Fundamentals: Issues
and Texts
Program Chairman: Leon R. Kass, HM E482, 702-8571
Program Coordinator: Francis DuVinage, C 327, 702-7144
Departmental Secretary: Delores A. Jackson, C 330, 702-7148
Program of Study
The Fundamentals program is designed to enable interested students to concentrate on certain fundamental questions of human existence and certain fundamental books that articulate and speak to these questions. It seeks to foster precise and thoughtful pursuit of basic questions by means of (1) rigorous training in the interpretation of important texts, supported by (2) extensive training in at least one foreign language, and by (3) the acquisition of the knowledge, approaches, and skills of conventional disciplines: historical, religious, literary, scientific, political, and philosophical. By focusing on basic issues and texts, it offers an alternative to the more disciplinary and methodological emphases of other undergraduate programs.
Rationale. There are fundamental questions that any thoughtful human being must seriously confront sooner or later, for example, Socrates' "What is?" questions: What is man? What is god? What is justice? or, alternatively but similarly, Kant's questions: What can I know? What ought I do? What may I hope? Such questions and others like them are often raised in the Common Core, not only in humanities and social sciences but also in the physical and biological sciences. Some students, engaged by such fundamental questions, wish to continue to explore them more thoroughly and deeply. This program enables these students to concentrate on basic questions and seeks to provide them with the wherewithal to address them on a high level.
That wherewithal is to be found in the fundamental or classic texts (literary, philosophic, religious, historical, and scientific) in which the greatest minds and teachers articulate and examine the basic questions, often in different and competing ways. These books are both timeless and timely; they not only illuminate the persisting questions of human existence but also speak to our contemporary concerns, especially as they are both the originators and the most exacting critics of our current opinions. Accordingly, these texts serve best not as authorities but as friends who present us with rich alternatives at the highest level and hence with the most provocative material for reflection.
This program emphasizes the direct and firsthand experience and knowledge of major texts, read and reread and reread again. Because they are difficult and complex, only a small number of such works can be studied. Yet the program assumes that intensively studying a profound work and incorporating it into one's thought and imagination prepares one for reading any important book or reflecting on any important question. Read rapidly, such books are merely assimilated into preexisting experience and opinions; read intensively, they can transform and deepen experience and thought.
But studying fundamental texts is, by itself, not enough. Even to understand the texts themselves, supporting studies and training are necessary: a solid foundation in at least one foreign language and in disciplines and subject matters pertinent to the student's main questions are essential parts of the concentration program. Knowledge of the historical contexts out of which certain problems emerged or in which authors wrote; knowledge of specific subject matters and methods; knowledge of the language in which a text was originally written, as well as an understanding of the shape a given language imparts to a given author or language as such to thought as such; fundamental skills of analysis, gathering evidence, reasoning, and criticism; different approaches and perspectives of conventional disciplines. All these are integral parts of the educational task.
Individual Program Design. Genuine questions cannot be given to a student; they must arise from within. For this reason, a set curriculum is not imposed upon the student. It must answer to his interests and concerns, and begin from what is primary for him. One student may be exercised about questions of war and peace, another about the nature of man, a third about science and religion, a fourth about freedom and determinism, a fifth about distributive justice. Through close work with a suitably chosen faculty adviser, the choice of texts, text courses, and supporting courses for each student is worked out in relation to such beginning and developing concerns. Beginning with a student's questions and interests does not, however, imply an absence of standards or rigor; this program is most demanding.
Application to the Program. Students should apply in the spring quarter of their first year to enter the program in their second year; the goals and requirements of the program are best met if students spend three years in the concentration. Applications may, however, be made during the second year as well. Each student is interviewed and counseled in order to discover those students whose interests and intellectual commitments would seem to be best served by this program. Students are admitted on the basis of the application statement, interviews, and previous performance.Program Requirements
A. Course Requirements.
1. Required Introductory Sequence (2). A two-quarter sequence, open to second- and third-year students, serves as the introduction to the concentration. It sets a standard and a tone for the program as a whole by showing how texts can be read to illuminate fundamental questions. Each course in the sequence is taught by a different faculty member; each course is devoted to the close reading of one or at most two texts, chosen because they illuminate the great questions and powerfully present important and competing answers, and because they might contain the truth about, for example, nature, the soul, community, art, or the best way to live. Students should learn a variety of ways in which a text can respond to their concerns and questions and can compel consideration of its own questions and concerns.
