HUM 2210: Honors Intellectual Traditions I
Course Description and Syllabus
Spring 2009
Prof. Daniel White
See my Web page for all
syllabi: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite
(Please note: this syllabus is subject to regular
updates; you should check this online version weekly.)
Office Hours, Spring 2009: T & R 11:30-12:30; 2:00-3:00, W 2-4, or
by appointment
Updated 3/25/09
The Honors Intellectual
Traditions sequence satisfies 6,000
words of the WAC / Gordon Rule writing requirement and the Culture, Ideas, and
Values (CIV) Wilkes Honors College Core requirement. The course is designed
to offer insights into the diverse cultural heritages that have shaped the
contemporary world. The course of study is interdisciplinary and multicultural
in perspective. It is writing intensive
and based on the study of primary sources in translation. Course contents may
be varied from year to year so as to represent a wide variety of traditions. The constituent courses need not be taken in
sequence.
In HUM 2210, Honors
Intellectual Traditions I, we shall study examples of the philosophy,
religion, literature, music, and visual arts of Europe from Ancient Greece
through the Middle Ages. We shall, however, consider European culture as part
of a multicultural world by comparing major Western works with those of the
Middle East, India, China and Japan. We shall study a cross-section of ancient
cultures, focusing on literature, philosophy and art. We shall read Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and
other plays, as well as the complete Bhagavad-Gita, for
example, to understand the Greek and Indian literary representations of the
relationship between “gods and men.” We shall study examples from Greek art
history to understand the key elements of the Hellenic intellectual tradition,
and go on to compare them with Hindu arts and aesthetics, including sculpture,
architecture and music, in light of India’s intellectual heritage. Furthermore,
we’ll consider the condition of Greek women as represented in Sophocles’ play Antigone, as
compared to that of Indian women as represented in Kalidasa’s play, Shakuntala (html) (or Shakuntala). We shall compare
Greek philosophy, evidenced in Plato’s Phaedo (Phaedo--on location) and
with the Indian philosophy as represented by the Bhagavad-Gita
(again) as well as the Vedas
and Upanishads.
Our study will then expand to consider Egyptian and Hebrew cultures, to
enrich our appreciation of the complexity and sophistication of the ancient
world. We shall go on to compare Virgil's Aeneid, especially as it reveals Roman political and social
ideals, with the Analects of Confucius, as
it expresses the social philosophy of early China; and we’ll read the The
Sutra of Hui-Neng: Grand Master of Zen and Commentary on the Diamond
Sutra as examples of Chinese
Buddhism. We shall further compare the Chinese and Roman traditions in lyric
poetry, as well as the philosophies of the Taoist Tao
Te Ching and Epicurean Odes of Horace.
We’ll go on to compare Augustine's
Confessions,
a landmark of early medieval Christianity, to Islamic literatures dramatizing
the idea of the soul seemingly caught between time and eternity. Thus we’ll
study the Islamic philosopher Al-Ghazzali’s Deliverance
from Error in light of the religious tradition stemming from the Qur'an and reflect not
only on Augustine’s work but also, again in this context, on the Sutra of Hui-Neng and Bhagavad-Gita.
Finally, we shall consider Japanese literature, philosophy and art, together
with their medieval European counterparts. Hence we shall focus on Basho’s Narrow Road: Spring and Autumn
Passages along with Dante's European
pilgrimage in the Divine
Comedy. Both works sum up the quest
for a meaningful human life in a distinctive cultural synthesis. The
Humanistic Tradition, vols. 1-2, by Gloria Fiero, will help to provide
chronological and thematic perspectives on the human condition from a global
perspective, especially through the visual arts. Assignments will range from
critical essays to creative writing; they will be in-class and
out-of-class. Writing processes will be
emphasized and written assignments will be evaluated for both composition and
content.
Course Requirements and
Grades:
1) A series of reading responses (essays): 60% of final grade, including critical and creative genres of
writing.
2) A final essay: 25%: a critical paper arguing a thesis coherently
based on analysis of primary sources, including
rough draft.
3) Class Presentation(s) and participation (discussion, attendance,
preparation): 15%: each of you will
volunteer to present an assigned text for the day; you will provide an outline
or summary of the text for class discussion.
.
Writing Requirement: 5,000 words
1) Reading responses and the final essay will be graded in terms of content and composition: handling of sources, clarity of argumentation and/or thematic development, grammar, mechanics, style and diction will typically be the criteria of evaluation. There will be a series of reading responses, written in and out of class, totaling a minimum of 4,000 words; please see syllabus for due dates. These will be graded holistically for content—how well they reflect knowledge of a given assignment and how significantly they address a given topic—though composition will also be considered.
