HUM 3306 History of Ideas: From the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Anxiety Tuesday/Thursday: 12:30-1:45  Library 175 FIU WebCT intro. site: www.webct.fiu.edu Humanities Program webpage: www.fiu.edu/~harveyb/hum Prof's homepage: www.fiu.edu/~harveyb Office: AC1 346, (305) 919-5254 Home phone: (954) 920-8938 Office hours: T/TH 10:00-12:30 & 1:45-3:00; & W 10:00-3:00 & by appointment harveyb@fiu.edu

Welcome to HUM 3306!  This is one of my favorite courses to teach at FIU, because I get to study and discuss with students a wide-range of influential and provocative thinkers who can help us understand our roles and identities in a complex, evolving world. I have high ambitions for what you will obtain from enrolling in HUM 3306.  Many of you will have signed up with the notion that you're just completing an FIU requirement, but I hope that by the time you conclude the class you will have opened your minds and hearts to fascinating realms of human inquiry as expressed in the works we'll be reading.  This class is what used to be called a "Great Books" or "Western Humanities" course.  We are tracking a set of issues and ideas that have informed U.S. and European culture from the 18th to our own century, and yet there remains an entire globe of cultures extending beyond that which has developed in the West.  And so I encourage you, once you have taken this course, to take others in the Humanities Program or elsewhere at FIU that will round out your interests in and understanding of other rich cultural traditions.   --Dr. Bruce A. Harvey

COURSE OVERVIEW

The course has three major goals: 

--To increase your knowledge about key thinkers of the post-Renaissance Western world and their historical contexts.
--To improve your ability to analyze complex texts.
--To develop your skill and pleasure in communicating ideas, both in class and on paper.

We’ll cover profound writers from the end of the seventeenth century to the present.  Our readings will span political philosophy, economic theory, biology and psychology, as well as fiction and poetry.  We'll discuss and debate how the authors speak to contemporary issues: What is the relationship between how we conceive human nature and how we evaluate different types of government? How can oppressed groups overcome their oppressors? Can we act freely, or are we shaped by forces or categories beyond our control, such as the unconscious or our class position or our DNA blueprint?

You do not need to bring to the class vast previously-gained historical or literary or philosophic knowledge, but it will demand strong intellectual commitment.   I also take the Gordon Rule “Humanities with Writing” aspect seriously--you will be assisted in developing your analytical writing skills, but as the course is a 3000-level one, it assumes mastery of skills learned in ENC 1101 and 1102 (or their equivalent). 

The course is a large one, and so a Ph.D. graduate student will be helping me grade papers and exams.  I will, however, be reading and assessing the response papers.

After our first meeting, email me via the WebCT email component and say "I've read the policies, etc." (assuming you have!).  Feel free, at that point, too, to express any initial concerns or ask questions that you might have about the course. 

If the WebCT system fails, you may always find the online syllabus at the top of my homepage: www.fiu.edu/~harveyb. 

TEXTS***

Peter Watson, Ideas: From Fire to Freud (Harper Collins)***
John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (Dover Publications)
Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano (Dover Publications)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Pocket)
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin)
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (Norton Abridged)

*** The total cost for the course’s books will be around $60.00.  The Peter Watson book may be ordered thru amazon.com for $20.00 or so ($10 less than what you’ll pay in the bookstore), and likely you can get cheaper used editions there, too.  You can also order a "pdf" file version, for $600.  If you have different editions of the other texts that’s fine, except for Darwin’s The Origins of Species—because the edition I’ve ordered is a much abridged one.

 

GRADES

25%     8 one-page reading responses

50%     2 papers: 4 pages and 7 pages

25%     Final exam: in-class short answers and most likely a 5 page synthesis take-home question to be submitted via WebCT

If you have strong familiarity with a particular field or subject matter, you may (after convincing me of your competence) write in lieu of the two papers and take-home portion of the final exam, a longer, 15-page paper, which would be expected to include serious secondary research.  If you are interested, chat with me early in the semester about possibilities. There are many: for instance, if you are a Psychology major, you could investigate to what extent Freud’s theories are still held useful; if you are in Nursing or Biology, you could investigate birth-labor practices in the early 19^th-century in respect to Shelley’s Frankenstein; if you are a Business or Political Science major, you could focus on contemporary consumerism as thwarting Marxian revolutionary fervor.  This option will have rigorous standards for a good grade, and is intended for those who can work independently and are perhaps considering graduate school and thus want to complete a decent essay that could be used as a writing sample for application.    

 

COURSE POLICIES

Prerequisites: As this is a 3000-level course with matched writing expectations, you will not be able to do well in it if you have not successfully passed ENC 1101 and 1102 (or their equivalent). 

Attendance: Regular, and on time, attendance is required.  You get two absences penalty free.  I won't ask, and you don't need to explain.  For the next two absences, your grade will be docked a notch--e.g. B+ to B--except in the case of true emergencies or religious holy day absences.  If you miss more than five classes, you cannot pass the course.  If you show up late for class, you may be counted as absent.

