TR 1.00-2.15. White 120 Hugh Ormsby-Lennon, SAC 466 Office Hours TR 2.30-3.45
COMMUNICATION: E-mail: hugh.ormsby-lennon@villanova.edu (this is best). Feel free
to call me directly at home: 215-592-8102. A phone-call there is more immediately effective
than one to my office: x94655.
CORE HUMANITIES
This class takes its place in the second sequence of Villanova's flagship classes on
western civilization-Core Humanities 1000 and 1001-as viewed from a Catholic and
Augustinian perspective. In the Fall semester students will complete the Academic Integrity
Tutorial during the first three weeks of classes; in the Spring semester students will complete
the Quest Information Literacy Tutorial. The class is Writing Intensive (see below); each
student will receive How to Write a College Paper, an excellent guide recently prepared by
staff from the university's Writing Center. Please note the important section on "Protocols"
requisite for the successful completion of this class as they appear at the end of this
syllabus.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Most historians agree that "the modern age"--indeed "modernity" itself--begins with
the philosophical and scientific investigations of Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon at the
outset of the seventeenth century. It may, at first, seem easy to see what is modern about
"modernity"--its dreams of progress, its emphasis upon technological advancement, the
conviction that people's behavior will come to match the material improvement of their
lives--but how can we square such ideologies of modernism with Augustinian perceptions of
original sin? Much of our discussion will be devoted to exploring such problems, both in the
authors on the syllabus and in light of news stories which bring us daily reports both of
meliorism and of our ineradicable sinfulness. We shall also investigate how modernity may
have influenced our ideas of what it means to be human, exploring shifting views of soul,
spirit, body, identity, personality. . . .
Students should reflect upon what "modernity" and "the modern" mean to them and should also explore with the help of dictionaries and encyclopedias the different ways in which the words have been used in different contexts (e.g. the histories of art, literature, music, and theology). Are we now living in a "modern" or a "postmodern" age? What meanings can be assigned to "ancient," "medieval," "pre-modern," "early modern," and "post-modern"?
The introductory readings and screenings have been introduced to dramatize ideas of
consciousness and materialism in Descartes (cogito ergo sum, res cogitans, res extensa,
artificial intelligence) and of the movement of technological (and, perhaps, spiritual) progress
towards utopia in Bacon. Students should note, however, that both Philip K. Dick and Chuck
Pahlaniuk (as well as their directors Ridley Scott and David Fincher) see the future (which
reflects our present) as a dystopia.
READING LIST
Chuck Pahlaniuk, Fight Club (Holt, 1996)
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ( (Ballantine, 1968)
John Cottingham, Descartes (Routledge, 1999)
Dave Robinson and Chris Garratt, Introducing Descartes (Totem, 1998)
Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor's Tale: I: My Father Bleeds History (Pantheon, 1986)
Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis (Crofts Classics/Harlan Davidson, 1989)
William Rankin, Introducing Newton (Totem, 1994)
Voltaire, Letters concerning the English Nation (Oxford, 1994)
Voltaire, Candide (Dover, 1991)
Jonathan Swift, Writings (Norton, 1973)
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (Norton, 1986)
US Constitution (Oak Hill, 1999)
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land and Other Poems, ed, F. Kermode (Penguin, 1998)
[Recommended: Richard Lanham, Revising Prose (4th ed., Allyn & Bacon)]
(Please note that there are links from my home page that offer not only "First Aid" with the
works on the syllabus but also "tips" about writing Journals and Papers. Students are also
encouraged to take notes in class; these will help your performance on the final examination.)
SYLLABUS
(Please note that several classes have been assigned to several works; this indicates that
discussion may take more or less time than can easily be predicted.)
Aug 27-29
Introduction to class. Screening of Fight Club. Students will begin reading
Chuck Pahlaniuk's novel upon which the film was based. They should
consider what both have to tell us about our ideas of modernity, progress and
the Cartesian cogito. Students will also begin reading Cottingham's Descartes
and Robinson/Garratt's Introducing Descartes. (released in 1982; Director's
Cut, 1993) that is based upon Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Sept 3-5 Finish screening Fight Club (if necessary). We shall begin our analysis of the philosophy of Rene Descartes. Students should begin reading Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep? How much do the director Ridley Scott and the novelist Philip K. Dick owe to the philosophy of Rene Descartes? We shall also begin our analysis of Descartes himself.
Please note that Thursday 5 is St. Thomas of Villanova Day. Our class will meet according to that day's schedule (11.30-12.20). Students are required by the university to attend the day's events and will write a brief account of their experiences as the introductory entry in their journals. For some hints as to set about this assignment please see http://www.heritage.villanova.edu/vu/mission/programs/stvd/questions02.htm.
