Last modified: April 26, 2008
Contact | Description | Outcomes | Texts | Assignments | Readings | Policies
Current Announcements Paper 3 prompt is now available. Final Participation Grades are now available. |
Office: Irish A 219 & LSC 248
Hours: TTh, 11:00 - 12:00 (Irish A 219), W 1:30 - 2:30 (LSC 248).
E-mail: The most efficient way to contact me (john dot lynch at asu dot edu). Please see the policies pages for important information about my availability over email. Please make sure you put "HON171" in the subject line as mail from outside ASU frequently gets trapped in my spam filters.
Phone: (480) 727 7042. I have a love-hate relationship with my answering machine. Use only as a last resort.
This course provides us with an opportunity to discuss some of the classic questions that humankind has wrestled with over the millennia, such as - what is our place in the Universe? Is the Universe an impersonal one? What is our relationship to the sacred and profane? How does the individual relate to the community? Is there such a thing as free-will, or are we mere puppets in a divinely scripted play? Why do bad things happen to good people? In examining these questions by reading a selection of works from philosophers and other writers, we will aim not to solve these eternal problems, but to examine what Tennyson described as “the thoughts that shake mankind.”
Chronologically, we will cover the period from ancient times to the beginning of the 17th Century, an end-point that would see the dawn of the Scientific Revolution, an event that will concern us greatly in HON 273.
Please only purchase these editions. They are available at the ASU Bookstore and online.
Please see the printed syllabus for further details of assignments and grading rubrics.
Jan 15 |
The Human Event - A Guide to Successful Completion. We will be introducing the class, discussing both your and my expectations, and providing the keys to successfully completing the course. After class, please closely read the syllabus, these policies, and these guidelines for seminar participation. By attending our next class, you are signifying to me that you have read and understood these documents and will not be able to claim ignorance of their contents in the future. |
Jan 17 |
Hesiod, Theogony [pdf] Hesiod's Theogony - dating from around 700 BCE and roughly contemporaneous with Homer's writings - is a clear example of a myth, a traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of the society. M.L. West describes Hesiod as "a surly, conservative countryman, given to reflection, no lover of women or life, who felt the gods' presence heavy about him." Whether Hesiod actually existed as such an individual is largely immaterial. What is certain is that his written Theogony presents the culmination of a narrative tradition that predated written texts. The work is concerned with the origin of everything (cosmogony) and that of the gods (theogony). Ultimately, it recounts how Zeus achieved leadership of the gods. We will also read a brief extract from another work - Works and Days - in which, among other things, Hesiod accounts for the toughness of human life, the creation of woman, and the various stages of human history. When reading you're going to encounter a lot of names. Don't concentrate on many of these. Look instead at the main events and themes and relationships between the elder and younger gods. Consider the following questions:
|
Jan 22 |
Homer, Iliad (Lombardo, extracts from Books 1 through 15, pp. 1 - 304). We are not reading the whole of the work. Below is your required reading with short summaries (in italics) of omitted portions. You are free - of course - to read the omitted material and use it for your papers!
|
Jan 24 |
Homer, Iliad (Lombardo, books 16 - 24, pp. 305 - 492)
|
Jan 29 |
Genesis (Alter, pp. 3 - 49): The Primeval Accounts.
Tradition holds that the Old Testament Genesis (Bereshit as it is called in Hebrew) was
composed as a single narrative by Moses. However, over two hundred years of
historical and textual scholarship have indicated that it is more likely that the account
the product of an editor (Redactor) working in the Fifth century BCE who pieced together a number of older narratives. Note that the first chapters provide two differing - and often mutually exclusive - accounts of the creation.
The first account appears to date from the period during or after the exile of the Jewish
people in Babylon (i.e. around 550 BCE). In this account, God is always referred to as ‘Elohim’ and the account presents a radically different set of events than the second
narrative (which is actually older). This first account is referred to as the ‘P’ or ‘Priestly
account after its presumed author(s). Elsewhere in the Pentateuch
(the first five books
of the Old Testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), the
Priestly author(s) deal with rites, ceremonies, priestly duties, and genealogy. Similarly, the rest of our reading selection contains J and P elements often woven together.
