candide
Some materials are on the Humanities Web Site. See link above.
Some materials related to the texts are on other sites. See links by these texts.

XIII. Prerequisites: English 101, 102, Civ 101, 102 or the equivalents

XIV. STATEMENT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: Murray State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender orientation, religion, marital status, age, or disability in employment, admission, or the provision of services, educational programs and activities, and provides, upon request, reasonable accommodation including auxiliary aids and services necessary to afford individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in all programs and activities. For information regarding nondiscrimination policies contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, 270-809-3155.

PART 1: THE ANCIENT WORLD

M Jan 14 Introduction to the Course

W Jan 16 Introduction to the Ancient World (pp. 1.1-14) Introduction to Homer, Odyssey (Bk. 1) (pp. 1.277-85, 420-434)

F Jan 18 Homer, Odyssey (Bks. 5, 9, 10) (pp. 1.482-494, 529-560)

M Jan 21 Homer, Odyssey (Bks. 11, 12) (pp. 1.560-593)

W Jan 23 Homer, Odyssey (Bks. 19, 21-22) (pp. 1.687-704, 716-743)

F Jan 25 Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (pp. 1.891-897, 899-952)

M Jan 28 Sophocles, Antigone (pp. 1.973-998)

W Jan 30 Aristophanes, Lysistrata (pp. 1.1044-1082)

F Feb 1 Sappho (pp. 1.791-793); “It’s No Use,” “Sleep, Darling,” “Don’t Ask Me What to Wear,” “Lament for a Maidenhead,” “He Is More than a Hero,” “You Know the Place: Then,” “I Have Not Had One Word from Her,” (pp 1.794-798); Catallus (pp. 1.1164-1168); 2. “Sparrow, O, Sweet Sparrow,” 3. “Dress Now in Sorrow, O All,” 5. “Come, Lesbia, Let Us Live and Love,” 11. “Furious, Aurelius,” 51. “He Is Changed to a God,” 101. “Dear Brother, I Have Come” (pp. 1168-1174)

M Feb 4 Plato, Allegory of the Cave (pp. 1.1083-1088, 1111-1116)

W Feb 6 Plato, Apology and Phaedo (pp. 1.1089-1110)

F Feb 8 Aristotle, from Metaphysics and Poetics (pp. 1.1149-1155); ESSAY 1 DUE

M Feb 11 Hebrew Texts (pp. 1.127-139): Genesis Excerpts (pp. 1.140-161)

W Feb 13 Bhagavad Gita (pp. 1.1488-1511)

F Feb 15 Confucius, Analects Excerpts (pp. 1.1591-1600)

PART II: THE MIDDLE PERIOD

M Feb 18 Epicurus, "Letters to a Friend" (pp. 1.1633-1635)

PART II: THE MIDDLE PERIOD

W Feb 20 Introduction to the Middle Ages (pp. 2.2-14); New Testament: Sermon on the Mount (pp. 2.15-27; 1.35-44)

F Feb 22 EXAM I

M Feb 25 The Thousand and One Nights Excerpts (pp. 2.435-467);

W Feb 27 The Art of Courtly Love Excerpts (pp. 2.611-627); Courtly Love Lyrics (pp. 2.628-635); Faraj, “Chastity” (pp. 2.646-647), Ha-Levi, “The Apple” (p. 2.252), Guillaume IX, “Now, When We See the Meadows Once Again” (pp. 2.658-669), De Ventadorn, “My Heart Is so Full of Joy” (pp. 2.661-663)

F Feb 29 Marie de France, “The Lay of Chevrefoil” (pp. 2.670-677); “Lanval” and “Bisclavret”
(Humanities Website)

M Mar 3 Dante, Inferno (pp. 2.678-686) Canto 1 (pp. 2.689-94), Cantos 3-5 (pp. 2.699-713), Cantos 11-13 (pp. 2.735-748); Canto 34 (pp. 2.844-848); MIDTERM GRADES Due by 10:00 A.M.

W Mar 5 Boccaccio, The Decameron Excerpts (pp. 2.849-877)

F Mar 7 Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, "General Prologue" (pp. 2.878-904)

M Mar 10 The Canterbury Tales, "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" (pp. 2.904-932)

PART III: THE RENAISSANCE

W Mar 12 Introduction to Early Modern Period (pp. 3.1-16); Petrarch (pp. 3.67-71), Canzoniere: 1. “Oh, You in These Scattered Rhymes,” 3. “It Was the Very Day,” 148. “Not Tiber” (3.80-83); European Love Lyrics (pp. 3.85-90); Shakespeare, “Sonnets: 18. "Shall I Compare Thee?," 116. "Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds," 129. "Th'Expense of Spirit," 130. "My Mistress' Eyes" (pp. 3. 104-106); Donne, “The Good Morrow,” “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” “Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God” (pp. 3.107-113), Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (p. 3.115)

F Mar 14 Pico, On the Dignity of Man Excerpts (pp. 3.467-470); Machiavelli, The Prince Excerpts (pp. 3.120-139)

SPRING BREAK

M Mar 24 Cervantes, Don Quixote, pt. 1, ch. 1 (pp. 3.257-266), pt. 1, ch. 8 (3.271-276), pt. 2, ch. 5 (pp. 3.304-308), pt.2, ch. 30 (pp. 3.320-323)

W Mar 26 Shakespeare, The Tempest (Acts 1-3) (pp. 3.489-544)

F Mar 28 Shakespeare, The Tempest (Acts 4-5) (pp. 3.544-564); ESSAY 2 DUE

M Mar 31 Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier Excerpts (pp. 3.171-174)

W Apr 2 Milton, Paradise Lost (pp. 3.575-576); (Bk. 1) Excerpts (pp. 3.576-587)

F Apr 4 EXAM 2

M Apr 7 Milton, Paradise Lost (Bk. 9) (pp. 3.616-647)

PART III: THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO THE MODERN PERIOD

W Apr 9 Molière, Tartuffe, Acts I-V

F Apr 11 “Challenging Orthodoxy” (pp. 3.661-665), Copernicus, On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies Excerpt (pp. 3.684-689); Galileo and Kepler, Correspondence Excerpts (pp. 3.690-694)

M Apr 14 Hobbes, Leviathan Excerpts (Chaps. 13, all; 29, up to “Nor does this happen in monarchy only,” continue with “Nor does this happen in monarchy only” up to “And as false doctrine,” continue with “Lastly, when in a war,” to the end); Locke, Second Treatise on Government Excerpts (Chaps. 2, pars. 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14; 3. pars. 17, 21; 4, pars. 22, 23; 19, pars. 222, 225, 227, 229, 240, 241-243); Jefferson, et al, Declaration of Independence
(Humanities Website)

W Apr 16 Voltaire, Candide, Chapters 1-18 (1-40)

F Apr 18 Voltaire, Candide, Chapters 19-30 (40-77)

M Apr 21 Ibsen, Henrik, A Doll's House

W Apr 23 Stevenson, Robert Louis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

F Apr 25 Stevenson, Robert Louis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

M Apr 28 Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"; Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"

W Apr 30 Glaspell,"A Jury of Her Peers"; Jackson, "The Lottery"

F May 2 Camus, "The Guest"; Kasaipwalova, "Betel Nut Juice Is Bad Magic for Airplanes" (Handout); Review

M-F May 5-9 Final Exams, including the Common Humanities Final Essay, Given During Regular Exam Times.

Teaching