2. Elected Text Courses (6). The central activity of the concentration is the study and learning of six classic texts. Late in the second year, each student, with the help of a faculty adviser, begins to develop a list of six texts. The list grows gradually during the following year; a final list of six should be established early in the fourth year. This list should contain fundamental works in the area of the student's primary interest, but should include works which look at that interest from diverse perspectives. The texts selected are usually studied in seminar courses offered by the faculty of the program or in courses cross-listed or approved for these purposes. Some books may, however, be prepared in reading courses or tutorials (independent study), if appropriate. Students write term papers in each of their text courses. These are carefully and thoroughly criticized by the responsible faculty members. The books taught come from a variety of times and places, East and West, and the selections reflect both the judgments and preferences of the faculty and the different interests and concerns of the students. Normally, six text courses are required for the degree (in addition to the introductory sequence). At the end of the fourth year, students take a Fundamentals examination on the books they have selected (consult following section on Fundamentals Examination).
3. Foreign Language (6). Each student in the program is expected to achieve a level of competence in a foreign language sufficient to enable him to study in the original language (other than English) one of the texts on his examination list. Achieving the necessary competence ordinarily requires two years (that is, one year beyond the College general education requirement) of formal language instruction (with an average grade of B- or better) or its equivalent. In addition, each student must show that he has in fact used foreign language skills in studying one of the fundamental texts. In some cases, a student who has successfully completed at least one year of formal language instruction may arrange to study his chosen text in a tutorial or reading course with a member of the faculty, thereby concurrently developing further his language competence, and may petition to have such work count toward the fulfillment of the foreign language requirement.
4. Elected Supporting Courses (4). Appropriate courses in relevant disciplines and subject matters are selected with the help of the advisers.
5. Electives.Please refer to the Four-Year Curriculum section, under the Sample Programs heading (consult following section on Sample Programs).
B. The Junior Paper. The junior paper occupies a unique and highly important place in the program because it provides the only opportunity for the student to originate and formulate a serious inquiry into an important issue arising out of his work and to pursue the inquiry extensively and in depth in a paper of about twenty to twenty-five pages. At every stage in the preparation of the paper, the student is expected to work closely with his faculty adviser. Normally, students elect to register for one course of independent study in the quarter in which they write and rewrite the paper. Acceptance of a successful junior paper is a prerequisite for admission to the senior year of the program.
C. Fundamentals Examination. Sometime in the spring quarter of the senior year, each student is examined on the six fundamental texts he has chosen. Preparation for this examination allows students to review and integrate their full course of study. During a three-day period, students write two substantial essays on questions designed for them by the associated faculty. The examination has a pedagogical intention, more than a qualifying one. Its purpose is to allow students to demonstrate how they have related and integrated their questions, texts, and disciplinary studies.
Summary of Requirements
Concentration|
2 |
introductory sequence |
|
6 |
elected text courses |
|
2-3 |
second year of a foreign language |
|
4 |
elected supporting courses |
|
- |
junior paper |
|
- |
Fundamentals examination |
|
14 - 15 |
Grading, Transcripts, and Recommendations. The independent study leading to the junior paper (New Collegiate Division 299) is best evaluated in faculty statements on the nature and the quality of the work. In support of the independent study grade of Pass, both the faculty supervisor and the second reader of the paper are asked to submit such statements to student files maintained in the Office of the New Collegiate Division. Other independent study courses may be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis (New Collegiate Division 299) or for a "quality grade" (New Collegiate Division 297); students must write a term paper for any independent study courses taken for a "quality grade." Students should request statements of reference from faculty with whom they have worked in all their independent study courses.
At the student's request, the registrar can include the following statement with each transcript:
The New Collegiate Division works with a small, selected group of students. There is less emphasis on letter grades than in other Collegiate Divisions and greater emphasis on independent work (New Collegiate Division 299), including substantial papers submitted at the end of the junior and senior years. Students do some substantial portion of their work in close association with a tutor or tutors, and this work is graded Pass/No Pass only. Grades are supplemented with qualitative statements available from the Master, New Collegiate Division, The University of Chicago, 5811 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637.
Honors. Honors are awarded by the Fundamentals faculty to students who have performed with distinction in the program. Special attention is paid to both the junior paper and the senior examination. In addition, honors depend on the student's grades, especially in the concentration; a 3.25 grade point average is roughly the floor, but because some course work may be ungraded, the grade point average standard cannot be stated precisely.