Be careful in reading Genesis in that you don't smuggle your cultural preconceptions into the text. For example, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is not an apple and the serpent is just a serpent, albeit a talking snake, not Satan. Some things to consider regarding the two creation accounts:
|
Jan 31 |
Abraham (Abram) is the founding patriarch of the Israelites. He was brought by God from Mesopotamia to Canaan, traditionally around 2000-1700 BCE. There he entered into a covenant with God by recognizing YHWH as the one true god, thus ushering in monotheism. For this, it was promised that he would become the father of a great nation. That promise would eventually manifest itself through Isaac, the son whom God demands Abraham sacrifice for no apparent reason. We will be particularly concentrating on this narrative thread. |
| Feb 4 - 7 | Extended Office Hours to Discuss Paper #1 - sign-up closed |
Feb 5 |
Workshop: Writing for the Human Event A workshop on writing argumentative papers for this class. After class, please read these guidelines for writing an argumentative paper. In addition, look at this guide for citing works. |
Feb 7 |
Sefer Iyov (The Book of Job) is a didactic poem, a meditation on the presence of evil and why God permits such suffering. The narrative framework is provided by a probably older tale that recounts the suffering that the righteous Job endures at the hands of the Accuser (satan) before having it removed (somewhat) by Yahweh. The majority of the book is a contemplation of this suffering as Job is lectured to by three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar) as well as a fourth individual, Elihu. Finally Yahweh himself makes an appearance. Job is a difficult work, so make use of the explanatory notes (pp. 161ff). In addition, consider the following questions both as you read and when you finish:
|
Feb 12 |
Herodotus, "The Battle of Thermopylae" from The Histories [pdf] Herodotus has been termed the "father of history" and his Histories offer an account of the conflicts between Persia and Greece that occurred in 490 and 480-479 BCE. Arguably the first history, Herodotus' account - written between 431 & 425 - also details anthropology, science, natural history and other aspects of life in the region, while mixing fact with fiction. To what degree Herodotus knew he was using fiction is a matter of debate among scholars (hence Herodotus' other name - "the Father of Lies"). The conflict itself started in 490 BCE when the armies of Darius the Great invaded the Greek lands, culminating in the Battle of Marathon where 20,000 Athenians (and Plateans) repelled up to 70,000 Persians. The battle was the first defeat of Persian forces since the reign of Cyrus two generations earlier, and resulted in the withdrawal of the invading forces. In addition, a number of Greek cities which had "Medized" renounced their allegience to Darius. In 486 BCE Darius died and left control of his empire to his son, Xerxes. After four years of preparation the Persian force of approximately 200,000 land troops stood ready to invade Greece again. The Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE) saw a Greek army (numbering between five and six thousand troops and under command of the Spartan Leonidas) attempt to slow the Persian juggernaut while the Greek forces were amassing further south. Famously, the Persians had problems defeating the Greeks and resorted to Ephialtes' treachery to win the battle after three days. By this time, Leonidas had a reduced force of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, 900 helots (Spartan slaves) and 400 Thebans (who had Medized and were being pressed into service).
The delay at Thermopylae failed to stop the Persian army and Athens was soon abandoned. Miraculously, the Greek fleet routed the Persians at Salamis, an embarassing defeat which resulted in Xerxes not being able to supply his land army. Historians generally consider the battle at Salamis to be the single most important engagement in human history - a victory for the Persians would have resulted in Xerxes conquering Greece and eventually the rest of Europe, thus preventing the rise of Athenian democracy and everything that was to follow. After the defeat, the bulk of the Persian army withdrew to the Hellespont (in modern Turkey). Xerxes himself returned to Persia, leaving his general Mardonius in charge of the conquered Greek territories. An amassed Spartan force of some 45,000 men caused Mardonius to abandon Athens (but not before destroying it). Eventually, the two sides engaged at the Battle of Plataea (479 BCE), where an estimated 120,000 Persians were defeated by perhaps 40,000 Greeks. The Persian army retreated back to Asia Minor, never to invade again. In the aftermath of this defeat of the Persians, 150 city states came together to form the Delian League, whose purpose was to continue the defense of their lands with member cities providing funds. In 454 BCE, Athens moved the treasury of the League from Delos to Athens and began to use the fund for other purposes (such as building the Parthenon and strengthening the Athenian navy). The Delian League had turned into the Athenian Empire, and the Peloponnesian War between the Empire and the Peloponnesian League (Sparta and her allies) would soon follow in 431 BCE. It would be 404 BCE before there would be peace again and the end of the war would see both Athens and Sparta much depleted. Assignment: We're going to be discussing Herodotus' account of the battle of Thermopylae, but it is worth considering about how the story (and indeed those contained in the Illiad) have been appropriated by other cultures. Spend some time thinking about how movies such as Troy and 300 have depicted the Greeks, Spartans, Persians, Trojans etc. [Follow the links in the last sentence to read plot summaries of the movies.] How do these retellings of myths and histories alter the possible intentions of the original authors? Why do these stories still resonate with us today? |
