Great Books Unbound: Lives at Stake (FYS)
COL 150F
Fall 2019
| Section:
01
02
03
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This course offers students a series of conceptual starting points and critical tools for engaging with important works of western cultural and intellectual history. Combining small discussion sections with occasional lectures by professors from the disciplines of history, philosophy, and literary studies, we will closely analyze three texts, pulling them apart at their seams to understand what they are, how they work, and why they matter.
This year's course will begin with the Greek ALEXANDER ROMANCE, asking how various writers working in different times and places throughout the middle ages narrated, revised, and re-contextualized the life of Alexander the Great. Beyond the seeming unities of a written text and a lived life, we will trace out the vagaries and complexities of both the manuscript tradition and the struggle for authority in the writing of history.
Next, we will turn to Shakespeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE, in which disparate thematic concerns--about fidelity and mercy, race and social class, money and love--are woven together into the literary forms of character and plot. In the life-or-death stakes of a courtroom drama we'll find a model of interpretation in which the competing claims of the letter and the spirit (of the law; of the text) are weighed and judged.
Finally, we will engage with Descartes's MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY as an investigation into the possibility and structure of human knowledge. We will analyze and evaluate Descartes's method of radical doubt, which he employs to establish a complex hierarchy of foundational certainties--starting with "I think, therefore I am" and building to the immateriality of the soul, the existence of a supreme being, and the independence of the mind from the body.
This course is not a prerequisite but is strongly recommended for students considering the College of Letters major. Like other First Year Seminars, it will be writing-intensive, with assignments designed to help students analyze texts and develop compelling claims and arguments about texts within the disciplinary frameworks of history, philosophy, and literary studies. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Credit/Unsatisfactory |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
THE GREEK ALEXANDER ROMANCE
René Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY
William Shakespeare, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
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Examinations and Assignments:
TBD |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
On Tuesdays, all three sections will meet together and then each section will meet separately sessions on Thursdays.
This First Year Seminar is part of Wesleyan's Learning and Living Program. Students who register for this class will live together in the same residence hall. Because students are living in close proximity to one another, intellectual discussions and collaborative learning more naturally extend beyond the classroom. This arrangement facilitates group assignments and projects, and allows for the growth of a strong community of students through daily interactions. Strengthening students' intellectual and residential community enhances the undergraduate experience for Learning and Living seminar participants. |
| Instructor(s): Torgerson,Jesse Wayne Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: FISK208; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
| SECTION 02 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Same as Section 01 Above |
| Examinations and Assignments: Same as Section 01 Above |
| Additional Requirements and/or Comments: Same as Section 01 Above |
| Instructor(s): Fitzpatrick,Joseph J. Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: FISK208; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 2 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
| SECTION 03 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Same as Section 01 Above |
| Examinations and Assignments: Same as Section 01 Above |
| Additional Requirements and/or Comments: Same as Section 01 Above |
| Instructor(s): Smyth,Daniel Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: FISK208; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 2 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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