Advising. Each student has his own faculty adviser, a member in the program chosen from those with whom the student works most closely. The adviser closely monitors the student's choice of texts, courses, and language studies, allowing for the gradual development of a fitting and coherent program. The faculty adviser supervises and is one of the readers of the junior paper and is responsible for approving the final list of texts for the Fundamentals examination. The program coordinator is available for advice and consultation on all aspects of every student's program.
Sample Programs. The following sample programs show, first, a plan of a four-year curriculum, locating the concentration in the context of Collegiate requirements, and, second, illustrative courses of study within the concentration itself, indicating possible ways of connecting fundamental questions and interests to both basic texts and standard courses. These programs are merely for the purpose of illustration; many, many other variations would be possible.
Four-Year Sample Curriculum. Courses that meet College requirements are labeled (C). Courses that are underlined fulfill requirements of the Fundamentals concentration. The Fundamentals concentration program comprises from fourteen to fifteen courses, over and above the twenty-one courses constituting the College-wide general education requirement. Yet of these fifteen courses, only five are true requirements, that is, fixed courses that must be taken and, usually, at a prescribed time: the two-quarter introductory sequence is strictly required and prescribed for the student's first year in the program and, in most cases, a second year of foreign language study (in the language of one's choice) is also prescribed. All the remaining ten courses (text and supporting courses) are truly elective, and are freely chosen by the student with advice from his faculty adviser. Students interested in Fundamentals are well advised to take the Humanities Common Core and foreign languages in their freshman year.
| First year | ||
| Humanities Common Core (C) |
3 |
|
| Social Sciences Common Core (C) |
3 |
|
| Physical Sciences or Biological Sciences Common Core or Mathematics (C) |
3 |
|
| Foreign Language I (C) |
3 |
|
|
12 |
||
| Second year | ||
| Introductory Fundamentals Sequence |
2 |
|
| Physical Sciences or Biological Sciences Common Core or Mathematics (C) |
3 |
|
| Foreign Language II |
3 |
|
| Civilization Sequence (C) |
3 |
|
| Text Course |
1 |
|
|
12 |
||
| Third year | ||
| Text Courses |
3 |
|
| Supporting Courses |
2 |
|
| Physical Sciences or Biological Sciences Common Core or Mathematics (C) |
2 |
|
| Electives † |
2 |
|
|
9 |
||
| Fourth year | ||
| Text Courses |
2 |
|
| Supporting Courses |
2 |
|
| Musical, Visual, or Dramatic Arts (C) |
1 |
|
| Electives † |
4 |
|
|
9 |
||
|
Total 42 |
†Normally students take one unit of independent study to write the junior paper and another to prepare for the Fundamentals examination.
Questions, Texts, and Supporting Courses. All Fundamentals students, working with their advisers, develop their own program of study. Since students come to Fundamentals with diverse questions, they naturally have diverse programs. The following programs completed by Fundamentals students may serve as examples of study in the concentration.
One student asked the question, "How does telling a story shape a life?" She studied Homer's Odyssey, Augustine's Confessions, Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, Goethe's Autobiography, Saint Teresa's Life, the Bhagavad-Gita, and studied in supporting courses, Reading and Writing Poetry (Fundamentals), Myth and Literature (German), Autobiography and Confession (Divinity School), and Comparative Approaches to Psychotherapy (Psychology).
A second student asked a question about the ethics of violence, "Is there a just war?" He read Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, Aristotle's Ethics, the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, the Bhagavad-Gita, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Weber's "Politics as a Vocation," and studied in supporting courses, World War II (History), The Military and Militarism (sociology), Introduction to Indian Philosophical Thought (South Asian Languages and Civilizations), and Introduction to the New Testament (Early Christian Literature).
A third Fundamentals student investigated the question, "Is the family a natural or a cultural institution?" His texts were Genesis, Homer's Odyssey, Aristotle's Politics, Aristophanes' Clouds, Sophocles' Antigone, and Rousseau's Emile. In supporting courses, he studied The Family (Sociology), Men and Women: A Literary Perspective (Fundamentals), Political Philosophy of Locke (Political Science), and Sophocles (Greek).
A fourth student, interested in natural right and natural law, read Genesis, Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Ethics, Rousseau's Second Discourse, Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, and the Federalist Papers. In supporting courses, he studied Machiavelli to Locke, Rousseau to Weber, and the Political Philosophy of Plato (all Political Science).
