| Aug. 27 (W): | Introduction to class. Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Brief introduction to Plato's Republic. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aug 29 (F): | Plato, Republic, Books II-III, 369a-398b;
also the "myth of the metals," 414c-417b. These numbers are the standard "Stephanus" page numbers found in the
margins of all good editions of Plato. You do not need to read the editorial
introductions to each "Book" or chapter.
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| Sept. 3 (W): | Plato, Republic, Book X, 595a-608b
(through 621d if possible). This is 1) a renewed discussion of poetry and
the arts that is first taken up in Book III, and 2) the "Myth of Er."
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| Sept. 5 (F): | Plato, Ion (e-text). Click on link and you will get file that will print out so we all have the same page numbers. (This is an Adobe "pdf" file and should come up and print out fine on a college/university computer. If you need to install the free Adobe® Reader® software on your system to read PDF files, go here.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept. 9 (T): | Plato, Symposium. Read through Socrates' questioning of Agathon. In the Nehamas & Woodruff translation, this is clearly marked, and it goes from pages 1-44. (It's a little bit longer of a reading assignment). By the Stephanus page numbers, it's 172a-201c. To focus our discussion, make note of passages or themes you would like to discuss in class. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept 11 (Th): |
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| Sept. 15 (M): | No new reading. We will continue our discussion of Diotima's and Socrates' speech, as well as the significance of Alcibiades. You can begin working on the essays, especially as these may require a little hunting for literature or artworks you may want to use (although the expository essay is also a possibility). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept. 17 (W): | Susan Sontag, "Against Interpretation." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept. 19 (F): | I will be in the Twin Cities for the CSB/SJU Board Retreat. Paper due to my office (Q362) or dorm room (Pat 121)--just slip them under the door--or by email attachment, by 5 PM Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept 23 (T): | We will begin reading Kant, Critique of Judgment. Read §§1-5, pp. 43-53. I would not recommend that you try to do much with the introductions yet, either the translator's introduction or the author's. However, if you want to look at section 0 and 1 of the translator's introduction (xxiii-xxvii) on the scope of the work and Kant's life and works, you are welcome to do so. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept 25 (Th): | Continue reading Kant, Critique of Judgment, §§ 6-9 (through the summary of the second moment of a judgment of taste. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sept 29 (M): | Bring a written reflection--for use in class--on the question of the universality Kant says is implied in a judgment of taste. It probably will help to use a concrete example of something you would judge to be beautiful--an artwork or something naturally beautiful--and see how Kant's claims about universality in §§6-9 apply. (You may only need §§6-7, but if there is something in §8 or §9 you want to reflect on, do so). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct. 1 (W): | Reread §9 and be ready to discuss the following: According to Kant, what is it that we feel when he says that a judgment of taste (that something is beautiful) is based on a feeling of pleasure? What are we actually feeling or sensing in such a judgment? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct 3 (F): | CJ, §§10-17, pp. 64-84. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct 7 (T): | Kant, CJ, §§25-27, "On the Mathematically Sublime." We will not worry about all the details in the last sections we read, but move on to the sublime. It will be easier than the previous reading, with clearer examples. Not easy, but easier. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct. 13 (M): | No new Reading. We will cover the section on the Mathematically Sublime. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct. 15 (W): | Read: "On the Dynamically Sublime in Nature," §§28-29 + the "General Comment...," pp. 119-140. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct. 17 (F): | Read §§32-40, pp. 145- 162. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct. 21 (T): | Bring to class the art work on which you will base your essay. You can bring a reproduction in a book, a URL for a web-image, an image on a disk or CD, or email me the file. You can do the same if you choose to use a literary work--scan or type in a portion of the text and email it or bring it on a disk. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct 23 (Th): |
No class. I have to be in the Twin Cities for a Board Committee meeting. Essay due Friday, 4:30 PM. |
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| Oct 27 (M): |
Read Romantic poetry. In poetry anthology, Immortal poems of the English Language," read all the poems by Wordsworth. Concentrate on the starred poems listed below. Also read Wordsworth's "Preface to Lyrical Ballads." (Adobe .pdf file).
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| Oct 29 (W): | Reread "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." Write a one page reflection--for use in class-- on what the poet says is the source of his joy, especially as he reflects on this in the course of the poem. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oct 31 (F): |
Read Shelley, "Ozymandias," "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty," and John Keats, all the poems except "The Eve of St. Agnes." We will concentrate on the odes, I think: "Ode to Autumn," "Ode to a Nightingale," Ode to Melancholy," and of course, "Ode on a Grecian Urn." |
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| Nov. 4 (T): | Read the poems by Yeats, p. 489ff. I will post
links to a few more poems by the weekend. Concentrate especially on "Among
School Children." Here are a few more poems to read for Tuesday: More poems.pdf. |
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| Nov. 6 (R): |
Begin Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried. Read the stories/chapters through p. 66, "Friends." As you read, note stories or particular passages you'd like to discuss--either to raise questions about, or simply to comment on and talk about their effectiveness, the ideas they conveys, etc. For the time being, don't worry about the place of "beauty" but focus on the stories themselves as they are told. I would suggest that you read consecutively, and not skip around. |
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| Nov. 10 (M): | No class. I am in San Francisco/Berkeley for a meeting of the SHARE Foundation board, which accompanies efforts at rural community development and human rights in El Salvador. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov. 12 (W): | Finish reading Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried. The central issues that we will discuss are really first introduced in "How to Tell a True War Story" and are developed by many of the ensuing stories--and by the book as a whole. I will let you focus on which stories you want to talk about--I think the central issues will emerge quite naturally from a thoughtful reading of the text. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov. 14 (F): | I asked you in class to bring the start of a
draft (3 pages, double-spaced) having to do with one of the following
topics. Don't worry about finished form or final thesis or anything related
to grade.
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| Nov. 18 (T): | Read Martin Heidegger, " The Origin of the Work of Art" (in Poetry, Language, Thought), from p. 17-27 (top of the page--through the 1st full ¶ on the page). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov. 20 (Th): | Heidegger, "Origin," pp. 27-38/39. Stop at "The Work and Truth" section. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nov. 24 (M) | Paper due. See November 14 description of assignment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec. 1 (M): | Review Heidegger's discussion of Van Gogh's painting of the pair of shoes, pp. 33(32)-37, as well as the initial discussion of "truth" as it relates to the work of art. It might help to consult some representations of Van Gogh's paintings of shoes. As Heidegger says, Van Gogh painted several such paintings. You can find most of them at the following URL: <http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/p_0461.htm>. lLick on the "next painting" link to go from one painting to another. This page is part of the "Van Gogh Gallery page," which is endorsed by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec. 3 (W): | Read the first part of the section on "The Work and Truth," pp. 39 (38) - 48 (46?). Stop at the ¶ that begins, "But in the essential features just mentioned...." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec. 5 (F): | Finish the section, "The Work and Truth," through p. 57 (55?). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec 9 (T): | No new reading. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dec. 11 (Th): |
Read the final section of Heidegger's essay, from 57-78. This is of course too much for us to cover in detail in one class, but I would like to refer to topics Heidegger discusses in the beginning as well as at the end of this section, and it does not seem that one can read profitably the final pages without reading what leads up to them. I would like to pay some attention to the notion of "craft" (Greek: techne) that Heidegger discusses early in this final section and the notion of "poetry" that Heidegger addresses from p. 72 on. I will clarify on Thursday what you will not be held responsible for in this section with regard to the final paper. |