Participation and Preparedness: I will lecture occasionally, but even with a large class size, there should be ample time for class dialogue and you should feel free to voice your ideas.  Don't be shy--you can be sure that if you feel nervous about speaking up many sitting next to you do, too, but after the first time it gets easier, and the flow of good class discussions will make the course more satisfying for everyone. Class participation and preparedness (which may be tested via short quizzes) can help pull your grade up a notch or two; in the past, signs of active involvement and daily preparation have often made the crucial difference between a “C” and a “C-“ (non-passing) grade.

Obviously, the larger the class the more difficult it will be for me to get to know you individually: so, please talk to me after class, or see me in conference, or even send a photo via email so I can start to connect names to faces.

Incompletes:  These can only be granted if you have a health or family emergency.

Plagiarism: Don't do it.  It is very easy to detect, and the consequences of being found guilty can be devastating for your FIU career, besides being ethically nasty.  If you do not know university policies on plagiarism, learn them: go to this link: http://w3.fiu.edu/enc/Plagiarism.htm.  Most students plagiarize because of desperation; if you feel desperate, talk to me! 

Conferences:  I am always happy to meet with you during office hours to talk more about the readings, assignments, or other course matters.  You do not need to set up an appointment time to see me during my office hours, and you are welcome to drop by just to chat.  For brief questions or to set up a conference outside of my regular office hours, you may call me at my home number, leave a message on my office phone, or email me at my FIU address: harveyb@fiu.edu.  I check my email regularly, so if you don't get a reply within a day, you should assume what you sent did not arrive and needs to be sent again (the FIU junk-mail filter sometimes screens out messages with subject lines such as “question” or “paper”; so give a specific subject line, e.g., “Locke paper question from Chris”).  

Email:  For personal (e.g. setting up a conference) or urgent matters, email me at my standard FIU address: harveyb@fiu.edu.  To turn in assignments, use the email component within the WebCT system. 

WebCT Syllabus:  On it (below) I will post review materials and, occasionally, primary texts or illustrations for you to download, print out, and bring to class for discussion.  You should check the online syllabus once or twice a week to make sure you are up-to-date.

If the WebCT crashes, go to my homepage--www.fiu.edu/~harveyb--to find at thet top a substitute link to the online syllabus.

WebCT Instructions:  Go to www.webct.fiu.edu for instructions.

 

WRITTEN WORK & EXAMS

Eight Reading Responses:  You will submit these via the WebCT email component.

I will post a question or topic on the syllabus below, and you will have usually up to one week to respond.  The due date is given in the left column of the syllabus.  The responses--around 200-300 words long--should be decent in terms of grammar, spelling/punctuation, and sentence style.  They should be focused and analytical or interpretive--don't ramble and don't just summarize the readings.  The responses are a chance for you to explore your intellectual reactions to the texts; write what you think, not what you believe I may want to hear.  Sometimes I will ask how a specific passage reflects issues about the larger text from which it is taken, sometimes I'll ask you to respond to class lecture or discussion, sometimes you'll be asked to do a bit of web-research and report your findings, and sometimes the topic will be open-ended.

For each--indicated by a WevCT Email reply--you will receive either a "2" (thoughtful and competently written) or a "1" (not very thoughtful or poorly written) or "0" (not submitted).  Two "1"s may be revised, but the revision must be extra, extra thoughtful and especially polished in terms of grammar and style.  The revisions may be submitted at any point before the last day of class.  The collective grade for the responses will be calculated as follows: A(15-16), A-(13-14), B+(11-12), B(9-10), B-(7-8), C+(6), C(5), C-(4), D+(3), D (2), D-(1).

The postings should be pasted directly into your email message, and should have the title Response#1, Response#2, etc., along with your name, last name first: Response#1HarveyBruce.

Please also cut-and-paste your postings into a personal, at-home file for safekeeping (in case of a WebCT meltdown).

Papers:  I will give instruction handouts for both papers.  If you are writing the longer paper, individual schedules for completion will be developed in consultation with me.  You will be giving me a hardcopy for the two essays, and I will give these to the graduate adjunct.

Revisions: You may revise your essays, but the standards-bar for a revision goes up considerably, with real revision/rethinking being required.  A revision--as it gives you the opportunity to develop your ideas--should also typically be somewhat longer than the original (assuming wordiness was not a problem).  Before you revise an essay, you must consult with me (not my graduate assitant who initially graded the essay).        

Midterm Exam:  There is no graded midterm exam, although I likely will give a brief diagnostic one to help you gauge your absorption of the course materials.

Final Exam: This will be comprehensive final exam consisting of short one or two sentence answers to more or less objective questions.  If you have kept up with the reading and review materials, that portion should be very easy.  There also will likely be a take-home synthesis portion, about 5 pages long, in which you respond to a take-home question/questions and provide a mini-essay or essays.   Instructions will be handed out later in the semester.