2) The Final Essay will be written in two drafts: a 500 word rough and a 1,500 word final draft; the rough draft will be submitted, evaluated, and discussed by appointment before the final draft is due.
3) Class presentation(s): each person will select a
reading or art work to present to the class; basically, you will lead the class
discussion of the work.
4) Writing formats may vary with the assignment, from expository, to dramatic dialogue, to film script, to personal narrative
Grading Rubric:
Numerical and Letter Grades: these values apply to all
assignments listed in 1-6 above; your final grade for the semester will be
determined by the same criteria.
100-94= A
93-90 =
A-
89-87 = B+
86-84 = B
83-80 = B-
79-77 = C+
76-74 = C
73-70 = C-
69-67 = D+
66-64 = D
63-60 = D-
59-0
= F
Check system of holistic grading when used:
√+++ = 100
√++ = 95
√+(+) = 90
√+ =
85
√(+) = 80
√ = 75
√- =
70
√-- = 65
Students enrolled in this course agree to abide by the Honors College Honor Code. Please review the terms of this important document: http://www.fau.edu/divdept/honcol/academics_honor_code.htm.
Required Texts:
The
Bhagavad-Gita : Krishna's Counsel in Time of War (Bantam Classics) , Miller,
Barbara S.
Confucius, The Analects, Raymond Dawson, trans., (Oxford World
Classics)
Basho, Matsuo, Basho's Narrow Road: Spring and
Autumn Passages, Hirosaki Sato trans.
The Dhammapada,
John Ross Carter, trans.
The
Sutra of Hui-Neng: Grand Master of Zen, including Commentary on the Diamond Sutra, Thomas Cleary, trans.
Fiero, Gloria, The Humanistic Tradition, vols. I
& II, 5th Edition
Haleem, Abdel, trans. The Qur’an
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Jonathan
Star, trans.
Plato, Phaedo, David
Gallop, trans.
Online Sources:
Art and Art History links for teachers: http://www.hudmark.com/schoolnet/art.html
Art and Architecture of
Greece: http://harpy.uccs.edu/greek/greek.html
Buddha & Plato: http://wise.fau.edu/~dwhite/courses/BuddhaPlato.htm
Diotima:
Materials for the Study of Women and Gender: http://www.stoa.org/diotima/
Egyptian Art: http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/
Islamic Art: Islamic Art at Los Angeles
Museum of Art, Metropolitan
Museum of Art: Islamic Art, Islamic Art
& Architecture
Resources for Studying
Islam: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/
Arabic Calligraphy: http://www.sakkal.com/ArtArabicCalligraphy.html
Mosques:
http://www.islamicity.com/Culture/MOSQUES/Asia/default.htm
Islamic Philosophy
Online : http://www.muslimphilosophy.com
What do we actually know about Mohammed?
Current scholarship on early Islam
Liber de
Causis / “The Book of Causes”; liber de causis – Über die Erste
Ursache, arabisch-lateinisch-deutsch
Japanese Art and Western Influence: http://www.euronet.nl/users/artnv/Japart.index.html
Japanese History:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e641.html
Japanese Traditional Art (drama, literature, visual
arts): http://kanzaki.com/jinfo/jart.html
The Perseus Project (Greek and Roman texts): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
The Rig Veda: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/worldciv/workbook/ralprs5a.htm
Hindu Art: http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_pictures/
Modern Chinese Art:
http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/gug/intr/innovintr.html
Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Related art: http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/
Virtual
Museum of Japanese Arts
Week
1: 1/7
Course introduction. Prehistory: Fiero I, 1-18: Prehistory and the Birth
of Civilization: compare creation tales, Fiero. pp. 16-18. The Cave at Lascaux; Response 1. Begin reading
Aeschylus, Prometheus.
2: 1/14 Ancient Egyptian literature, Fiero, I, pp. 17-44;
Akhenaten’s “Hymn to the Aten [Sun Disk]”; The Leiden Hymns, Egyptian Art: http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/
; Epic of
Gilgamesh; Greek culture; early
Greek cultural history: art, sculpture, architecture: geometric and organic
designs in vase painting and architecture:
Fiero I, pp. 67-78; Olympian Gods: http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/gods.html;
Aeschylus, Prometheus.
3: 1/21
Greek lyric
poetry: selections from Sappho; the
philosophy of Parmenides.
Archaic Greek art: vase painting,
sculpture, architecture.
4: 1/28 Greek
Drama: Sophocles, Antigone. Classical
Greek art: vase painting, sculpture,
architecture. Fiero I, chs 4-5, pp.
79-122. Aristotle, Poetics.
The Ancient City of Athens:
Architecture.
5: 2/4 The
twilight of classical Greece: Plato, the
Phaedo. Hellenistic
civilization, arts, ideas. Isaac on
Greek mathematics. Selection; Fiero I, chs. 4-5. pp. 122-128. Response 3.