Feb 14 |
Peer Review for Paper 1 Please bring two printed copies of your paper to class. Your paper must be complete, i.e. it is not a draft but a final version. Failure to provide a final version for class will result in a zero for the assignment. Paper 1 due Feb 16, 8am. To submit your paper:
|
Feb 19 |
The Pre-Socratics Greek philosophy is traditionally held to have begun on May 28th 585 BCE with the prediction of a solar eclipse by Thales of Miletus. Equally as traditionally, it is held to have ended in 529 CE when the Christian Emperor Justinian outlawed the teaching of pagan philosophies and took over control of the Academy in Athens. The intervening eleven centuries saw Greek philosophy divided into three broad periods, the first of which - running from 585 to ~400 BCE - will concern us here. The structure of class for this week will be a little different from usual. The assignment will be announced in class on February 5th. |
Feb 21 |
The Pre-Socratics, continued |
Feb 26 |
Thucydides, extracts from History of the Peloponnesian War [pdf] and [pdf] The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), fought between Athens and Sparta (and their respective allies), brought suffering and disaster to Greece. In the years following the victory over the Persians, the democratic city-state of Athens expanded into an imperial power by using the financial contributions from other members of the Delian League, contributions intended for the common defense of Greece, to build up the powerful Athenian navy and its own economic prosperity. Thus, the conflict with Sparta, which had the stronger army, was "inevitable" (Thucydides tells us) because of "the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta." The task of recording and analyzing this bitter struggle of Greek against Greek fell to Thucydides (ca. 460- ca. 400 BCE). Born in Athens to an aristocratic and wealthy family, he was chosen in 424 BCE to command a fleet against the Spartans in the northern Aegean Sea. For allowing himself to be outmaneuvered and defeated by the enemy, he was exiled and did not return to Athens until 404. Thucydides thus had ample opportunity to observe the Peloponnesian War from both sides; he spent his twenty years of exile in various parts of Greece, recording the tragedy of his own times. Behind his narrative lay the deeper purpose of searching for an answer to the following question: "Why, had Athens, with the fairest prospects of victory, been beaten?" Thucydides' History is, in essence, an analysis of the causes of the Athenian defeat; hence, it has often beenl described as a study in the pathology of imperialism and war. Thucydides' own reflections on issues and motives are found in the forty or more "set speeches" for which the History is famous. These speeches – which appear as direct quotations from the individual participants, but were actually written by Thucydides – represent a common device in ancient Greek literature. Like the oration and the dialogue they must be accounted for by the importance of the spoken word in Greek culture. Thucydides, describing his method, stated that "while keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used, [I] … make the speakers say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation." The first selection we will be reading is the most famous speech of the History; the "Funeral Oration" by Pericles, the leading Athenian statesman, in honor of those who had died in the war's first campaign. Pericles praises the dead and Athens while at the same time exhorting the living to continue on living by the standards set by the departed. Historian Gary Willis has noted significent parallels between this speech and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Our second selection describes the plague that swept Athens in 430 BCE, a year after Pericles' speech. As a strategy, Pericles had suggested that the inhabitants of the lands surrounding the city retreat behind the city walls so as to resist the superior Spartan land forces while the Athenian navy harassed the Spartan supply ships. This, of course, resulted in the Athenian farm lands being pilliaged by the Spartan forces. A plague (traditionally considered to be be the bubonic plague but now considered more likely to be typhus) broke out and spread rapidly in the crowded city, resulting in the death of approximately one-third of the Athenian citizens, many warriors, and most drastically, Pericles himself. This latter loss would prove disasterous as Pericles was succeeded by a series of weak leaders. Our