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203. Human Nature and Human Good: Rousseau's Second Discourse (=SocTh
331). PQ: Consent of instructor. In the Discourse on the Origin
and Foundations of Inequality among Men, Rousseau presents an evolutionary
account of human life, in principle compatible with the Darwinian account which
it anticipated. Rousseau uses his naturalistic history of man to ground his
teachings about ethics and politics. By means of close reading and discussion
of the Second Discourse, we examine his teachings about human nature and
human good, both for their own intrinsic worth and also as a revealing instance
of the attempt to connect morals and politics to the study of dumb nature.
L. Kass. Winter.
204. Autobiography I: Rousseau (=Hist 545, SocTh 552). A close reading of
Rousseau's Confessions that investigates the conception of personality.
K. Weintraub. Winter.
205. Autobiography II: Goethe (=Hist 546, SocTh 553). A close reading of
Goethe's From My Life (Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit) that
investigates the conception of personality. K. Weintraub. Spring.
207. Aquinas on God, Being, and Evil. This course considers sections from
Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. Among the topics considered are
whether God exists; the relationship between God, existence, and the real; and
the origin and nature of evil. S. Meredith. Winter.
208. James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In this
course we consider James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
and several related stories from Dubliners. Among the main issues
addressed are Joyce's concepts of art and beauty; the sources of these concepts
in mythology and theology; his conception of the afterlife and mortality; the
themes of exile and remorse, and their relationship to art; and his use of
irony and rhetoric. S. Meredith. Winter.
211. Classics in the Study of Religion: E. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of
the Religious Life (=RelHum 292). A close reading of Durkheim's major
work on religion and a consideration, through several specific examples, of the
Durkheim tradition in religious studies. J. Z. Smith. Autumn.
213. James Joyce's Ulysses. In this course we consider James Joyce's
Ulysses. Among the themes considered are the problems of exile,
homelessness, and nationality; the mysteries of paternity; the mystery of
maternity; the meaning of the Return; Joyce's epistemology and his use of
dream, fantasy, and hallucination; and Joyce's experimentation and use of
language. S. Meredith. Spring.
214. Whitehead's Adventures of Ideas. This seminar pursues a close,
critical reading of Whitehead's Adventures of Ideas. Attention focuses
on the relation between Whitehead's social and political affirmations and his
distinctive cosmological and metaphysical proposals, including the relation
between politics and religion. F. Gamwell. Spring.
219. Milton's Paradise Lost (=Hum 208, Id/Met 219/319). This course
is based on a close reading of Milton's Paradise Lost with emphasis on
the poem's redefinition of heroic virtue and on the text's engagement with
issues of family, politics, history, psychology, and theology. W. Olmsted.
Winter.
220. Cervantes's Don Quixote (=Hum 220). This course is based on a
close reading and analysis of the text. Discussions focus on problems of
textual analysis and interpretation as well as on questions of literary theory,
fictional form, and narrative technique. Reading and discussion are in English.
Those competent to do so are urged to read the text in Spanish. G. Haley.
Winter.
222. Church and State: Marsilius's Defender of the Peace (=LL/Soc
222). When Marsilius of Padua addressed the long standing tension between
secular and ecclesiastical powers, this medieval Aristotelian not only
attempted to redefine the Church, rejecting its "plenitude of power" and
advocating ecclesiastical poverty, he also effected a radical departure from
Aristotelian politics by making a primary criterion of legitimate government
the consent of the governed. We investigate the connection between the problem
of Church and State and Marsilius' proto-republicanism. J. Macfarland.
Spring.
225. Tacitus: On Liberty and Autocracy in the Roman Empire (=ClCiv 270, Hist
217, LL/Soc 225). The substance of this course is an intensive reading of
Tacitus's Life of Agricola and Annals concerning the Roman empire
in the first century after Christ. The primary issue for discussion is the
historian's view of the tension between the noble citizen's desire to lead a
constructive public life and the compulsion to obey the emperor. R. Saller.
Spring.
226. Political Philosophy: Kant (=PolSci 312). A discussion and
investigation of Kant's works that connect his practical philosophy with his
doctrine of metaphysics. J. Cropsey. Winter.
229. Freud's Interpretation of Dreams (=Psych 242, SocSci 234).
Freud understood The Interpretation of Dreams to be his most important
work, and few texts have had such significance for contemporary social theory.
This course provides an opportunity for a close reading of this text, focusing
on Freud's theory of thought. B. Cohler. Winter.
230. Hegel's Philosophy of Right (=Hum 247, Id/Met 269/369). The
course first focuses on "translating"--becoming more familiar with--what is to
many the peculiar language of Hegel, a language which has set and still sets
the most important boundaries and questions for many thinkers, not merely about
politics but also about economics, sociology, and jurisprudence. More
importantly, a concern with particular arguments and the general strategies of
his argument understood broadly is also stressed and pushed as far as time and
student interest permit. In particular, once some comfort with the language is
attained, a somewhat critical stance is adopted, if for no other reason than to
guard against the possible bewitchment by what is probably be for many a
somewhat new language of thought. D. Smigelskis. Autumn.
