To February, March, April, Exam Week
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| January 10 1 | 11 2
Bring Bibles (Book
of Genesis, chs. 1-3) |
12 3
|
13 4
Continue discussion of Genesis chs. 2 & 3. |
14 5 |
| 17
6 Read Plato, Phaedrus, pp. 1-16. |
18 1
|
19 2 Read Plato, Phaedrus, pp. 16-26 (Socrates' first speech). |
20 3 | 21 4
Read Phaedrus, 27-49 (Socrates' Second Speech) |
| 24 5 | 25 6 No new reading. But do this assignment and bring it to class. |
26 1
|
27 2
No new reading, but do a |
28 3 |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 31
4 Emergency: Change of plans |
FEBRUARY 1 5
|
2 6 | 3 1
Option: (not for
class) |
4 2
Bring both Phaedrus and Buber book to class: Plan. |
| 7 3 | 8 4 Phaedrus to p. ?? |
9 5
|
10 6
Read Phaedrus to 269d (p. 70) |
11 1 |
| 14
2 Finish Phaedrus |
15 3 Optional Review Session 8:45 PM |
16
4 Exam 1: You can arrive 10 min. early & work 10 min late. |
17
N O |
18 S C H O O L |
| 21 5 | 22 6 Read Lord of the Flies, chs. 1-4, pp. 7-75. (note: older editions have different page #s) |
23 1
|
24 2 Read Lord of the Flies, chs. 5-8, pp. 76-144. |
25 3 |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 28
4
Finish Lord of the Flies, chs. 9-12, pp. 145-202. |
MARCH 1 5
|
2
6 Bring to class: one page essay starter draft |
3 1 | 4 2
Dostoevsky, chs. 3-4: "The Brothers Make Friends,"
"Rebellion" pp. 1-17; |
| 7 3 | 8 4 Dostoevsky, ch. 5, "The Grand Inquisitor," pp. 19-37. |
9 5
|
10 6
Bring Dostoevsky books to class. |
11 1 |
| 14
2 Read the chapters on "The Russian Monk," including the life of Fr. Zossima, pp. 39-80. |
15 3
|
16 4 | 17 5
exam review: |
18 6 exam 2: come 10 minutes early if you'd like. |
| 21 S P R I N G B R E A K |
22 S P R I N G B R E A K |
23 S P R I N G B R E A K |
24 S P R I N G B R E A K |
25 S P R I N G B R E A K |
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 28
S P R I N G B R E A K |
29 1
|
30
2 NO CLASS; By Friday, read Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, through p. 118. |
31 3 | APRIL 1
4 NO CLASS: |
| 4 5 | 5 6 Finish Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, through "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" (119-157) |
6 1
|
7 2 Sartre, "Existentialism Is a Humanism"(abridged--handout) |
8 3 |
| 11
4
Beauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity, start Chapter 2, pp. 35-42 |
12 5
|
13
6 Beauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity, 42-52 (to ¶ break) |
14 1 | 15 2 No new reading |
| 18 3 | 19 4 Beauvoir, pp. 52 to 57 (to bottom of the page) on the "nihilist." |
20 5
|
21 6 Beauvoir, bottom of 57 to the last ¶ on 63 |
22 1 |
|
25
2
Read EA pp. 63-69 on the Passionate
Person, Critic and Artist. |
26
3
|
27
4
Read EA 69-73 on genuine freedom |
28 5
Optional Film Viewing
for Final Exam: The Mission: |
29 6
Read EA, chapter 3.2 (skip sec. 1), pp. 78-91. |
| May 2 Study Day Study Session |
3 Exams Day 1 |
4
Exams Day 2: |
5 Exams Day 3 |
6 Exams Day 4 |
| We have seen that chapter two really begins a different account of creation than we saw in chapter 1, a companion account, but not one that intends to fill in the details of chapter 1, but instead makes a different point. What is told in chapter 2 is the creation of Adam and then of Eve. What do you make of Adam's experience naming all the creatures and then, once Eve is created, saying, "Here at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh"? What seems to be emphasized in the chapter 2 version of the creation of humans? |
| As we saw in chapter 1 of Genesis, the thrust was that all of creation, including "humankind, male and female" was "good" if not "very good." What sense do you get of the goodness of this world once you finish through chapters 2 and 3? Reflect a little on the overall feeling that chapter 3, especially the last part, gives you. |
| Begin reading Plato, Phaedrus (pronounced fay´-drus), pp. 1-16 (stop at 237b). | ||||||
|
Reading Hints:
| ||||||
|
Public Folder:
Access public folders through the Outlook email program or through the
CSBSJU Web
Email Access. There should be a link to the public folders on the
left-side menu. [If not, you can activate the "Outlook Bar" or "Folder
List" with the "View" menu.] Our folder is under
All Public Folders + Academic + Philosophy + Dennis Beach + PHIL123.
