Course Description & Format: 

Humanities 5 is an interdisciplinary study of cultural movements in art, architecture, literature, music, philosophy, and religion in European culture from the Renaissance to modernism. The class will be a mixture of lecture and discussion, though I hope that discussion will predominate. The first class meeting of the week will include more lecturing while the second class meeting should be devoted to listening to, viewing, and discussing primary texts.

The amount of time we cover is substantial: one could easily spend a whole semester on any chapter we will pass through all too quickly. The usefulness of the course will be to give you a broad—not a detailed—background as a basis for further study and enjoyment of the humanities.

Prerequisite & Workload: 

While there is no prerequisite for this course, all formal requirements of this section require good writing skills, and eligibility for English 1A would be a distinct advantage—having completed English 1A would be better still. As you will see, there is a fair amount of reading for this course. College courses assume that the student will spend two hours outside of class for each hour in class—thus students should expect to spend 7 hours preparing for class each week. I have organized the reading and writing requirements of the course so that you should be able to remain within these boundaries.

What is “Different” About this Class?  

I suspect many students are accustomed to courses in which you learn by memorizing definitions, concepts, and ideas from a textbook, and providing the right answer on exams. The most important questions raised within the humanities are questions for which there are no agreed upon answers. Learning in the humanities requires a two-part process: you must learn the names of important artists and their works or ideas, but you must also learn to think critically about their work and ideas. The best way to learn this material is to talk about it, and I will feel free to call on people to discuss their reactions to what we read, see, and hear without waiting for students to volunteer.

Course Goals: 

(1) Students should complete the course with a much clearer understanding of the artistic and intellectual heritage which informs our own culture. (2)  Students should gain experience reading, analyzing, discussing, and writing about complex texts. (3)  Students' skills in both oral and written communication should develop substantially through the course—don't take this course if you do not wish to exercise these skills.

Course Requirements & Grading

Quizzes: 

Weekly quizzes for the class will count 25% of your class grade and will be taken online. Each quiz will be available from noon Wednesday through 11pm Sunday and will cover the following week's readings. Each quiz is worth 10 points; there should be 13 such quizzes. There will be no make-ups for quizzes. More instructions can be found on the Web CT website where the quizzes are taken:

http://cvc.webct.com/SCRIPT/4f_rcc_hum5_66753/scripts/serve_home.

Essays: 

Students will write three five-page essays. The first essay, on The Tempest, will be due October 6. The second essay, on Rousseau, will be due Nov. 10. The final essay, on Civilization & Its Discontents, will be due during the final exam time slot, December 15. In the case of each essay, it is not important what position you argue: it does matter how carefully you compose your argument in light of the information you have available to you from our reading.

the first essay: Is justice accomplished by the end of The Tempest? For whom? Prospero? Antonio? Ariel? Caliban? Who has done right and who has done wrong in the events described and acted out in the play? Are all of the “guilty” parties punished in some way? Are all of the aggrieved parties vindicated in some way? In what ways does the story of The Tempest anticipate changes that will take place in European history over the following few centuries? You must submit the first essay to remain in the class thereafter.

the second essay: Jean-Jacques Rousseau first became a celebrity for his essay in response to the question “Whether the Restoration of the Sciences and the Arts Contributed to the Purification of Mores.” As you know he argues that advances in those areas have not let to an improvement in "mores," but rather have led to the decline of European society. Use the materials we have studied so far this semester to evaluate his claim. (Note that the word “mores” does not quite mean the same thing as “morals” but something closer to “character”)

the final essay: In the course of a fairly short book, Civilization and its Discontents, Freud constructs a model of human happiness and describes the way that culture separates people from the sources of their happiness. Many of his arguments have been controversial: he claims our greatest pleasures are sexual and labels religion a “mass delusion.” Write a critical essay exploring the strengths and limitations of Freud’s analysis. What assumptions does he make that you question? What aspect of human beings does he give insufficient attention to? What aspects do you see in the culture of Freud’s day (use the B&D book as a guide) or our own to support or undermine Freud’s argument?

all essays should be five (or more) numbered pages, typed (double-space), spell-checked, proofread. If you use quotations you must cite them properly (I am not fussy about which academic convention you use). Failure to number pages, cite quotes, or spell-check will result in the reduction of your score. Each essay will be worth 130 points. There will be 520 total points in the class; end of term grades are assigned as follows: ≥ 90%, A; ≥ 80%, B; ≥ 70%, C; ≥÷ 60%, D, <60%, not passing.

Cheating on any course requirement is grounds for failing the course.

seven suggestions for your success:

(1) DON'T PROCRASTINATE. Make a point of keeping up with the reading.

(2) ASK QUESTIONS: no other habit will contribute more to you and your classmates' success.

(3) Expect that you will need to read primary texts (and possibly the textbook) more than once, in order to wind up with a clear understanding of the material.

(4) Take notes on both the reading and class discussions. (Your notes will help you with exams.) In particular, write down interpretive questions which intrigue you but you aren't sure how you would answer.

(5) Whenever possible, discuss the readings with another person and think about what you've read. The more actively you engage the course material, the higher your prospects for excellence in the course.

(6) PLEASE contact me (in class, during office hours, by phone, or email) when problems arise about what you are seeing, hearing, or reading. I welcome your questions and hope to hear from you.

(7) Read the calendar section of a good newspaper (the LA TIMES) and compare what you're learning with the daily pageant of American culture. If you spend any time making use of the Internet, do some directed browsing to learn more about what we are seeing, reading, and listening to. You may find details that help bring the textbook or our class sessions to life.

Finally, students with documented disabilities that might impact on their performance in this course should speak with me or contact Disabled Student Services at 222-8060.

The reading schedule usually asks you to read a narrative chapter from the Benton & DiYanni book, and specific readings from the B&D chapters, and chapters from the other books on the reading list. You do not need to read any primary texts in the B&D book that aren't listed. You should find this manageable if you break it up over a few days.