Return to Table
of Contents
Go to Program of Study
Go to bottom of document</font>
Courses
Courses preceded by an asterisk (*) will be part of the required introductory
sequence in 1996-97.
204. Autobiography I: Rousseau (=Hist 545, SocTh 552). A close reading
of Rousseau's Confessions that investigates the conception of personality.
K. Weintraub. Winter.
205. Autobiography II: Goethe (=Hist 546, SocTh 553). A close reading
of Goethe's From My Life (Aus meinem Leben: Dictung und Wahrheit) that
investigates the conception of personality. K. Weintraub. Spring.
207. Aquinas on God, Being, and Evil. This course considers sections
from Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. Among the topics considered
are whether God exists; the relationship between God, existence, and the
real; and the origin and nature of evil. S. Meredith. Winter.
213. James Joyce's Ulysses. Class limited to twenty students.
In this course we consider James Joyce's Ulysses. Among the themes
considered are the problems of exile, homelessness, and nationality; the
mystery of paternity; the mystery of maternity; the meaning of the Return;
Joyce's epistemology and his use of dream, fantasy, and hallucination; and
Joyce's experimentation with and use of language. S. Meredith. Spring.
216. Melville: Moby-Dick or, The White Whale (=Hum 219, SocSci 203).
PQ: Common Core humanities and social sciences. Class limited
to twenty students. We do a close reading of Melville's work. In addition
to discussing the text as it unfolds, special attention is given to the
questions of whether and how this American epic is especially American.
R. Lerner, A. Kass. Winter.
221. Victor Hugo: Les Misérables (=French 261/361, SocTh 524).
PQ: French 203 or consent of instructor. In this course we read
Les Misérables, and we examine Victor Hugo's role as an observer
of nineteenth-century French society as well as an actor in the political
life of his times. Readings in French; the professors conduct class in French.
For student participation, French is preferred, but the written work may
be in either French or English. F. Furet, R. Morrissey. Autumn.
222. Theology and Ethics: Reinhold Niebuhr (=Div 461). A critical analysis
of Reinhold Niebuhr's systematic achievement, with principal attention to
The Nature and Destiny of Man. F. Gamwell. Autumn.
223. Myths and Symbols of Evil (=Hum 212, RelHum 223). This course examines
in depth Martin Buber's Good and Evil and Paul Ricouer's Symbolism
of Evil. There are a few brief lectures, but emphasis is on seminar
discussion and student participation. A. Carr. Winter.
224. **CANCELLED** Freedom and Sedition in Shakespeare's Rome. We read
closely two of Shakespeare's Roman plays, Coriolanus and Julius
Caesar, with special attention to themes such as strengths and weaknesses
of popular government, the origins of tyranny and the defenses against it,
human excellence and public acclaim, and political expedience and self-understanding.
We briefly consult Plutarch's Lives in order to better understand
Shakespeare's transformation of political history into political art. J.
Macfarland. Spring. **CANCELLED**
226. Political Philosophy: Spinoza (=LL/Soc 292). PQ: Consent of
instructor. An inquiry into Spinoza's Ethics as a contribution
to the foundations of the Enlightenment. J. Cropsey. Winter.
228. Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary (=Hum 242). This
course consists of a close reading and discussion of two magnificent novels
about extraordinary women. Both break the bonds of convention, love passionately,
and die tragically. The novels are a reflection of the status of women in
the nineteenth century, as well as a timeless comment on love, marriage,
and society. Madame Bovary is one of the jewels of French literature,
and Anna Karenina is one of the pinnacles of Tolstoy's literary art.
E. Wasiolek. Autumn.
230. Hegel's Philosophy of Right (=Hum 247, Id/Met 369). The
course first focuses on "translating"--becoming more familiar
with--what is to many the peculiar language of Hegel, a language which has
set and still sets the most important boundaries and questions for many
thinkers, not merely about politics but also about economics, sociology,
and jurisprudence. More importantly, a concern with particular arguments
and the general strategies of his argument understood broadly is also stressed
and pushed as far as time and student interest permit. In particular, once
some comfort with the language is attained, a somewhat critical stance is
adopted, if for no other reason than to guard against the possible bewitchment
by what will probably be for many a somewhat new language of thought. D.