third selection (actually contained in the second PDF above) describes the civil war between populists (who sided with Athens) and oligarchs (who were eager to recieve support from Sparta) that erupted in Corcyra (modern Corfu) in 427. The chaos that ensued is typical of that which occurs when the balance of power is shifted in a region. Thucydides uses the example of Corcyra to outline his bleak view of human nature. Indeed, Thucydides says he composed his History so that its readers could "understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future." It is notable that the gods play no part in Thucydides' narrative. Chaos and suffering is due to human action not divine intervention. The final excerpt is "The Melian Dialogue" (416/15 BCE) in which the monstrous realities of the conflict are stripped bare. To the question "Why was Athens beaten?" Thucydides implies the answer that Athens, deprived of Pericles' strong but humanely moderate leadership, pursued a policy of barbarous extremism. At Melos, after some fifteen years of brutal war, the Athenians justified their actions solely on the grounds of raw power. This episode - and that at Corcyra - illustrate what the war had become - a far remove from the tragic beauty of Homer's Iliad. A disasterous Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 (advocated by Alcibiades, a student of Socrates) began the final decline of Athens. In 404 Athens was occupied by the Spartans and the rule of the Thirty Tyrants began. One of these tyrants was Critias, uncle of Plato and friend of Socrates. |
Feb 28 |
We're going to begin our examination of the second stage of Greek philosophy, a period that ended in about 100 BCE and was characterized by the development of different philosophical schools. It was the time of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, the Stoics, and the Skeptics, but we will concentrate on Socrates as depicted by his student, Plato. To begin with, please read this brief introduction to Plato. Euthyphro is a Socratic discussion of the concept of piety. Socrates' method is known as the elenchus ( ελεγχος ) and usually ends in aporia (απορiα, a seemingly insoluble impasse). It works as follows:
There are also other notable aspects of Socrates' modus operandi that we will discuss in class, but for the moment just note that his method involves a search for the underlying assumptions, or axioms, which may subconsciously shape the interlocutor's opinion, and to make them the subject of scrutiny to determine their consistency with other held beliefs. At the time of his discussion with Euthyphro, Socrates is himself under charges of impiety (so the issue of piety was very much relevant). The following is taken from Diogenes Laertius and are the charges that Socrates is facing:
|
Mar 4 |
Plato, Apology (Five Dialogues, pp. 21-44) Study questions:
|
Mar 6 |
Aristophanes, The Clouds Old Comedy, of which The Clouds is an excellent example, was performed during the City Dionysia - a religious festival dedicated to the god Dionysus that was held in March/April every year. Dionysus was the god of the "dark side" of human nature, human passions and life and the festival featured both tragedy and comedy (komoidia - "revel ode"), allowing controlled enactment of human passions (both good and bad). No public transactions were allowed during the five day festival and an audience of ~15,000 citizens and male foreigners would have congregated in the Theatre of Dionysus (above) the four or five plays that were staged per day. Productions were sponsored by the state with prizes being awarded for the best works. Old Comedy was characterized by its use of three masked male actors and a chorus of twenty-four. Unlike tragedy (such as Sophocles' Oedipus Rex), comedy was "self-aware" often pulling the audience into the production by having actors directly address them. Aristophanes (born c 450 BCE) was roughly contemporaneous with Socrates' student Alcibiades (and like him appears in Plato's Symposium). His first play was produced in 427 BCE and over his lifetime, he produced at least fourty plays, of which eleven survive to this day. It is important to remember that the majority of Aristophanes' work was written during the Peloponnesian War. The introduction of our edition offers plenty more information on Aristophanes and Old Comedy. The first production of The Clouds (Nephelai) was in 423 BCE and the play diid not do well in competition. A revised version (which we are reading) was produced in 421 BCE, the year that saw the Peace of Nicias, a brief lull in the war that would last until 415 BCE when Alcibiades would urge the disasterous invasion of Sicily. A brief summary of the play :
A study question:
|
|
SPRING BREAK |
Mar 18 |
Lucretius, On The Nature of Things (Bks 1 & 2)
Sound familiar? Interesting? The "man of divine serenity and wisdom" is not Jesus, not Buddha, but the Greek philosopher Epicurus who in 306 BCE formed a school/commune in Athens called "The Garden." Epicurius' followers were a radical bunch: they argued for withdrawal from public life, engagement in philosophical discussion, and an egalitarianism that allowed men, women and slaves interact as equals. Epicureanism would become a popular philosophy in the Hellenistic world, competing with the ideas of the Stoics and those of the Academics. Much of what we know about Epicureanism comes from Titus Lucretius Caro's poem De Rerum Natura ("On the Nature of Things") which offers an extended examination of Epicurean epistemology, ethics and natural philosophy. The latter in particular - expanding on Democritus' atomism - would influence the development of seventeenth century physics. Epicurus overall view is easy to grasp:
