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In this class, you will cultivate the skills associated with liberal education, in
particular:
• critical thinking;
• analytical and attentive reading;
• clear, effective writing and speaking; and
• respectful engagement in discussion.
You must do the readings and assignments and learn from them; but just as large
a part of the learning you should do in this course will come out of the
cooperative work you do in this room—thinking, expressing yourself, and
listening to your classmates. At a liberal arts college, we are all engaged in a
collective enterprise; we work together at the project of furthering learning and
building a better world. This course is a symbol of the enterprise you’ve joined as
a new student here at Ursinus: ultimately, it will succeed or fail based on your
efforts.
The dates shown below are the dates by which you should complete the reading.
Also listed are several out-of-class, evening events. Participation in these
activities is a part of the course and is therefore mandatory (I'll take attendance
and it will be treated like a normal class session). Except for the first one, which is
the night of the first day of class, they will all be scheduled at either 4:30pm or
7pm, and except for the film The Matrix, they will all last about an hour (The
Matrix is about two hours long). Also please note that this schedule may change,
and that additional short reading and writing assignments will be given in class.
Wherever you see this symbol , it means the text will be handed out, either electronically or
on paper.
Gilgamesh
9/1-3
Epic of Gilgamesh (entire), continued.
EVENING EVENT
9/21 The Matrix (film). Olin Auditorium.
9/22-24 Plato
9/29-10/1 "The Allegory of the Cave"
The Euthyphro, in Four Texts on Socrates, pp. 41–61.
10/6-8 Bhagavad-Gita
10/13 The Bhagavad-Gita (entire)
Leonardo"
EVENING EVENT
10/21 "Piazzas, Pietas, and Painters (but no Pizza): A Tour
Through Renaissance Italy." Lenfest Theater.
EVENING EVENT
11/2 CIE Talent Show. Bomberger Auditorium.
11/3-5 Shakespeare
11/10-12 The Merchant of Venice (entire)
EVENING EVENT
11/10 "Playing Shylock in a Post-Holocaust World."
Bomberger Auditorium.
Galileo
Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, excerpts from
"The Assayer" (pp. 229-238, 254-258, 269-280), "The
11/17-19
Starry Messenger" (pp. 27-45), and "Letter to the
11/24
Grand Duchess" (pp. 173-197)
Excerpt from "Dialogue on the Two World Systems"
Introductory materials
EVENING EVENT
11/23 "Bodies in Motion." Lenfest Theater.
EVENING EVENT
11/30 "He Blinded Me with Science." Lenfest Theater.
12/1-3
4
Descartes
12/8-10
Discourse on Method (entire)
Course policies
The remaining 40% of your grade will reflect your in-class participation; this will
include a certain amount of informal writing (in-class quizzes, discussion-
preparation notes, peer reviews of your classmates’ papers, and similar short
assignments; worth 10% of the final grade), most of which will not be graded (but
which is required). The most important part of the informal writing you will do
for this course is going to be a blog (weblog). We'll discuss this requirement
more during the first week of class.
Reading list
The following books have been ordered for purchase and are available on reserve
in Myrin Library. IMPORTANT: Please be sure to have your reading with you at
every class meeting.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, tr. N. K. Sandars (NY: Penguin).
Genesis, tr. Robert Alter (NY: Norton).
Plato: Four Texts on Socrates, tr. T.G. West and G.S. West (Ithaca: Cornell
UP).
The Bhagavad-Gita, tr. B. S. Miller (NY: Bantam).
5
Now, given that individual paper assignments will be very different, here
are two basic principles. First, the point is to work through the texts we
read in the class. By "work through," I mean really think through,
considering questions, objections, and broader meanings. This also means
that searching the web for "background material" or "outside research" is
probably going to end up taking you in the wrong direction. Usually
reading something other than the assigned texts ends up being a
distraction rather than a help. You are probably better of rereading the
assignment slowly and carefully. Don't get me wrong. I love the Internet. I
use it for research (and for fun) almost every day. But there are times
when it's appropriate to use it and times when it's not. For most CIE
papers, at least in my class, it's not. The point of writing a CIE paper, most
of the time, is to sharpen your skills at expressing yourself effectively in
writing, thinking critically about complex problems, composing clear
arguments, developing a creative voice, and reading a small number of
texts closely and carefully. Bringing in outside sources will not help you
reach any of these goals. In other words, focus on the assigned texts
themselves and think about them hard.
Second: what matters is that you can clearly define, develop, elaborate
and justify a point of view. There are probably exceptions to this
guideline, but I can't think of any. We'll talk about this aspect of the
writing process more later, but what this basically means is this. One of the
key evaluation criteria will always have to do with the questions, What are
you really saying? and How well are you saying it? If your writing
doesn't seem to have a point, or if it's hard to figure out what the point is,
or if you are saying something different at the end from what you were
saying at the beginning, then you have a problem. If you're saying
something creative, interesting, or challenging, and if your reader can
understand it without bending over backwards, then you're probably in
pretty good shape.
Q. I'm concerned about my grade. How can I find out how I'm
doing?
A. I'll give you an estimate of your current grade any time, but it may take me
a day or two to figure it out. Since most of your grade will be based on your
writing, each paper you write will make a significant difference.
Participation also counts for a lot. And remember: if the end of the
semester comes and you haven't handed in one of the assigned papers,
you will fail the course. This is non-negotiable. If you have any questions
about whether or not you've completed all necessary assignments, just ask.
And if you need specific feedback about your writing, your class
participation, or whatever, I'll be happy to provide it, of course.