238. The Last Supper and the Sistine Ceiling (=ArtH 170).
Class limited to twenty-five students and not open to students who have
taken ArtH 178. This course examines in depth two works of visual art
famous enough not to need further identification than found in the above title,
yet still subject to considerable controversy. The premise here is to explore
(with the analogy and metaphor of text in mind) how visual artists created
levels of meaning and communication in the mature Renaissance, and what tools
of analysis and understanding are available to us in the late twentieth
century. The course is meant for students without background in art history
(though others are welcome) in the belief that exploring a couple of works of
great complexity can serve as an excellent introduction to "seeing,"
"understanding," "responding" to visual art. The course concentrates on primary
sources, which means exploration of the relevant writing and preparatory
drawings of Leonardo and Michelangelo, but, above all, close looking at the
Last Supper and the Sistine Ceiling. Secondary sources are used
to examine critically the range of methods available for interpretation. C.
Cohen. Spring.
*239. Politics in Literature: Tragedy. PQ: Common Core humanities
sequence. This course explores the nature of tragedy and what tragedy
reveals about the nature and limits of political life. We read closely and
discuss one Sophoclean tragedy (Oedipus Tyrannos) and one Shakespearean
tragedy (King Lear or Antony and Cleopatra or Macbeth). A.
Kass. Autumn.
*240. Plato's Crito and Related Texts. This course involves a close
reading of the Crito, together with a few further brief texts concerning
the grounds and extent of obligation to obey the law and "abide the sentence of
the law." C. Gray. Winter.
242. The Gospel of John. Class limited to ten students. The Gospel
of John presents Jesus as the incarnation of divine light and truth, "the word
become flesh." As such, John's portrayal of Jesus invites us to ponder enduring
theological, metaphysical, and ethical questions, including the relationships
between the divine and the human, the immanent and the transcendent, and the
wise and the good, as well as such ideas as freedom, sacrament, and mortality.
Through a close reading of the text, we endeavor to enrich our understanding of
these complex and interwoven themes. R. Gunderman. Autumn.
246. The Radicalism of Job and Ecclesiastes (=Hum 235, JewStd 235, NCD 277).
Both Job and Ecclesiastes dispute a central doctrine of the Hebrew Bible,
namely, the doctrine of retributive justice. Each book argues that a person's
fate is not a consequence of his or her religio-moral acts and thus that piety,
whatever else it is, must be disinterested. In brief, each book not only
demythologizes but "de-moralizes" the universe. The students read Job and
Ecclesiastes in translation and discuss the nature of such a universe and ask
what kind of God did Job and Ecclesiastes worship. H. Moltz.
Spring.
Go to top of document 248. Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (=PolSci 353, SocTh 472).
This course covers Spinoza's account in the Theological-Political
Treatise of the relations between theology, philosophy, morality, and
politics; his interpretation of the Bible; his doctrines of divine law, natural
law, natural right, and civil right; and his arguments for religious toleration
and the freedom of philosophizing. N. Tarcov, H. Fradkin. Winter.
253. Martin Luther: Two Treatises. Close reading of The Freedom of the
Christian and The Commentary on Galatians. B. Brown. Winter.
256. Aristotle's Politics (=Hum 256, Id/Met 216/316). Special
attention is given to the problems Aristotle thought important to consider and
why they continue to be problems which are worthy of attention. Of particular
interest is the manner in which politics is distinct from but interrelated with
many other enterprises and the shaping of the inquiry as a deliberation which
is meant to eventuate in choices by the readers. Another more recent text in
the same general tradition, most probably J. S. Mill's On Representative
Government, is read for comparative purposes. D. Smigelskis.
Spring.
262. Kant: Ethics, Politics, History, Religion (=Hum 245, Id/Met 270/370).
Kant's writings on the practical are often called formalist and deontic.
This reading is usually based solely on the Grundlegung (the English
title of which is normally either Fundamental Principles or
Groundwork), an early "critical" work written for a very specific
purpose. The assumption in this course is that Kant is much more interesting
than this reading indicates and than attention to the Grundlegung alone
allows. Some of the course readings consequently are his Metaphysics of
Morals, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, and various essays on
"history." These in combination provide subtle and consciously interrelated
reflections on the problems of practice. D. Smigelskis. Spring.
265. Hobbes's Leviathan (=LL/Soc 265). Close reading of the
Leviathan, with emphasis divided as nearly as possible among the book's
several concerns: philosophical underpinnings, political theory, and religion.
C. Gray. Spring.
266. Beckett's Trilogy. Reading and analysis of Molloy, Malone
Dies, and The Unnameable with emphasis on the author's critique of
modern humanism. W. Johnson. Spring.