Please go to the sub-folder for the Phaedrus, then
double-click on my entry labeled "Socrates' character" or one of the
responses to it. Once this is open, you should see an option at
the top called "Post Reply." This is what you should do--compose
a reply and post it.
Caution:
if you do not open an
item,
but just the
folder, you will not get the "Post Reply" option, but simply
the "New" post option. If you choose this, you'll start a new
conversation thread that will be separate from other entries. Try to use
the "Post Reply" option to keep your answer nested with the others.
Also, don't click on the plain "Reply," which sends an e-mail instead of
a posting. Below is the question you will find posted in the folder.
|
Wednesday, January 19 (Day 2):
| No writing for this class. Think about how Socrates' speech compares to Lysias' speech. When you add in what Socrates goes on to say in the part our editors call his "recantation," how is your view of what Socrates might be trying to do affected? |
| This is a little longer reading, and may require you to use your imagination to follow the scene that Socrates describes, so we'll just focus on reading. As always with philosophy, you may have to read more slowly and carefully than with other subjects. |
| Make a drawing or diagram of the cosmic scene imagined by Socrates in his second speech in the Phaedrus. I know that many will claim not much talent and even less training in art, but I'm not necessarily looking for artistic masterpieces—although, if I get some, so much the better! The purpose of such homework is to pay close attention to the scene Socrates describes and to account for some of its details and their relation to one another. You can use pen, pencil—whatever you want—and you can use more of a schematic diagram than an illustration if you want. |
|
Public Folder topic: Find the Public Folder (see instructions on
Mon., Jan 17 above) and make an entry on the following topic:
|
| I have had to go to Chicago because of a death in the family.
Therefore, we will not have class on Monday, January 31. However, I am
changing the order of our readings, and am asking you to read the little
paperback by Martin Buber: The Way of Man" According to Hasidism, by
Wednesday, and then to write a short reflection paper on it for Friday. I
will post the topic of the reflection as soon as possible, as well as email
it to you.
|
| I will not yet be back, but the philosophy department will administer the "California Critical Thinking Skills Inventory" in class. We are doing this for our own assessment program, and are asking all students in 100-level classes to take it. it won't affect your grade, but we ask you do complete the inventory (questions) and do the best you can. That will help us evaluate our programs. Please bring a pencil. |
| Bring both the Phaedrus and the Buber book, The Way of Man: According to the Teachings of Hasidism, to class. We'll have to re-orient ourselves and construct a plan for this coming week. |
| This is a little longer reading, and may require you to use your imagination to follow the scene that Socrates describes, so we'll just focus on reading. As always with philosophy, you may have to read more slowly and carefully than with other subjects. |
| Read Phaedrus to 269d (p. 70). |
| Public Folder: This section shifts topic (at least, it seems like a shift) to a discussion of rhetoric. However, it seems almost sure that Plato knew what he was doing and thus there must be some relevance of this section to the dialogue as a whole. What might this discussion of rhetoric have to do with the speeches on love? |
| Finish the Phaedrus, which will finish the section on rhetoric and also the final discussion of writing. Since we are approaching an exam, I'll just give you a question to think about (not writing—be ready to discuss): Plato seems to downgrade writing compared to speech, yet he writes dialogues of philosophy. Is this a pure contradiction? Is there anything that the "writing on the soul" might relate to in the discussion of the soul in Socrates' second speech on love? |
| Exam: You may come 10 minutes early and stay 10 minutes late. You need a pen (or dark pencil) to write with. |
| Begin Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Read chapters 1-4 (pp. 7-74 in the newest small green paper back edition). |
| Read LotF, chs. 5-8
(pp. 75-144). Choose one of the following to answer in a post to the
public folder:
|
| Finish novel, chapters 9-12, to page 202. |
| Bring to class a one page starter draft for an essay. Topic: When Ralph tries to discuss with Piggy the events of the previous night, when Simon is killed, he responds at one point, "Oh Piggy!" (156). Their conversation goes on for another page or so, eventually ending with all four boys seemingly agreeing, "We left early" (158). Write a one-page essay starter draft that reflects on the meaning of Ralph's saying, "Oh Piggy!" by connecting it also to the nearly final line of the novel, "...Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart..." (202). |
| Ivan is clearly Alyosha's older brother (the eldest is Dmitri). Alyosha is a young novice or postulant in a monastery whose spiritual leader is Fr. Zossima. Ivan is significantly older than Alyosha, has been away to school and also worked a little as a journalist, and clearly is of a different temperament than his religious younger brother. This is the subject of chapter V.3: "The Brothers Become Friends." In the following chapter, "Rebellion," Ivan explains his own attitude toward God. |
| Write a Public Folder Entry on the following topic: How would you respond to Ivan's "rebellion"? |
| What is the Grand Inquisitor's fundamental criticism of Jesus? Where in the text do you locate his most important arguments? |
