Honors Intellectual Traditions I

Course Description and Syllabus

Honors College

 

The Honors Intellectual Traditions sequence is designed to offer students 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 (each semester satisfies 6,000 words of the Gordon Rule writing requirement) 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.   The sequence is also Awriting instructive,@ so that students may enroll in a one-credit-hour class, HUM 2932: Writing in the Humanities, to do supplementary work in composition related to the contents of the primary course.

 

In HUM 2211H, Honors Intellectual Traditions I, we study examples of the philosophy, religion, literature, music, and visual arts, from Ancient Greece through the Middle Ages.  We add a multicultural dimension by comparing major works of European culture with those of India, China and Japan. We study a cross-section of ancient cultures, focusing on the literature, philosophy and art of Greece and India. We read the Odyssey by Homer in comparison with the Ramayana by Valmiki, to understand the Greek and Indian epic traditions.  We study examples from Greek art history, to understand the key elements of the Hellenic intellectual tradition, and go on to compare Hindu arts and aesthetics, including sculpture, architecture and music, in light of India’s intellectual heritage.  Furthermore, we  consider the condition of Greek women as represented in Sophocle’s play Antigone, then compare Kalidasa’s Shakuntala to appreciate the cultural position of traditional Indian women.  We compare Greek philosophy, evidenced in the work of Plato and Aristotle, with the Indian philosophical epic, the Bhagavad-Gita, and read selections from the Hindu Vedas and Upanishads, as well as the Buddhist Dhammpada.  We  consider examples of literature, philosophy and the arts from other ancient civilizations as well, particularly Egyptian and Hebrew, in order to enrich our appreciation for the diversity of the ancient world.  In a similar way, we  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.  We further compare the Chinese and Roman traditions in lyric poetry, as well as the philosophies of Taoism and Epicureanism.  We compare Augustine's Confessions, a landmark of early medieval Christianity, to Indian and Islamic literatures dramatizing the plight of the soul seemingly caught between time and eternity.  We study the Islamic tradition in both the Koran and , Iben Isaq’s Biography of the Prophet. Finally, we will consider Japanese literature, philosophy and art, together with their medieval European counterparts. Hence we will focus on Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and Dante's European pilgrimage in the Divine Comedy.  Both works sum up the quest for a meaningful human life as represented by their traditions in a distinctive cultural synthesis.  Stemming through our readings, a critical Women’s and multicultural history,  as represented in The Humanistic Tradition by Gloria Fiero, will help to provide a fuller picture of the human condition from a global perspective. 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

2) A final essay: 20%

3) In-class writings and projects:  10%

4) Class participation, including discussion:  10%

 

Writing Requirement:  6,500 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.  In-class writings will be graded holistically for content—how well they reflect a knowledge of a given assignment and how significantly they address a given topic—though composition will also be considered.

2) There will be six reading responses, each 750 words in length, totaling a minimum of 4,500 words; please see syllabus for due dates.

3) There will be a series of in-class writings (typically 200 words apiece) totaling at least 1,000 words.  These papers will be assigned in class.

4) The final essay will be at least 1,000 words in length; it will be in lieu of a final examination.

5) Writing formats may vary with the assignment, from expository, to dramatic dialogue, to film script, to personal narrative.

 

Attendance and Participation:

Regular attendance and participation in class activities are required.  They are essential to maintaining the best learning environment for all participants.  Accordingly, as indicated above, they are worth 10% of your final grade.