A fifth asked the question, "What is marriage?" and concentrated on these texts: Genesis, Homer's Odyssey, Sophocles' Antigone, Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and Goethe's Elective Affinities, and took, as supporting courses, Contemporary Ethical Theory (Philosophy), History of American Women (History), The Family (Sociology), and Sex Roles and Society (Psychology).
These programs indicate the diversity of issues and books Fundamentals represents. They are intended to suggest the cohesion of the individual program's texts and supporting courses within the context of a broad question. Obviously, many, many other programs could be devised.
Faculty
The faculty of the Fundamentals program comprises humanists and social scientists, representing interests and competencies in both the East and the West and scholarship in matters ancient and modern. This diversity and pluralism exists within a common agreement about the primacy of fundamental questions and the centrality of important books and reading them well. The intention is for the students to see a variety of serious men and women presenting their approach to and understanding of books which they love, which they know well, and which are central to their ongoing concerns. The members of the Fundamentals faculty are
BERTRAM COHLER, William Rainey Harper Professor in the College; Professor, Departments of Psychology (Human Development), Education, and Psychiatry, and the Divinity School
WENDY DONIGER, Mircea Eliade Professor, the Divinity School, Department of South Asian Languages & Civilizations, Committee on Social Thought, and the College
CHARLES M. GRAY, Professor, Department of History and the College; Lecturer, the Law School
DAVID GRENE, Professor, Committee on Social Thought
W. R. JOHNSON, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Classical Languages & Literatures, Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World, and the College
AMY A. KASS, Senior Lecturer, Humanities Collegiate Division
LEON R. KASS, Addie Clark Harding Professor, Committee on Social Thought and the College
JOHN MACALOON, Associate Professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division
STEPHEN C. MEREDITH, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
WENDY RAUDENBUSH OLMSTED, Associate Professor, Division of the Humanities and the College
JAMES M. REDFIELD, Edward Olson Professor, Department of Classical Languages & Literatures and Committee on Social Thought, Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World
WILLIAM SCHWEIKER, Associate Professor, the Divinity School and the College
NATHAN TARCOV, Professor, Department of Political Science, Committee on Social Thought, and the College; Director, John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory & Practice of Democracy
KARL JOACHIM WEINTRAUB, Thomas E. Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor, Department of History, Committee on Social Thought, Committee on the History of Culture, and the College
Courses
Courses preceded by an asterisk (*) will be part of the required introductory sequence in 1998-1999.
204. Rousseau's Confessions (=Fndmtl 204, Hist 545, SocTh 552). PQ: Consent of instructor. A close reading of Rousseau's Confessions that investigates the conception of personality. K. Weintraub. Winter.
205. Goethe's Poetry and Truth (=Fndmtl 205, Hist 546, SocTh 553). PQ: Consent of instructor. A close reading of Goethe's From My Life (Aus meinem Leben: Dictung und Wahrheit) that investigates the conception of personality. K. Weintraub. Spring.
213. James Joyce's Ulysses. Class limited to twenty students. 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.
222. Theology and Ethics: Reinhold Niebuhr (=Fndmtl 222, Div 461). A critical analysis of Reinhold Niebuhr's systematic achievement, with principal attention to The Nature and Destiny of Man. F. Gamwell. Autumn.
223. Myths and Symbols of Evil (=Fndmtl 223, Hum 212). This course examines in depth Martin Buber's Good and Evil and Paul Ricoeur's Symbolism of Evil. There are a few brief lectures, but emphasis is on seminar discussion and student participation. A. Carr. Winter.
225. Maimonides' The Guide for the Perplexed (=DivHJ 210/348, Fndmtl 225, JewStd 248/348). J. Kraemer, R. Lerner. Autumn.
228. Tolstoy's War and Peace (=Fndmtl 228, Hum 272). War and Peace is arguably the world's greatest novel. E. M. Forster said that great chords begin to sound when you take up the novel. It has everything: superb craft; characters (some six hundred) so vividly rendered that, once read, they are never forgotten, no matter how minor; and philosophical moments of the greatest profundity. It is, as the English have said so often, more than a novel and rather "a world" with its own laws and vision. It is furthermore a "happy" novel, concerned not only with the collision of empires, but also the intimacies of friendship, parenthood, love, and family relationships. We live and move in this world for ten weeks. E. Wasiolek. Autumn.
230. Hegel's Philosophy of Right (=Fndmtl 230, Hum 247, Id/Met 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 will probably be for many a somewhat new language of thought. D. Smigelskis. Spring.