The result of this can be easily summarized Philodemus' "four part cure";
For background on Epicurus, it is suggested that you read pp xviii - xxxi of the introduction. Our reading, Books I & II, deal with Epicurean atomism and the nature and size of the universe. |
Mar 20 |
Lucretius, On The Nature of Things (Bk III) Book III deals with mind, spirit and body and draws out the ultimate implication of Epicurean naturalism - as Lucretius famously declares "Death, then, is nothing to us" (Lucr, III, 830). |
Mar 25 |
Lucretius, On The Nature of Things (Bk V) The last two books deal with natural philosophy. We will just read book V which deals with the origin of the heavens and the Earth, and the history of life upon the latter. Pay particular attention to lines 772 to the end. In addition, read Lucretius' description of the plague of Athens (VI 1138 - 1286) and compare it with Thucydides' account. De Rerum Natura (and especially Book V) was seen as one of the main champions of anti-teleological mechanistic accounts of creation and, as such, was a primary target for attaks by creationists in the years befor Darwin's Origin of Species. Lucretius was not taught at Oxford University until the mid-nineteenth century, and even then with strong opposition on religious grounds. Today, opposition to Epicurean ideas is still strong among anti-evolutionists and creationists. |
Mar 27 |
Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC. His life coincided with the decline and fall of the Roman Republic, and he was an important actor in many of the significant political events of his time (and his writings are now a valuable source of information to us about those events). He was, among other things, an orator, lawyer, politician, and philosopher. Making sense of his writings and understanding his philosophy requires us to keep that in mind. He placed politics above philosophical study; the latter was valuable in its own right but was even more valuable as the means to more effective political action. The only periods of his life in which he wrote philosophical works were the times he was forcibly prevented from taking part in politics Written in the form of a letter to his son Marcus, then in his late teens and studying philosophy in Athens (though, we can gather from the letters, not studying it all that seriously), but intended from the start to reach a wider audience. Cicero addresses the topic of duty (including both the final purpose of life, which defines our duties, and the way in which duties should be performed), and says that he will follow the Stoics in this area, but only as his judgment requires. More explicitly, the letter discusses how to determine what is honorable, and which of two honorable things is more honorable; how to determine what is expedient and how to judge between two expedient things; and what to do when the honorable and the expedient seem to conflict (this latter question is the focus of our selected reading). Cicero asserts that they can only seem to conflict; in reality they never do, and if they seem to it simply shows that we do not understand the situation properly. The honorable action is the expedient and vice-versa. The bonds among all human beings are described, and young Marcus is urged to follow nature and wisdom, along with whatever political activity might still be possible, rather than seeking pleasure and indolence. On Duties, written at the end of Cicero's life, in his own name, for the use of his son, pulls together a wide range of material, and is probably the best starting place for someone wanting to get acquainted with Cicero's philosophic works. |
| April 1 - 4 | Extended office hours to discuss Paper 2. Sign up now closed - schedule is here. |
Apr 1 |
Buddhism [pdf] [pdf] [pdf] [pdf] Our first reading offers the legendary life of the Buddha, an account which was composed centuries after the death of the Buddha and is thus largely apocryphal. The second reading briefly details the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Buddhist view of 'self' - concepts which are central to Buddhist practice and philosophy. The third reading offers a brief extract from The Questions of King Milinda in which the (non-Buddhist) king questions the Buddhist monk Nagasena. The last reading is The Ox-Herding Poems of K'uo-an which features metaphors for the process and practice of Buddhism. |
Apr 3 |