6: 2/11 Rome,
the Rise of Empire: Politics and
Culture: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, ancient Rome and China, Peoples and
Social Orders: Fiero, I Ch. 6, pp. 129-157; Virgil, Aeneid or Aeneid (Internet Classics
Archive), Books I & II [Lauren
1, Zach 1]]. Outside Response 2 Due;
Confucius, The Analects. [Emily 1]
7: 2/18 Confucius, The Analects, cont’d; Taoism Tao Te
Ching [Bob 1, Emily 3, Jarred 2]. The ideas of nature implicit in Chinese and Roman
depictions of humanity and nature: the Greco-Roman Ageometrization@ of
the World Picture versus Indian and Chinese; comparisons of Chinese and Roman
literature, art, architecture, philosophy, statecraft; musical ceremonies in
the rhetoric and technique of Chinese statecraft. Response 4.
8: 2/25 Hindu epic literature, literature and
philosophy Vedas: Vyasa,
Bhagavad-Gita [Bob 2, Jarred 3]; Visual arts
and music in ancient Greece and India; Asian Civilizations: The Artistic Record
(India): Fiero I, 41-44 II, 144-151. See Online Resources for
additional links on art and cultural history; Response 5.
Spring Break
3/2—3/8
9: 3/11
Indian religion and philosophy: , introduction, online: Vedas; Upanishads [Darrin], introduction,
onlineselections, Indian drama: Kalidasa, Shakuntala or Shakuntala
pdf. Comparative literature, women
protagonists in two traditions:
Shakuntala and Antigone. Buddhism: Siddhartha Gotama: Dhammapada [Isaac 2]; Comparative philosophy: Socrates, Siddhartha, Arjuna: three philosophic culture heroes; Fiero
II, pp. 35-44. Response 6.
10: 3/18 Rome and China, & India: continued: Poetry and philosophy: Buddhism, Epicureanism and Taoism. The
Sutra of Hui-Neng: Grand Master of Zen [Emily 2], including Commentary on the Diamond
Sutra; selections from Horace; Chinese
art, Fiero II, pp. 142-163; Chinese
Landscape Painting & http://www.chinapage.org/painting.html;
calligraphy, http://www.chinapage.org/calligraphy.html
and bronzes, http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html.
In-class response 7.
13 4/8: Backgrounds:
traditional Japanese and medieval European lyric poetry: selections from the Manyōshū, Kokinshū,
Ogura
Hyakunin Isshu, Pilgrimage, Metaphor, and Symbol: Dante, Inferno, Cantos I—XIII [Connor 1], the development of medieval
culture: art, sculpture, architecture, music; roots and basic ideas of
Christianity; Fiero, II, 66-91; 92-113. Begin Basho’s Narrow
Road to the Interior [Jarred 1, Daniel 1]; Hiroshige Woodblock Prints; Hiroshige's
'Fox Fires by Nettle Tree'; Hokusai Prints: The
Great Wave, Thunderstorm, Waterfall. 14 4/15: Read Dante, Cantos XIV‑XXIII [Connor 2]; high medieval culture;
polyphonic music, gothic style in the arts; medieval philosophy; economy and
society. Basho, Narrow Road to the Interior, complete. The woodblock
print and other Japanese arts; Fiero
II, 164-70; Cultural Milieu
of Lady Murasaki’s Diary, Englilsh
Translation of Diary, and The
Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon Excerpts
from the Pillow Book, Portrait
of Sei Shōnagon, gender in traditional Japan.: Virtual
Museum of Japanese Art. Rough Draft for Final Essay Due.
15: 4/22 Dante, Cantos XXIV‑XXXIV [Connor 3]; Dante and the late Middle Ages, “Christianity and the
Medieval Mind,” Fiero, II, ch. 12112-141: The medieval synthesis: excerpt from Paradiso;
read Dante’s Divine Comedy in full online [Cara 2]; Medieval culture, sacred and
secular. Dante’s Ptolemaic Christian Cosmology versus the Vyasa’s Hindu
Cosmology. Toward a Multicultural
synthesis: diversity and unity in the Ahumanities.@ Comparison of
the Christian Morality Play, Everyman (also see Morality Play: Mankind /
Mankinde Online,
and Medieval Theatre Database) and the Buddhist Nō Drama: Atsumori: Everyman and Atsumori,
Read Tale of the Heike: story of Kumagae no Jirô
Naozane; “The Death of
Atsumori,” for background. Japanese Art:
The woodblock prints of Edo Gallery.
Rough Draft for Final Essay Discussed
by Appointment. Response 10
16:
Final Examination Period: 4:00 PM, April 29: Final Essay Due no later than 4:00 PM on April 29: Discussion.