 

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/students/honorcode.html

 

Required Texts:

Lawall, Sarah et al., eds. Norton Anthology of World Literature, 2nd Edition

Fiero, Gloria, The Humanistic Tradition I, 3rd Edition

C.   The Humanistic Tradition II, 3rd Edition

 

Online Sources:

Art and Art History links for teachers: http://www.hudmark.com/schoolnet/art.html

Art Galleries and Museums online: http://tier.net/schools/museums.htm

Diotima:  Materials for the Study of Women and Gender:  http://www.stoa.org/diotima/

Egyptian Art:  http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/

Islamic art:  http://www.islamunveiled.com/archi/islart.html

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 Art:  http://jin.jcic.or.jp/museum/menu.html

 

SYLLABUS

Week

1   August 23:  Course introduction. Prehistory: Fiero I, 1-18: Prehistory and the Birth of Civilization: compare creation tales, Fiero. pp. 16-18.   The Cave of Lascaux:  http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ ; Epic of Gilgamesh, Norton. 

 

2   August 28-30: Ancient Egyptian literature, Akhenaten’s “Hymn to the Sun”; The Leiden Hymns, Norton; Egyptian Art:  http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/ ; influences on Greek culture; early Greek [syllabus week 2 continuted] cultural history: art, sculpture, architecture: geometric and organic designs in vase painting and architecture:  Fiero I, pp. 19-44; 45-51  selections from Homer’s Iliad, Norton.  Olympian Gods: http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/gods.html

 

3   September  4-6:  Homer’s Odyssey, Norton.  Greek lyric poetry:  selections from Sappho, Norton.  Archaic Greek art:  vase painting, sculpture, architecture.  Fiero I, pp.  60-72;  National Archaeological Museum, Athens:  http://www.culture.gr/2/21/214/21405m/e21405m1.html 

 

4 September 11-13:  Greek Drama:  Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Sophocles, Antigone, Euripides, Medea, all in Norton.  Classical Greek art:  vase painting, sculpture, architecture.  Fiero I, pp. 72-87. Aristotle, from Poetics, Norton. The Ancient City of Athens: http://www.indiana.edu/~kglowack/athens/sites.html Architecture. Response 1 Due

 

5 September 18-20: The twilight of classical Greece:  Plato, the Apology of Socrates. Hellenistic civilization, arts, ideas. Selection from Aristotle, De Anima (“On the Soul,” Book 1, online:  http://www.knuten.liu.se/~bjoch509/works/aristotle/soul.txt.)   The Greek philosophy, Fiero I, 87-101. 

 

6  Septermber 25-27  Indian religion and philosophy: Rig Veda, introduction, online: http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/India/RigVeda.html ; selections, http://campus.northpark.edu/history/Classes/Sources/RigVeda.html  Upanishads, introduction, online, http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/India/Upanishads.html ;  selections, http://campus.northpark.edu/history/Classes/Sources/Upanishads.html .   Indian drama: Kalidasa, Shakuntala, Norton.  Comparative literature, women protagonists in two traditions:  Shakuntala and Antigone. Response 2 due.

 

7 October 2-4: Hindu epic literature  Valmiki, Ramayana, Norton; literature and philosophy: Vyasa, Bhagavad-Gita; Buddhism:   Siddhartha Gotama:  Dhammapada, online, http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/dhammapada.htm ; selections from Jataka, Norton. Comparative philosophy:  Socrates, Siddhartha, Arjuna:  three philosophic culture heroes. Visual arts and music in ancient Greece and India; The Classical Style, Fiero I, 102-129; Asian Civilizations: The Artistic Record (India): Fiero I, 41-44 II, 144-151.  See Online Resources for additional links on art and cultural history. 

 

8  October 9-11:   Politics and Culture: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, ancient Rome and China Peoples and social orders: Fiero I, 55-59; Bipolar Empires, Fiero I, 130-167; Fiero II, 151-162. Virgil, Aeneid, Books I-II, Norton; Confucius, from the Analects, Norton. 

 

9  October 16-18:  2

Confucius: selections from Analects; Virgil, Aeneid, Books IV-VI;  Comparison/contrast of Roman & Chinese civilizations; political culture of Rome and China; comparative issues in Roman and Chinese philosophy, Stoicism and Confucianism. Response 3 Due.

