THE COURSE: At the heart of the course are the daily classes, designed for thoughtful discussion and analysis of the require readings. The success of the course will depend not only on whether you fulfill your responsibilities, but also on whether you become effectively engaged in the issues the course raises. The course will also require you to immerse yourself in a world whose values and assumptions are very different from your own, yet values and assumptions whose legacy is very much part of the intellectual baggage we all carry.

Your basic obligation is to read each assignment before coming to class, to reflect on it, and to be prepared to questions and discuss it. Regular attendance is assumed; if you must miss class please have the courtesy to leave voice mail for one of the instructors prior to class. Each of the sections also will require a range of written work. There will occasionally be films and other activities scheduled outside of regular class time.

INSTRUCTORS:

Julie Klein (Philosophy). SAC 178. Phone: 519-4715.

Office hours: M 11:30-12:45, Th 1-2, & by appointment.

Email: jklein@email.vill.edu

R. Emmet McLaughlin (Religious Studies). SAC 443. Phone: 519-7425.

Office hours: Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30 and by appointment.

Email: rmclaugh@email.vill.edu

Lauren Shohet (Literature). SAC 425. Phone: 519-6966; Home: 604-4552.

Office hours: M 11:30-12:30 and by appointment.

Email: lshohet@email.vill.edu

OTHER RESOURCES:

Course Web Site: For announcements, texts, study guides, assignments and reference go to http://www.vill.edu/~rmclaugh and find the link for this course.

Course Electronic Discussion: For informal discussion of course materials--texts, ideas, questions, frustrations. All messages sent to the list will automatically be forwarded to all other members of the list. Since this has just been added to the your personalized Villanova home page, we cannot give you instructions on how to use it. Please consult Villanova’s home page:

ASSIGNED READINGS:

*A. Altmann, "Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas: Natural or Divine Prophecy?"

AJS Review 3 (1978):1-19.

*Anon., "The Battle of Maldon," "The Dream of the Rood," "Judith"

Anselm, St. Anselm: Basic Writings (Open Court)

Thomas Aquinas, Introduction to Thomas Aquinas ed. Pegis ((Modern Library)

*Francis Bacon, "Of Truth," selections from New Organon

*Aphra Behn, "Observations," selections

Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (Norton)

Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments (Hackett)

Baldassare Castiglione,. The Book of the Courtier (Penguin)

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Coursepack for Hon 1053 (Religious Studies)

Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings (Cambridge UP)

John Donne, Complete English Poems

*William Harvey, Prelectiones and De Circulatio, selections

*W.Z. Harvey, "Maimonides and Aquinas on Interpreting the Bible" PAAJR 55 (1988): 59-77.

Hobbes, Leviathan (Hackett)

David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Hackett)

Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Signet)

Richard Lanham, Revising Prose

*Aemelia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judeorum, excerpts

John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (Hackett)

John Locke, Reasonableness of Christianity and Discourse on Miracles (Stanford)

Martin Luther, Three Treatises (Fortress)

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (Cambridge)

Maimonides, Ethical Writings of Maimonides (ed. R. Weiss) (Norton)

John Mandeville, Travels

Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus

John Milton, Paradise Lost

Blaise Pascal, Pensées (Penguin)

Rousseau, Political Writings (Hackett)

*Spinoza, "Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect" and Theologico-Political Threatise (excerpts)

William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice

*Vesalius, selections

*=not in bookstore (provided on website, reserve room, and/or as handout)

Literature Requirements

Writing assignments: There will be two kinds of writing assignments for this component of the course.

1) You will have journal-writing assignments for nearly every class meeting. Usually I will pose a question for you to consider in these assignments; sometimes they will entail worksheets on poems, generating a discussion question, completing a peer-response sheet on a classmate's essay, etc. You should keep these assignments together and always bring them to class. I recommend that you keep these both on disk and in a printed hard copy, but you may hand-write these if you prefer. Sometimes I will ask you to read from your entry; sometimes I will collect your journal-to-date; sometimes I will ask you to show me your entry in passing. You are responsible for adding into your physical journal any assignments you complete while I have your journal-to-date.

2) There will be two 2-3 page papers and one 4-6 page paper on topics I will provide. (You may also suggest your own topics, but you must get approval in advance.) Revisions of these papers (which may be instigated by my suggestion or your own desire) are due a week after I return the previous draft to you. You are also welcome to bring me initial drafts for conference before the
paper is due. Late written work is not normally accepted.

Exams: This part of the course has an independent midterm (involving identification of passages, definitions of terms, and an essay); the final oral exam is coordinated among literature, religious studies, and history.

Evaluation: Your evaluation for this part of the course roughly breaks down as 60% papers (judged on the basis of clarity and strength of argument, incisiveness of interpretation, and thoroughness of response to comments on earlier papers or drafts); 25% participation (journals and discussion, judged on the basis of thorough engagement, consistency of preparation, and increase in skills); exams 15 % (judged on the basis of factual accuracy, careful reading, and interpretive acumen) . However, I'm particularly looking for improvement over the course of the semester. This means that if later papers are substantially better than earlier ones, or if your final is much better than your midterm, they count for more. Conversely, later work needs to be better than earlier work to receive the same grade.

Theology/Religious Studies Requirements

Course Description: This part of the course will explore the theological tradition of Western Europe from around 1100 to 1776. We will exam thinkers chosen both because of their impact on Western culture and their ability to reveal some of the ways in which medieval and early modern intellectuals thought about God and the relationship of humanity and divinity. The startling changes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries presage much that makes our modern culture remarkably and disturbingly different both from our own ancestors and from most of the peoples around the globe.

Writing Assignments: You will be required to write two medium length papers (7-10 pages) that both describe and judge the theological systems or world views found in the assigned texts. Constant and detailed reference to the texts will be necessary, but so will your efforts to understand and evaluate those texts. Neither simple regurgitation nor merely expressing one's own unsubstantiated feelings will suffice.

Exams: There will be a written midterm and an oral final common to all three disciplines.

Evaluation: Papers will be graded on their clarity of expression, accuracy of understanding, and cogency of argument. Each paper will contribute 30% of your grade. The midterm will provide 15%, and the final 35%. Thoughtful and informed class participation, while given no formal grade itself, can help raise the term grade.

Philosophy Requirements

Course Description: This part of Interdisc II will explore topics in medieval and early modern philosophy.  Through an intensive study of six major figures (Moses Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau), we'll investigate issues such as the nature of the human soul, the nature of knowledge, human perfection, providence, and the social and political condition of human beings.  Major questions include: What is it to be a rational animal/desiring intellect/thinking thing (all descriptions of human beings we'll encounter)?
What do we mean by "knowledge," and are there different kinds of knowing?  What's the relationship between intellectual life and ethical and political life? What is the meaning of human freedom? Does God order the world?  How can we achieve a just society? Throughout our inquiries, we'll pay special
attention to the ways in which medieval and early modern philosophy are similar and different, and to the relations between philosophy and theology on the one and hand and philosophy and science on the other.  Most important, we'll read our authors not as antiquarian curiosities, but as shapers of the
world we have inherited and as thinkers whose ideas remain vital and often compelling.
 
 

Assignments: 5 2-3 page reply papers.  For each thinker we study, I will provide reply questions.  You will be responsible for 5 such replies. (30%)
                    2 6 page analytical papers.  I will provide topics, but you are also welcome to design your own topics in consultation with me. (20% each)

Oral final exam (15%)

Class participation. We will proceed primarily as a seminar, with occasional lecture time.  I'll periodically provide study questions, and students may occasionally be asked to lead a discussion.
(15%)