Smigelskis. Autumn.
234. Plato's Laws (=SocTh 483). PQ: Consent of instructor.
A reading of Plato's Laws, with consideration of such topics as the
basis and limits of law, religion, family, education, sex, war, and the
relation of the Laws to the Republic. N. Tarcov. Autumn.
237. Constitution of Community (=Hum 222, Id/Met 311, LL/Soc 217). Attention
is once again being directed to how a "we," a community, establishes
itself. This interest often assumes that discussion will play a major, if
not the major, role and often coincides with the notion that the
organization of the community should be through government by discussion.
This course is concerned with one major example of the constitution of a
community, the United States. Texts of the Articles of Confederation, the
"debates" in Philadelphia in 1787 (especially Madison's Notes),
the ratification conventions (especially the Federalist), and
the actions in the newly formed Congress (especially the House), are discussed
with special consideration to how what these people do enables fruitful
conversation and thus is itself an example of community. D. Smigelskis.
Autumn.
245. Human Development in Rousseau's Emile. In this class we
read and discuss Rousseau's Emile, concentrating on what the text
has to say about the process of human development and about the potential
of education as an interventionist strategy. Students are required to write
a paper related to their reading of the text. P. Jackson. Autumn.
246. The Radicalism of Job and Ecclesiastes (=Hum235, JewStd 235, NCD 277).
Both Job and Ecclesiastes dispute a central doctrine of the Hebrew Bible,
namely, the doctrine of retributive justice. Each book argues that a person's
fate is not a consequence of his or her religio-moral acts and thus the
piety, whatever else it is, must be disinterested. In brief, the authors
of Job and Ecclesiates, each in his own way, not only "de-mythologizes,"
but "de-moralizes" the world. The students read the books in translation
and discuss their theological and philosophical implications. H. Moltz.
Spring.
250. Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Swift's extraordinary book first
appeared 270 years ago. It remains a work to be carefully read, energetically
discussed, and greatly enjoyed. While this course involves a close reading
of the text, attention will also be directed to the historical events and
circumstances which illuminate the satiric dimensions of the Travels.
N. Rosenheim. Autumn.
251. The Discourses of Machiavelli (=Hist 228). This course consists
of a close reading of the Discourses of Machiavelli. H. Gray.
Winter.
254. The Russian Law Code (Ulozhenie) of 1649 (=Hist
240, LL/Soc 254, SocSci 264). Consisting of 967 articles grouped into
twenty-five chapters, the Ulozhenie of 1649 is probably the most
important single text to survive from Russia prior to 1800. Its laws are
of Byzantine, Lithuanian, and Muscovite origin. The codification reflected
Russian political, economic, social, and legal realities of the time and
served as the basis of Russian law for the next 180 years. This course entails
a close reading of the text (in the Hellie English translation) and examination
of its context. R. Hellie. Spring.
255. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Emma (=Hum 216,
Id/Met 355). This course consists of a close reading of two novels,
Pride and Prejudice and Emma, with attention to how they represent
the relations between individual autonomy; the roles of men and women within
the family, the town, and the larger world; and the work of imagination
in fashioning identity. We examine how the novels treat the phenomenon of
development in characters as it is fostered or hindered by travel, by change
in socioeconomic circumstances, and by love and friendship. W. Olmsted.
Winter.
*259. Required Introductory Sequence: On Love. Required of
new Fundamentals concentrators; class limited to fifteen students. In
this course we examine the nature and significance of love as described
in Dante's La Vita Nuova and in Marcel Proust's Swann's Way.
S. Meredith. Winter.
*260. Required Introductory Sequence: Plato's Phaedrus and Symposium.
Required of new Fundamentals concentrators; open to others by consent
of instructor. This course is based on a close reading and analysis
of the Phaedrus supplemented by a briefer study of the Symposium.
The Phaedrus celebrates love as the source of friendship, of philosophy,
and of discourse. We read the dialogue page by page with careful attention
to how it defines the meaning and interrelations of love, friendship, rhetoric,
and philosophy. Then we consider more briefly the alternative conceptions
of love offered by the Symposium. W. Olmsted. Autumn.
