back Core Humanities 1000- H 21, H27
“From Corpus Christi to the Corporation”
Fall 2003
Dr. Eugene McCarraher and Dr. Paul Wright
Offices: 475 St. Augustine Center (Dr. McCarraher)
271 St. Augustine Center (Dr. Wright)
Office Phones: 9-4796 (Dr. McCarraher)
9-6943 (Dr. Wright)
Office Hours: MWF 10:30-11:15 or by appt. (Dr. McCarraher)
MWF 10:30-11:30 or by appt. (Dr. Wright)
E-mail: eugene.mccarraher@villanova.edu
paul.wright@villanova.edu
In the first half of the Core Humanities Seminar, students read, discuss, and write about texts from ancient, medieval, and early modern civilizations. They also examine these texts with a number of themes or questions in mind, especially those reflecting concerns of St. Augustine. In this course, we will concentrate primarily on the question, “What is the good society?” Thus, discussions and papers will focus, not only on philosophical, moral, and religious matters, but on social, economic, and political issues as well. In fact, one aim of this course is to demonstrate that these sets of issues, often considered unconnected or only slightly related, are actually quite inseparably bound together.
In this particular seminar, you are part of a year-long, team-taught learning community which includes students in the Katherine and St. Monica residence halls. This year, you will be inquiring about the nature of “corporatism” from antiquity to what is often called our “post-modern” world, with special attention to the ways in which the consumption of goods has shaped understandings of identity and moral formation. To this end, students will reflect on the meanings of economics and commerce in the Western tradition, and will consider the varieties and meanings of “consumption.”
Books
The following books are required and can be purchased at the university bookstore.
God, et. al., The Catholic Study Bible (Oxford, 0195283910)
Alberti, The Family in Renaissance Florence (Waveland, 0881338214)
Augustine, City of God (Penguin, 0140444262)
Plato, The Republic (Penguin, 0140440488)
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (Signet, 0451526805)
Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 5th ed.)
Class Policies, The Writing Portfolio, and Grading
The main purpose of this course is to foster critical intelligence, refine expressive skill, and cultivate a humane and cosmopolitan outlook. Therefore, we require informed and vigorous participation in class discussions, as well as well-crafted reflection on the essay questions we assign. Your grade will be determined by class participation (30%), a writing portfolio (60%), and a final examination (10%).
We will evaluate your participation in class discussions in terms of frequency and substance. While we realize that not all of you are naturally talkative, the ability to contribute your thoughts on a text, together with the capacity to give and receive criticism, develops communicative skills that you’ll need elsewhere in life. Moreover, we’ve found that exchanges in class improve the substance and sharpness of written work.
You must also have a writing portfolio in which you will keep every reaction paper, essay draft, and finished paper, as well as a “consumption journal.” The writing portfolio will enable us to trace and assess the development of your critical skills and expressive prowess. We will collect these portfolios with each submission of a formal essay. There will be three formal, graded essays, one of which will be your comprehensive final examination. Two of these papers will be 5-7 pages in length; the final will be 7-10 pages in length. You will hand in a finished draft of each essay, which we will return to you with criticism and commentary. We will not accept outlines, sketches, or interesting ideas; a draft is itself a completed essay, submitted for evaluation. In any or all of these exercises, we will be asking you to compile and classify evidence for positions; compare and contrast ideas; examine and evaluate arguments; and assess the strengths and weaknesses of texts. When you hand in your final exam essay, you will hand in the entire portfolio, as well as a brief self-assessment in which you discuss how you believe your writing may have improved (or not) over the semester. You are also required to keep a “consumption journal” in which you record what you buy, how much you paid, why you purchased, and how your consumption attitudes and practices change in response to the course. These journals are contemporary versions of Renaissance account books, in which details of expenditure were combined with personal narratives in such a way that consumption reflected a larger story, even a moral tale.
The Writing Center, located in Old Falvey Library, is a useful and even indispensable place to go for advice on writing. Even the best of writers could benefit from the assistance you can receive there. Make your appointments early, as other instructors will be requiring visits to the Center; some of our own assignments will in fact explicitly require you to go to the Center.
As for attendance, we will follow the policy outlined in the Enchiridion, the undergraduate handbook; note that as a result 7 unexcused absences will constitute automatic failure for the course. While this may seem like a lot of leeway, it really isn’t, and even a few absences can result in substantial markdowns for your participation grade at the end of the term. As for academic integrity, we assume it when your turn in essays. If you violate the policy set forth in Appendix I of the Enchiridion, your essay will receive an F and you will be reported for your offense. Any second violation will result in an F for the course and another report.
Course Schedule
August 25 – Introduction
August 27 – Reports
August 29 – Reports
September 1 – Labor Day – No Class
September 3 – Genesis
September 4 – St. Thomas of Villanova Day – Attendance Mandatory
September 5 – Genesis
September 8 – Genesis
September 10 – Plato, The Republic
September 12 – Plato, The Republic
September 15 – Plato, The Republic
September 17 – Plato, The Republic
September 19 – Plato, The Republic
September 22 – Plato, The Republic
September 24 – Luke
September 26 – Luke
Draft of Paper #1 due
September 29 – Luke
October 1 – Paul
October 3 – Paul
Paper #1 due
October 6 – Augustine, City of God
October 8 – Augustine, City of God
October 10 – Augustine, City of God
October 13-17 – Fall Break
October 20 – Augustine, City of God
October 22 – Augustine, City of God
October 24 – Augustine, City of God
October 27 – Augustine, City of God
October 29 – Gladiator
October 31 – Lecture by Dr. McCarraher;
Draft of Paper #2 due
November 3 – Medieval morality play (to be distributed)
November 5 – Medieval morality play
November 7 – Lecture by Dr. Mary Agnes Edsall;
Paper #2 due
November 10 – Alberti, Family in Renaissance Florence
November 12 – Alberti, Family in Renaissance Florence
November 14 – Alberti, Family in Renaissance Florence
November 17 – Renaissance art
November 19 – Renaissance art
November 21 – Lecture by Dr. Wright
November 24 – Renaissance art
November 26-28 – Thanksgiving Break
December 1 – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
December 3 – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
December 5 – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
December 8 – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
December 9 -- (Friday class schedule) – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
Draft of Paper #3 (Final) due
December 10 – Wrap-up
December 13-19 -- Paper #3 due during Finals Week
N.B.: Your final exam must be turned in at the time scheduled for your section of Core. Please consult the exam schedule as early as possible to make travel plans. Note that the examination period cannot be rescheduled for any student. The only exception occurs when a student has three or more exams scheduled for the same day.