GREAT
BOOKS IV

SYLLABUS

Spring
2008

Course Goals

The
primary objectives of this seminar course include the following:

1)
The
demonstration of devoted and close reading of the texts,

2)
The
production of writing that is creative and primarily analytical in nature, and

3)
Class
participation that demonstrates an honest dedication to an accurate
understanding of the text as well as a propensity to discuss the works as based
on interpretive questions.

4)
Since
this is the final great books course in the colloquium, each student is
expected to be full participatory and desirous of perfecting their abilities as
excellent writers, thinkers, speakers, and knowledge experts on the subject at
hand.  Raise the bar for yourself.

Ultimately, I desire that each one of you
attains a level of creativity and autonomy that will benefit you not only in
other classes, but in life itself.
Thus, our goal as co-learners in this class is to actively seek to
reinforce the idea that: "The goal of the Great Books program is to instill
in the student the habits of mind that characterize a self-reliant thinker,
reader, and learner."[1]

Instructor

Don Thompson

Phone:
310.506.4831

Offices:
KSC 150, TAC 435

E-mail:
[email-masked]

Office Hours

By
appointment only.  Please contact me
directly to set up an appointment.

Reading List

Kierkegaard, Soren.  Fear and Trembling.  Trans. Alastair
Hannay.  New York: Penguin

Books,
1985.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals.
Trans. Walter Kaufmann.

Vintage Books. 1989.

Dostoevsky,
Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov.
Trans. Constance
Garnett.  New
York: Norton
Critical Edition, 1976.

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species.
Bantam Classic, 1999.

Kawabata, Yasunari.  Beauty and Sadness.  Trans. Howard
S. Hibbett.  New
York:

Vintage
Books, 1975.

Szymborska,
Wislawa.  View With a Grain of
Sand.  Trans. Stanislaw
Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh.  New
York: Harcourt Brace, 1993.

Discussion (5%)

Each student is expected to be participatory on
a daily basis.  Make it a consistent
habit to be prepared with several interpretive questions daily.  Your participation will be graded each
day based on the quality, quantity, insight, textual application and knowledge
that you offer.

Attendance

You have two free absences, following which your
final course grade will be lowered 1.5% per absence.  Use the two free ones wisely.

Class
Cancellation Days

I am out of town on January 24, February 21,
& April 10. For these three days, class will not meet, but I expect you to
keep up with the reading.

Biweekly Writing
Assignments (20%)

Each writing assignment is based on a prompt
given by the instructor, as a function of the current reading material we are
covering.  Each paper is to be two
pages in length, and is to be turned at the beginning of class on hard copy
adhering to basic MLA format.  The
papers are due on the following dates:
January 14; February 11, 25; March 10, 24; April 7.  Late papers receive a score of
zero.  NO ELECTRONIC
SUBMITTALS.  Be prepared to share
your writing with the class – that is, be prepared both to receive and to
give constructive criticism.

The nature of each biweekly writing assignment
will be determined by the instructor.
They each will be one of the following:  interpretive/analytic, genre mode, great
ideas “Syntopicon” based, instructor wildcard, or student freestyle.  Aim for professional quality writing
worthy of publication, wherein there is a distinct thesis, a clear argument,
and creative thought.  Use text
judiciously and with discrimination.
Avoid using first person.  Be
sure to form a definite position that can be explicated via the text.  You may only use texts from the Great
Books Colloquium reading list.  Each
paper should be a product of analytical thought and careful analysis presented
in a creative form.  Each paper will
be graded as follows:  Title and
Opening – 1 point, Thesis – 3 points, Argument – 3 points,
Text Selection and Analysis – 2 points, Editing – 1 point. Total
– 10 points.

Reading/Discussion
Schedule (days)

Kierkegaard
– 3, Nietzsche – 3, Dostoevsky – 11, Darwin – 2, Kawabata – 2,
Szymborska – 3

Extended Writing (75%)

You
must complete three extended writing assignments, in the form of papers that
represent a fully developed version of one or more of your biweekly writing
assignments.

The
first paper, worth 15%, is to be 4 -5 pages in length, and is to be based
solely on Kierkegaard.  This paper is due January 26 at midnight.

The
second paper, worth 35%, is to be 8-9 pages in length, and is to be based on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky.  This paper is due by March 29 at midnight.

The
last paper, worth 25%, is to be 6-7 pages in length, and is to be touch on at
least three authors from this course, at least one of whom must be Kawabata, Szymborska, or Darwin. It is
due April 24 at midnight.

Each
extended writing submittal is graded on the following basis:

Thesis

Thesis Statement                       10

Well Structured Plan                 10

Analysis

Thesis Execution                       10

Logical
Completeness               5

Logical
Flow                            5

Text

Appropriately
Chosen               10

Sufficiently
Explained    10

Risk/Interest

Interesting
Reading                   10

Creativity                                  5

Strong
Conclusion                    5

Language

Mature
Vocabulary                   5

Varied/Interesting

Sentence
Structure             5

Mechanics

Punctuation                               5

Spelling                                    5

Total                                                   100

Anonymity

All
writing is to be submitted with no name. Instead, affix your university ID to
the paper on the back page, after the "Works Cited" section. DO NOT
USE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
This will ensure that I evaluate your writing objectively and honestly.

Rough Drafts

Rough
drafts are always welcome and may be submitted up to 24 hours prior any paper
deadline.

[1] An
Introduction to Shared Inquiry.
Third Edition. The Great Books Foundation. 1992. p. ix.