231. Byron's Don Juan. A reading of Don Juan, preceded by a quick glance at Manfred, with emphasis on Byron's intellectual and cultural milieu and its influence on how he goes about reinventing the idea of epic heroism for modern Europe. W. R. Johnson. Autumn.
232. Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. We discuss Thomas Mann's later masterpiece, Doctor Faustus, with special emphasis on the following issues: the relationships between art, evil, and morality; the relationship between music and beauty, the future of art in the twentieth century and beyond; the relationship between music, the divine, and the demonic; the place of Germany and the Holocaust in the twentieth century; and the relationship between art and love. S. Meredith. Winter.
233. Freud and the Study of Culture (=Fndmtl 233, GS Hum 358, HumDev 345, MAPH 311, Psych 245, SocSci 238). In this course, the study of culture is approached from the perspective of psychoanalysis. Starting with Freud's important work, particularly Totem and Taboo and Civilization and Its Discontents, we consider both contributions and limitations of the psychoanalytic approach as both a method of study and a theory of the significance of symbolic systems in terms of exemplary recent ethnographic study. We use psychoanalysis both as a method for understanding meaning and for understanding wish and intent. B. Cohler. Winter.
237. Constitution of Community (=Fndmtl 237, Hum 222, Id/Met 311, LL/Soc 217). Attention is once again being directed to how "we," a community, establishes itself. This interest often assumes that discussion will play a, if not the, major role, and often coincides with the notion that the organization of the community should be through government by discussion. This course is concerned with one major example of the constitution of a community, the United States. Texts of the Articles of Confederation, the "debates" in Philadelphia in 1787 (especially Madison's Notes), the ratification conventions (especially the Federalist), and the actions in the newly formed Congress (especially the House) are discussed with special consideration to how these people do enable fruitful conversation and, thus, is itself an example of community and the means of establishing and maintaining it. D. Smigelskis. Spring.
238. Montaigne and the Personal Essay (=Eng 195, Fndmtl 238). Readings in the essays of Montaigne focus on human nature and its actions and feelings, virtues, vices, religion, politics, education, sex, death, happiness, friendship, cannibals, books, customs, languages, and clothes. The intention is to try to understand, as well as one can, the ideas and the forms of the essays and, most notably, the character of their author. This study is followed by short readings in some major English essayists, chosen from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, such as Bacon, Addison, Dr. Johnson, Lamb, Hazlitt, Orwell, and Virginia Woolf. S. Tave. Winter.
242. The Mahabharata in English Translation (=DivHR 305, Fndmtl 242, SoAsia 204). A reading of the Mahabharata in English translations (van Buitenen, Narasimhan, P. C. Roy, and Doniger [ms.]), with special attention to issues of mythology, feminism, and theodicy. W. Doniger. Autumn.
246. The Radicalism of Job and Ecclesiastes (=Fndmtl 246, Hum 235, JewStd 235). 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 the piety, whatever else it is, must be disinterested. In brief, the authors of Job and Ecclesiates, each in his own way, not only "de-mythologizes," but "de-moralizes" the world. Theological and philosophical implications are discussed. Texts in English. H. Moltz. Spring.
249. Gandhi (=Fndmtl 249, PolSci 245/359). Course readings deal with Gandhi's life (including his autobiography), texts that articulate his thought and practice, and critical and interpretative works that assess his meaning and influence. Topics include nonviolent collective action in pursuit of truth and justice, strategy for cooperation and conflict resolution, and alternatives to industrial society and centralized state. L. Rudolph. Spring.
250. Aristotle's Poetics. This course seeks, through a close reading of the Poetics, to consider both the particular substance of Aristotle's argument and the principles on which it proceeds. We invite a dispassionate understanding of the Poetics, at the same time recognizing that the text involves commitment to a view of the literary art quite distinct from (and often incompatible with) other modes of defining and judging literary works. Class discussion is encouraged. E. Rosenheim. Autumn.
257/327. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (=Eng 155, Fndmtl 257/327). PQ: Knowledge of Middle English or of Chaucer's poetry not required. We examine Chaucer's art as revealed in selections from The Canterbury Tales. Our primary emphasis is on a close reading of individual tales, although we also pay attention to Chaucer's sources and to other medieval works providing relevant background. C. von Nolcken. Winter.
*260. Required Introductory Sequence: Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium. PQ: Required of new Fundamentals concentrators; open to others by consent of instructor. This course is based on a close reading and analysis of the Phaedrus supplemented by a briefer study of the Symposium. The Phaedrus celebrates love as the source of friendship and of discourse. We read the dialogue with attention to how it defines the meaning and interrelations of love, rhetoric, and philosophy. Then we consider more briefly the alternative conceptions of love offered by the Symposium. W. Olmsted. Autumn.
261. Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (=Fndmtl 261, LL/Soc 261). Through a close reading of Montesquieu's principal work, The Spirit of the Laws, we examine the distinctive genius of this influential figure of the early Enlightenment. We focus on the nature of, and reasons for, Montesquieu's fascination with the immense variety of human governments, codes of law, and ways of life, as well as with the profound influence of local and historical circumstances on human affairs. F. DuVinage. Spring.
269. Judah Halevy's The Kuzari. J. Kraemer. Winter.
272. Kant: Ethics, Politics, History, and Religion (=Fndmtl 272, Hum 245, Id/Met 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. Autumn.
276. Augustine's Confession (=Fndmtl 276, Id/Met 377, RelHum 294, SocSci 207). The course consists of a close reading of the text, along with On the Freedom of the Will and The Teacher. We study Augustine's conceptions of philosophy and belief, focusing on his notion of the philosophical life and on his concept of the will. We also devote attention to Augustine's rhetoric and how it influences his search for wisdom and happiness. W. Olmsted. Not offered 1998-1999; will be offered 1999-2000.
277. Aristotle's Ethics (=Fndmtl 277, Hum 277, Id/Met 377, LL/Soc 277). Special attention is given to the problems Aristotle thought important to consider and why they continue to be problems that are worthy of attention. A further focus is the manner in which the Ethics is a principled deliberative inquiry meant to eventuate in more sophisticated choices by the readers. D. Smigelskis. Autumn.
278. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (=Fndmtl 278, German 475, Philos 375). PQ: Prior philosophy course. This course begins with a general investigation of the nature of Kant's critical enterprise as revealed in the Critique of Pure Reason and other texts. We then examine selected parts of the Critique of Pure Reason with a view to achieving a fuller understanding of the work. M. Forster. Autumn.
280. Stendhal (=French 264/364, Fndmtl 280, GS Hum 216/316). Ce cours portera sur Stendhal (Le Rouge et le noir, La Chartreuse de Parme) comme romancier et comme témoin de son temps. A cheval sur les Lumiéres et l'époque romantique, à la fois inspiré et hanté par la figure de Napoléon, cet auteur à mille masques ne cesse de se déguiser pour s'imposer aux "Happy few." A travers ses personnages il formule un commentaire puissant sur son époque. Lectures et discussion en français; written work in French or English. R. Morrissey. Autumn.
286. Philosophy of History: Dilthey and Collingwood (=CFS 393, Fndmtl 286, Hist 255/355, HiPSS 263, Philos 363). This lecture/discussion course explores the philosophical foundations of the kind of cultural history Wilhelm Dilthey and R. G. Collingwood proposed. We investigate the kinds of philosophical assumptions that Dilthey and Collingwood made and consider their viability for historical explanation. Texts include Dilthey's Introduction to the Human Sciences and Collingwood's The Idea of History. R. Richards. Winter.
287. Thomas Hardy (=DivRL 220, Eng 216, Fndmtl 287). This course focuses on Hardy's greatest novel, Jude the Obscure. Jude is an intensely idealistic young Englishman of the working class whose one great dream is to study at Christminster, a university loosely modeled on Oxford. Unfortunately, Jude's dream comes up against reality: Young men of his class and in his time, no matter how deserving, have no chance whatever of being accepted. This course is about the difficult negotiations, for a young person like Jude, between hopes and realities, ideals and limits, and the dream of success and the possibility of failure. M. Krupnick. Spring.
292. Political Philosophy: Hobbes (=Fndmtl 292, LL/Soc 292, PolSci 315). PQ: Consent of instructor. The course is a detailed study of a text (to be selected). J. Cropsey. Winter.
*294. Required Introductory Sequence: Plutarch and Shakespeare. PQ: Required of new Fundamentals concentrators; open to others by consent of instructor. We read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra alongside their sources in Plutarch's Lives, plus some further Plutarchan biographies and further examples of Roman subjects in English literature. This course deals not only with how Shakespeare used material from Plutarch, but also with the perspectives of this ancient writer and the possibilities for dramatization we might see in his accounts of history. C. Gray. Winter.
296. Freud and Nietzsche (=Fndmtl 296, GS Hum 383, German 394, Hum 279, JewStd 294/394). 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, and 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. Texts in English and the original. S. Jaffe. Autumn.