GREAT
BOOKS IV

SYLLABUS

Spring
2010

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 (Western) 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:
RAC 132

E-mail:
[email-masked]

Office Hours

M
1-2, T 1-2, R 1-2, F 9-10

Reading List

Kierkegaard, Soren.  Fear and Trembling.
Trans. Alastair Hannay.  New York: PenguinBooks, 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.
Signet Classics. 2003.

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.

Class
Cancellation Days

I am out of town on February 5 &
March 26. For these days, class will not meet, but I expect you to keep up with
the reading.

Attendance

You have two free absences beyond the
cancellation dates just listed. After that, your final course grade will be
lowered 1.5% per absence.  Use the
two free ones wisely.

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 19; February 2, 16; March 16;
April 6, 20.  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 – 4, Dostoevsky – 11, Darwin – 3,
Kawabata – 2, Szymborska – 3

Daily Reading

The
best way to read the Great Books is as a daily habit. Accordingly, please refer
to the suggested reading schedule on this course’s home page:

http://dt.pepperdine.edu/courses/greatbooks_iv/gbiv_101/gbiv%20reading%20schedule%20spring%202010.pdf

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 23 at 11:59 p.m.

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 28 at
11:59 p.m.

The
last paper, worth 25%, is to be 6-7 pages in length, and is to touch on at
least three authors from this course, at least one of whom must be Kawabata, Szymborska,
or Darwin. It is due April 29 at
11:59 p.m.

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 College Wide ID to
the paper on the back page, after the "Works Cited" section.  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. Please submit these anonymously and electronically.

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