| Alyosha says to Ivan "Your poem is in praise of Jesus, not in blame of Him — as you meant it to be." Do you agree with Alyosha? Explain. |
| Ivan had been explaining to Alyosha why he rejected God's plan for an eventual eternal harmony, why he rejects God's world. Then, when Alyosha says Jesus could solve the problem of evil and innocent suffering, Ivan says his poem addresses this issue. But does it? How? In other words, what does Ivan's story have to say about the problem of evil and Alyosha's proposal that Jesus is the key to resolving the problem? |
| Complete the draft you started on Lord of the Flies into a paper 600-900 words in length. The original topic was what Ralph's "Oh Piggy" line means, especially in relation to his weeping at the end of the novel. The final paper should take the insights from this look at Ralph and expand that into a thesis that explains the overall theme of the novel through this lens. In other words, How does Ralph's growing realization that is expressed in both his saying "Oh Piggy!" and weeping at the end of the novel reveal a central theme of William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies? To answer this, you will of course have to decide what Ralph's growing realization or awareness is really about, and you will have to explain why this growing realization and this weeping is important for understanding the novel as a whole. |
| Don't write a long introduction to your paper, but launch right into your central idea. You could actually start with something like this: "One central theme of William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, is expressed when Ralph exclaims, 'Oh Piggy!' as they discuss Simon's death at the hands of the mob of boys the previous night...." Or you could focus on the weeping at the very end. A very direct start like this launches you right into a solid topic. |
| Please put a proper heading on your paper, with an original title, and print your paper so that it has page numbers on each page. |
| Wrap up discussion of the Grand Inquisitor chapter. Begin discussion of Father Zossima's life story. |
| Public Folder topic: Dostoevsky's story of Fr. Zossima in some ways acts as a counter-balance to the criticism of religion offered by Ivan and Ivan's literary invention, the Grand Inquisitor. Choose some specific passage or details from the Father Zossima story and discuss how it provides an answer or an alternative to the perspective of the earlier chapters. |
| No class: I am in El Salvador for the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Romero. Begin reading Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, through p. 118. A Public Folder entry is due by the end of the day on Friday. |
| See the Public Folder itself for the topic. I will get home and will check the Public Folder over the weekend; I expect your post to be made before Saturday. |
| Class will resume. Finish Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, through "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" (119-157) |
| Read Jean-Paul Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism" (handout). Prepare for class as directed in my email. |
| Read Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Chapter 2, pp. 35-42 (Stop at the paragraph break on p. 42.) | ||||||
| Questions for study. You can
bring some of your own questions--and I'm sure they'll come up, as this
is a hard text--but you can begin to get a handle on things by
considering the following:
|
| Read Beauvoir, pp. 42-52 ( to ¶ break), on the sub-human and the serious person. | ||||||||||
| Be prepared to discuss the
following questions, with both references to where in the text you find
the answers and that you understand the text to be saying.
|
| Write a Public Folder entry by Thursday night on one of the above questions about the sub-human or the serious person. Or choose a passage that you find interesting and reflect on that passage, saying what you find interesting in it and what you think it means. |
| Read Ethics of Ambiguity from 52 to 57 (to the bottom of the page) on the "nihilist." (I decided to hold off the section on the "adventurer.") | ||||||
| As you read, consider how you would
answer the following questions:
|
| Read from the bottom of 57 to the last ¶ on 63. | ||
| Answer in a Public Folder entry:
|
| Read Ethics of Ambiguity, pp. 63-69, to the last ¶ break, on the Passionate Person, Critic and Artist. | ||||||
| Questions for study:
|
| Read from the bottom of p. 69 to the end of the chapter (73). In this section, Beauvoir talks mostly of genuine [authentic] freedom, and how it works in the world. Choose something from these pages that you want to reflect on a bit and make a discussion entry to the Public Folder on Beauvoir. Public Folder entries are due "before you go to bed" Tuesday night (i.e., before I wake up Wednesday morning). |
| The film for the final exam is The Mission (1986), directed by Ronald Joffé and starring Jeremy
Irons and Robert De Niro. It is 2:05 long. Here is the movie's
Internet Movie Database page.
It will be shown at group showings at the following times:
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| You can also watch it on your own in one of the libraries: CSB has a VHS tape; SJU has the DVD, which is on reserve, plus a VHS tape and an old "laserdisk." Stations to watch these using headphones are available, or you can even reserve small rooms in each library where 10 or more people can watch the film at once. Clemens Media Desk: phone: 5609 // Alcuin Media desk: phone: 2117. |
| We will skip section 1 of chapter
3, and start section 2, "Freedom and Liberation" pp. 78-91. Consider the
following questions to direct your reading:
|