The Q Gospel. [pdf] The Q gospel is a reconstruction of the original writings of the followers of Jesus (who became known as the Christ), a preacher who was crucified in Jerusalem in 33 CE. The years surrounding the turn of the millennium saw the Jewish people living in territory under the control of the Romans, whom they regarded as god-less Gentiles. There was a large amount of apocalyptic hope among the Jews, who believed that God was about to erupt into history and deliver his people (with the aid of a military leader known as the Messiah). This belief lead to splits amongst the Jewish people as it was felt that their impurity was preventing the appearance of God. Finger-pointing, especially against tax collectors (who worked for the Romans) and prostitutes was rampant. In this community arose Jesus, a radical social thinker and moralist who attempted to bring Jews together as a unified group irrespective of their history, occupation or gender. Challenging the tendency of the community to fragment, he advocated a “heaven on Earth,” a place where all would work together for the good of everyone. Later interpreters would radically alter that message. The early writings (and narratives) of Jesus’ followers are believed to have formed the basis for the Gospel of Mark, which in turn formed the basis of those of Luke and Matthew (these three are referred to as the synoptic gospels). Mark’s account has been shown to date from around 70CE (as it refers to the destruction of Jerusalem); it is also agreed that the author was not Jewish and was a member of a community of believers in Syria. This work is the earliest work of Christian theology and heavily draws on the Q source. The Gospel of Luke dates from 80 to 85 CE, was also probably written by someone not in Palestine, and was a proclamatory work directed at Greek-speaking Gentiles. Matthew’s gospel was addressed for both Jews and Gentile Christians in the period around 90 CE; the author (who was not the apostle Matthew) is believed to have been based in Antioch (Syria). (The Gospel of John, the latest work, dates from around 110CE. Thus, the extant canonical writings about Jesus all date from a period between 40 and 80 years after his death.) A number of narrative elements are shared by Luke and Matthew (but not Mark); these are believed to have come from the earliest written source that these authors had access to, a source that is known as Q. As with the synoptic gospels, the Q-source appears to have been put together over a period of time, beginning around 45CE and continuing until around 70CE. The earliest material (Q1) forms a “wisdom literature,” a collection of optimistic sayings of Jesus. The original members of this following did not view Jesus as a Christ or a Messiah, and definitely not as the Son of God. They instead saw Jesus as a very wise teacher, teaching a morality and practicality that suited the people of that day. Q2 makes up more than half of the collection of sayings and parables. The community (living in the late 50’s early 60’s) had encountered rejections and conflict, and some difficulty with the Pharisees and lawyers. We see the introduction of John the Baptist in this collection. (John had apparently had his own cult following at the time and there was some interaction between the two groups.) We also see the introduction of an apocalyptic vision that was not evident in Q1. An impending"Judgment Day" looms large. |
Apr 8 |
Confucius, Analects (pp. 1 - 56) The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy notes:
Assignment: Please select three of the chapters that resonate with you and explain why they do. Also establish their significance to the work as a whole. (Bring two typed copies to class). |
Apr 10 |
Peer Review for Paper 2 Here [pdf] is the review checksheet - you will need to bring a printed copy of it and your paper to the peer-review session. You must meet with your reviewer somewhere on campus for the class period and the review must be completed by the end of class (1:30 or 2:55). Following review (and by 8pm on April 10th), email me confirming that your paper was reviewed and provide me with candid feedback on the review. Failure to email me or provide feedback will result in you having 1% deducted from your grade. Paper 2 due via Blackboard by Apr 12, 8am You need to bring the peer-reviewed paper to class on Tuesday April 15th. |
Apr 15 |
Dante, Inferno, Cantos I-XI The Wikipedia articles on Dante and on the Divine Comedy (of which Inferno is the first part) are useful enough should you want further background. Please use the notes that Musa provides at the end of each canto - they will greatly aid your understanding of the poem. |
Apr 17 |
Dante, Inferno, Cantos XII, XIII, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXIV, XXVII, XXVIII, and XXXI - XXXIV. Please read the summaries for the cantos we will not be reading in full. |
Apr 22 |
Montaigne, Of Cannibals [pdf] |
Apr 24 |
Bacon, Novum Organon [pdf] Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) was an English statesman and philosopher. In his unfinished Magna Instauratio (begun in 1620), he attempted to summarize his thoughts on everything from epistemology to natural philosophy (what we would now call "science"). The latter part of the work was the Novum Organ0n which gave his ideas on how nature was to be interpreted. We will be in particular concentrating on his famous four Idols - from the Greek eidolon (“image” or “phantom”) - which he claims prevent us from achieving a full and accurate understanding of nature. |
Apr 29 |
Final discussion and evaluations |
Genesis (Alter, pp. 50 - 130): The Story of Abraham 
The Book of Job (Scheindlin, pp. 55 - 157) 
Plato, Euthyphro (Five Dialogues, pp. 1-20) 
Cicero, On Duties (Pt III) [