Saturday 7 September.
Class Trip to the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians, 19
South 22nd Street, Philadelphia. We shall meet in the lobby at 10.30; students should arrive
promptly if they wish to avail themselves of the group entrance discount of $4. The group will
meet again at 1.30 on Market Street (south side, between Third and Fourth Streets, at the
Franklin archway) to see the Franklin Museum and a working eighteenth century printing
press. Admission Free. For those who are interested, we shall thereafter make our way at 2.40
to St. Peter's Church (3rd and Pine), a perfectly preserved example of a church from Franklin's
Philadelphia. Thereafter students can sample the celebrated diversions of South Street.
Sept 10-12***; Sept 17-19; Sept 24: T-R/T-R/T
Finish screening of Blade Runner. How much do the novelist Philip K. Dick
and the director Ridley Scott owe to Descartes? Complete discussion of
Descartes. Swift, Writings, 340-355, 389, 522-5. 535-550 (attacks on
Descartes and Christian reassertions of original sin and of the weakness of the
flesh).
***September 12.
First paper (3-4) pages on museum trip due. Please see detailed
suggestions on the "papers" link from my home page.
Initial conferences with students will be scheduled during the weeks of September 17 and September 24.
Oct 1-3 (R-T)
Conclude Descartes & Co. Spiegelman's Maus.
Oct 8-10
Bacon, The New Atlantis (note especially pp. 71-83; students should also tackle
as much as they can of The Great Instauration, pp. 1-33);. Swift's "Tritical
Essay," Writings, 425-6; "Laputa, Lagado and the Struldbruggs," 132-164,
177-184.
October 10
Second paper (3-5 pp) on "Fight Club, Blade Runner,
and Descartes due." Please see detailed suggestions about topics on the "papers" link from my home page. First complete journal due (8-10 pp).
Fall Break
Oct 22
Class discussion of papers (with extracts)
Oct 24
Conferences
Oct 29-31-Nov 5 (T-R/T)
How Bacon and Swift are related to the Royal Society of London (chartered
1662). Introducing Newton. (Isaac Newton, FRS, was the greatest scientist of
the modern world.) Begin Voltaire's Letters (focusing upon Letters XI-XVIII,
XXIV, modern medicine and philosophy, Bacon, Descartes, Newton, the Royal
Society). Continue Voltaire's Letters (with special attention to Letters I-X: the
role of religion in modern society).
Nov 7-12 (R-T)
Candide; we shall also examine Swift's poems, 518-20, 525, 527, 531.
Nov 12-14-19 (R-T-R)
Introduction to Franklin's Autobiography (although this is the most celebrated
autobiography in America, it can present difficulties; please read and print out.
from the link on my home-page, the synopsis that I have prepared); xeroxes of
other writings by Franklin. Students will begin reading Gulliver's Travels
and
I shall introduce it. Introductory screening of short portions of the video.
Nov 21-26 (R-T)
Gulliver's Travels on page and screen.
November 26.
Third Paper Due (4-6 pp) In this you will consider the tensions between
the "progressive" ideology of modernity (as represented by Bacon's New Atlantis,
Voltaire's Letters, and Franklin's Autobiography) and a (quasi-)Augustinian viewpoint
about humanity's ineradicable sinfulness as variously represented by Spiegelman's
Maus, by Voltaire's Candide, and by Swift's Gulliver's Travels and by his poetry. (Swift,
it must be emphasized, remains one of the greatest writers in the Augustinian tradition.)
Further suggestions about fine-tuning your paper topic will be found on the "papers"
link from my home page.
Thanksgiving Break
Final conferences will be scheduled during the next two weeks.
Dec 3 & Dec 5
Gulliver's Travels on page and screen.
Dec 10
No class: day has been designated Friday by University.
Dec 12
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land.
Due dates to be announced: for your final paper (4-6 pp), for your revised paper, and for the second installment of your journal. Further details of the topic for the final paper will be found on the "papers" link from my home page.
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All students MUST study the "Protocols" link from my home page. This contains information on grading policies for the class; on formal writing assignments and on re-writing papers; on the requirements of a "Writing Intensive" course; on journals (length and content); on classroom discussion; on conferences; on e-mail and class communication; on academic honesty; on class attendance and etiquette; on the contents of and expectations for the final examination.
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Academic Accommodation for Qualified Students with Disabilities: "It is the policy of Villanova University to make reasonable academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. If you are a person with a disability and wish to request accommodations to complete your course requirements, please make an appointment with the course professor as soon as possible to discuss the request. If you would like information on documentation requirements, contact the Office of Learning Support Services at 610-519-5636, or visit the office in Geraghty Hall."