262. Justinian's Institutes (=Hist 222, LL/Soc 262). This course
is an ntroduction to the elements of Roman law by close reading of the part
of the Corpus Juris designed as the basic text. There is some background
on the history of Roman law and on the age of Justinian, but the main focus
is on reading through the Institutes, with an interest in fundamental
legal concepts as much as in the specific principles of the Roman system.
C. Gray. Winter.
263. T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral and Four Quartets.
Close reading of the two related but contrasting Eliot works. Murder
in the Cathedral is read first as an introduction to the poet's style
and interests before moving to Four Quartets as an example of complex
modern poetry. C. Gray. Spring.
264. **NEW** Durkheim: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
(=SocSci 200). The new Karen Field translation of The Elementary
Forms of Religous Life offers the opportunity for a fresh consideration
of Emile Durkheim's classic study of religioun and society. Durkheim's
analyses of such topics as the universals of religious belief and practice,
the pivoting and contagion of the sacred, and the social content of religious
representatives amke that the charter text of the modern sociology of religoun
and a continuous provoction in general religious studies. More broadly,
The Elementary Forms is a remarkable attempt to recast Cartesian
method and Kantian epistemology within modern evolutionist and functionalist
patterns of thought, in light of the finding of the new empirical science
of ethnology. Paradonixally, Durkheim's imperialistic social science of
morality both shattered and reinforced the boundaries between the human
sicences and humanistic ethics known to us today. The course will be devoted
to a close reading of The Elementary Forms, including consideration
of translation issues, the place of the work in Durkheim's overall corpus,
and subsequent developments in the sociology and anthopology of religion.
Spring. J. MacAloon. **NEW**
269. **NEW** Virgil: The Aeneid in Translation. Themes under
investigation include the relation of virtue to fortune, of piety and compassion
to arrogance and self-reliance, and of friendship to love. We also examine
Virgil's portrait of the government of the world by the gods, the government
of men by men, and the defects of both the latter and the former. Spring.
J. Macfarland. **NEW**
272. Kant: Ethics, Politics, History, and Religion (=Hum 245, Id/Met 370).
Kant's writings on the practical are often called formalist and deontic.
This reading is usually based solely on the Grundlegung (the English
title of which is normally either Fundamental Principles or Groundwork),
an early "critical" work written for a very specific purpose.
The assumption in this course is that Kant is much more interesting than
this reading indicates and than attention to the Grundlegung alone
allows. Some of the course readings consequently are his Metaphysics
of Morals, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, and various
essays on "history." These in combination provide subtle and consciously
interrelated reflections on the problems of practice. D. Smigelskis.
Spring.
274. Life-History and Case History: The Study of Biography and Society (=GS
Hum 277, Psych 289). Reading Freud's case of the "Rat-Man"
and Erik Erickson's psychoanalytic biography of Martin Luther, together
with some recent discussion of the life-history in the social sciences and
humanities, this course considers the study of lives over time. Readings
pose such questions as how a life story is constructed, questions of "normal"
and "abnormal," the balance of vulnerability and coping with adversity
in the study of lives, and the interplay of biography and both social and
historical forces. Students may wish to do a life-history based on interviews
and psychological tests or to study a historical figure for the course paper.
Papers relating issues discussed in this course to study of biography (or
autobiography) in the humanities or social sciences are also particularly
relevant to the topic of this course. B. Cohler. Spring.
275. Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde. A reading of Troilus and
Criseyde with emphasis on narrative techniques and Ovidian conventions;
for contrast, a reading of Shakespeare's version. W. R. Johnson. Winter.
277. Varieties of Religious Experience. Enlargements on the meanings
of religion based on a close reading of William James's classic Varieties
of Religious Experience. Students write a paper, taking off from a theme
from James. The discussions have a multidisciplinary focus. M. Marty.
Spring.
278. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (=Philos 375, SocTh 383).
A close study of the first half of the Critique. The main focus is
on Kant's case for the "ideality of space and time" (in his Transcendental
Aesthetic) and his proof for the possibility of a priori knowledge
(in his Transcendental Deduction and Principles of Pure Reason sections).