 

10  October 23-25: 

Rome and China, continued:  Poetry and philosophy:   Epicureanism and Taoism. Classic Chinese poetry, Norton; Catullus, Norton;  selections from Horace, online, http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/horawill.html ;   Chuang Chou (Chuang Tzu); Selections from Ovid, Petronius, Norton.  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 dynamic [week 10 cont’d] organicism. Technology East and West: Amusical ceremonies@ in the rhetoric and technique of Chinese statecraft. Chinese art: online, http://www.npm.gov.tw/english/index-e.htm ; landscape, http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/magellanslog4/chineselandscapeintro.htm

http://www.chinapage.org/painting.html ; calligraphy, http://www.chinapage.org/calligraphy.html and bronzes, http://www.users.bigpond.com/wernerschmidlin/ancientchina.html .           

 

11   October 30 – November 1:  Hebrew and Christian sources:  excerpts from the Bible: Old Testament (including the Torah), Norton:  Genesis, Job, Psalms, Song of Songs.  The Roman tradition meets the Hebrew:  selections from The New Testament. Fiero I, 51-55; Fiero II, 1-15 Augustine, Confessions, Books I-V; Bill Moyers interview with Elaine Pagels: Adam, Eve and the Serpent.  Early Christian art:  mosaic, sculpture, architecture.  Islamic perspectives:  selections from the Koran, Iben Isaq, The Biography of the Prophet, Norton.  Response 4 Due.

 

12  November 6-8: 

Comparative religion, philosophy, literature: Augustine, selections from Confessions; Fiero, II, 16-42: Visnusarman, selections from Panchatantra,  Bhartrhari, Satakatrayam, Somadeva, Kathasaritsagara, all in Norton.  Perspectives from the classical Chinese poets (“Middle Period” CE 354-846):  T’ao Ch’ien, Wang Wei, Han-Shan, Li Po, Tu Fu, Li Ho, Po Chu-i. Persian lyrics by Jalaloddin Rumi, and selections from A Thousand and One Nights.  Islamic art:  http://www.islamunveiled.com/archi/islart.html

 

13  November 13-15:  Backgrounds: traditional Japanese and medieval European lyric poetry:  selections from the Manyōshū, Kokinshū, and Medieval Lyrics, Norton.  Pilgrimage, Metaphor, and Symbol:  Dante, Inferno, Cantos I—XIII, Norton; the development of medieval culture: art, sculpture, architecture, music; roots and basic ideas of Christianity; Fiero, II, 66-91; 92-113.  Medieval art and architecture, online, http://www.manitoulin-link.com/medieval/medart.html#architecture ; NIXNET medieval art history: http://www.medievalarthistory.com/

 

14  November 20-22 (the 22nd is a holiday):  Response 5 Due

Read Dante, Cantos XIV‑XXIII; high medieval culture; polyphonic music, gothic style in the arts; medieval philosophy; economy and society. Basho, Narrow Road to the Deep North, complete. The woodblock print and other Japanese arts;  Fiero II, 162-169; reflections on Lady Murasaki’s Diary,  and The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, Norton, gender in traditional Japan. Virtual Museum of Japanese Art: http://jin.jcic.or.jp/museum/menu.html

 

15  November 27-29:  Dante, Cantos XXIV‑XXXIV; Dante and the late Middle Ages, cont'd; Fiero, II, 114-141: The medieval synthesis: excerpt from Paradiso; 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 and the Buddhist Nō Drama: Everyman and Atsumori, Norton. Read Tale of the Heike, Norton, “The Death of Atsumori,” for background.  Japanese Art: The woodblock prints of Hiroshige: http://www.oir.ucf.edu/wm/paint/auth/hiroshige/    

 

16:  December 4-6  (December 6 is Reading Day, no class, Exams begin Dec. 7): 

 

17:  December 10-13:   Final Examination Period

       Final Essay (Response 6) Due by Class Time, December 11.