Fndmtl 269. The Book of Job. M. Fishbane.
276. Augustine's Confessions and The Life of Saint Teresa (=Hum
207, Id/Met 290/390). The course examines confessions and autobiography as
ways of orienting lives and selves toward alteration, focusing in particular on
love and discourse as agents of transformation. It consists of a close reading
of the texts in English translation. We will spend about seven weeks on the
Confessions and about three on The Life of Teresa. Class consists
of brief lectures and discussion. Students may choose to write papers on one or
both of the texts. W. Olmsted. Autumn.
278. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (=Philos 375). PQ: Basic
course in philosophy. In this course we examine selected parts of the
Critique of Pure Reason with a view to achieving a general understanding
of the work. Among the parts selected for this purpose will be the "Aesthetic";
the "Transcendental Deduction"; the "Schematism"; the "First Analogy"; the
"Second Analogy"; the "Refutation of Idealism" and the "Fourth Paralogism;" and
the "Third Antinomy." The course begins with a more general investigation of
the nature of Kant's critical enterprise as revealed in the Critique of Pure
Reason itself and in other texts. M. Forster. Winter.
281. Heroic Failure: Lord Jim and The Great Gatsby (=Hum
203). This course focuses on a reading of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim
and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The reading focuses on how
narrative techniques construct what is seen and understood and how the narrator
is as much told as he is telling. E. Wasiolek. Autumn.
282. The Praise of Folly and Utopia (=Hist 272). These major
texts of Erasmus and Thomas More are read and analyzed as documents of
Renaissance Christian humanism and as works engaged in a dialogue with one
another. H. Gray. Spring.
285. Freedom, Finitude, and Religion: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and the Question
Concerning Morality. We undertake a close reading of Nietzsche's
Genealogy of Morals and Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling with
particular attention to the relations between religion and morality. W.
Schweiker. Autumn.
290. Aristotle's Poetics (=Hum 262, Id/Met 252/352). Courses about
art are usually concerned with aesthetic and critical questions and rarely
pause to consider questions about how to make works of art. Aristotle's
Poetics would seem to be, in large part at least, about the latter with
the primary focus being certain types of stories. The relation between
aesthetic/critical and poetic strategies are discussed. In addition, the text
we have is filled with ambiguities. Rather than being a liability, these
ambiguities are an occasion to explore various possibilities of what a poetic
enterprise might involve. Furthermore, various types of stories either
mentioned by Aristotle or which are seeming counterexamples to what he says
will also be part of the course readings and class discussion. D.
Smigelskis. Autumn.
293. Thucydides (=LL/Soc 293, PolSci 219). This class studies one of the
classic guides to domestic and international politics. Themes include: progress
and decline; justice and expediency; the role of rhetoric in domestic and
foreign policy; the virtues and vices of democracies and oligarchies in
domestic and foreign policy; strategy and statesmanship; the causes and
domestic effects of war; imperialism and alliances. N. Tarcov.
Spring.
294. Handbooks for the Spiritual Life. Wise individuals have often been
asked for advice on how to live the most fulfilling lives; many have responded
by writing handbooks which outline the proper approach to life. In this course
we examine three of these works: Seneca's Letters to Lucilius;
Augustine's Enchiridion of Faith, Hope, and Love; and Erasmus's
Enchiridion Militis Christiani. Our discussions concentrate on what
constitutes the ideal life for each writer and how they think it can be
achieved. K. O'Brien. Autumn.
296. Freud and Nietzsche (=GS Hum 383, German 392). This course pursues a
comparative analysis of the genesis, structure, and implications of Freudian
and Nietzschean thought. Special attention is paid to issues of individual and
cultural identity (sexual, disciplinary, professional, religious, political),
as they emerge from the close reading of two texts: Freud's Moses and
Monotheism and Nietzsche's On the Advantages and Disadvantages of
History for Life. Participants are asked to present their understanding of,
and reaction to, some aspect of these texts seminar-fashion in the concluding
part of the course. Texts in both English translation and the original German.
S. Jaffe. Winter.
297. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. While study of
the Reflections, almost inevitably, considers the nature and sources of
its rhetorical power, the course also examines the extent to which Burke's text
can be seen as a systematic statement of political doctrine. Students are
encouraged to acquaint themselves with some of Burke's targets (e.g.,
Bolingbroke, Richard Price) as well as his answerers (e.g., Paine, Arthur
Young), but a close reading of the Reflections itself is the objective
of the course. E. Rosenheim. Autumn.
Other courses of interest: BioSci 284. The Quest for Human Nature. R. Gunderman.
Autumn.
German 375. Poetry of the Jews and/or Germans. S. Jaffe.
Autumn.
Philos 387. Marx. D. Brudney. Autumn.
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Fundamentals: Issues and Texts Courses
Courses preceded by an asterisk (*) will be part of the required
introductory sequence in 1995-96.
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