J. Lear, R. Pippin. Autumn.
279-280. Plato's Republic (=SocTh 358/359). PQ: Class limited
to ten College students; must be taken in sequence. This course consists
of a careful reading of The Republic. Special attention is paid to
the invention of a dynamic account of the human psyche and to the relation
of psychology and politics. We study not only the relation of a healthy
psyche to a healthy polis, but also the psycho-political account of degeneration
and disease culminating in the psycho-political catastrophe of tyranny.
There is also serious study of Plato's metaphysical outlook--the forms--as
manifest in The Republic, his theory of education, and his critique
of tragic poetry. J. Lear. Autumn, Winter.
283-284. Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (=SocTh 377/378). PQ:
Consent of instructor. Must be taken in sequence. This two-quarter seminar
is devoted to a close reading and discussion of the Ethics, emphasizing
questions of the relation between the natural in man and the human in man
and the implications of this relation for human conduct and human happiness.
The first quarter considers the virtues (Books I-VI), with special emphasis
on the relation between nature and convention in the moral virtues and on
the role of prudence. The second quarter examines pleasure, friendship,
and happiness (Books I, VII-X). The Ethics is read as an unfolding
dialectical inquiry rather than a completed teaching. L. Kass. Winter,
Spring.
286. Dickens: Pickwick Papers. Dickens's first and enormously
popular novel; it has remained perhaps his best-loved humorous work. (Today
not everyone will think of that as a virtue.) We read it, as his first readers
did, in installments. We also consider it in relation to his career and
his times; because his later works are different, we read one of them as
well (probably Bleak House.) S. Tave. Winter.
287. **CANCELLLED** Henry James: The Wings of the Dove (=GS Hum 226).
Class limited to fifteen students. A close reading of the novel
together with other materials by James (notebooks, letters, and prefaces)
and possibly some writings of other members of his family. Some of the main
themes of the novel are love, self-sacrifice, sickness, and death. M.
Krupnick. Spring. **CANCELLED**
290. Aristotle's Poetics (=Hum 262, Id/Met 352). Courses about
art are usually concerned with aesthetic and critical questions and rarely
pause to consider questions about how to make works of art. Aristotle's
Poetics would seem to be, in large part at least, about the latter
with the primary focus being certain types of stories. The relation between
aesthetic/critical and poetic strategies is discussed. In addition, the
text we have is filled with ambiguities. Rather than being a liability,
these ambiguities are an occasion to explore various possibilities of what
a poetic enterprise might involve. Furthermore, various types of stories
either mentioned by Aristotle or which are seeming counterexamples to what
he says are also part of the course readings and class discussion. D.
Smigelskis. Spring.
294. The Brothers Karamazov. Class limited to fifteen students.
"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). This
epigraph sets the stage for the text of The Brothers Karamazov, contrasting
the genuine freedom of the bread of heaven with the bondage borne of defiance
of the divine. We explore the nature of this freedom, particularly the possibilities
it might open up for human fruition through love and understanding. R.
Gunderman. Not offered 1996-97; will be offered 1997-98.
294. **NEW** The Golden Bowl (=Fund 294, GS Hum 212). Close
reading of this novel with a look back at earlier Jamesian fiction, especially
The Portrait of a Lady", and consideration of recent critical
approaches. Some of the issues of this novel which are raised are James'
"aetheticism," his relation to "consumerism," and his
estimation of the morals of the heroine and her conduct. Spring. M.
Krupnick.
295. Tolstoy: War and Peace. PQ: Common Core humanities. Class
limited to fifteen students. Close reading and discussion of Tolstoy's
work in translation. Special attention is given to the major characters--the
places they come from, their families, their loves, and their aspirations.
A. Kass, L. Kass. Autumn.
296. Buber: Between Man and Man (=Sociol 236). This publication brings
together a number of Buber's most important later essays. We focus on two
of them: "What is Man?" (Was ist der Mensch? a.k.a., Das
Problem der Menschen, 1938), Buber's inaugural lectures at the Hebrew
University which masterfully outline the history of philosophical anthropology
and some of its contemporary issues, and "Dialogue" (Zwiesprache,
1929), which applies Buber's philosophy of dialogue to some concrete
issues. D. Levine. Spring.
Other courses of interest:
ArtH 178. Strange Shadows: Four Artists in Search of the Invisible. B.
Stafford. Autumn.
French 254/354. Diderot et l'Encyclopédie. R. Morrissey.
Winter.
Go to top of document