SUMMARY Syllabus for Western Cultural and Historical Awareness
LBST 2101-134
Fall 2005

 Dr. Joanne Maguire Robinson
Macy 208C – 704-687-2888 or jmrobin2@email.uncc.edu
Office hours:  Tuesdays 8:30-9:20 and by appointment
Teaching Assistant:  Leif Tornquist

 NOTE:  This is a summary of a much longer document that can be found on the course WebCT site (see below).  You will be expected to read that document in full as it contains details about course expectations and academic integrity. 

All sections of LBST 2101 explore a major aspect of Western culture. Particular attention is given to an examination of the constructed nature of the present through a close examination of the past and the ways that selected institutions, ideas, or practices change over time and spread in human society, producing both continuity and novelty. This is a required course in the University’s new General Education Program because the UNC Charlotte faculty think it is crucial that all liberally educated people have the ability to analyze contemporary Western culture in terms of the past.  (Please note that this course also meets either the C or L goal for students in the old General Education Program.) 

These sections of LBST 2101 consider the ways western religious traditions have helped shape ideas about what is “good” and “evil” or “right” and “wrong” or “us” and “them”.  Course materials will include historical religious and philosophical texts read alongside recently published op-ed pieces.  

About WebCT:  This course will use WebCT as an online tool for communications (email and discussion) and some content (for instance, questions pertaining to readings will be posted weekly).  Each enrolled student will be given access to this course through 49er Express.  Please try to log into the course site through 49er Express before our second meeting.  You will probably not need to access the site more than once a week, so do not be concerned if you do not have internet access at home.  You can learn quite a bit about the system on the student help site:  ww.uncc.edu/webct/WCT_STUDENT/index.html.

Readings:  Historical primary sources, recent op-ed pieces, and Asking the Right Questions:  A Guide to Critical Thinking (available at the bookstore)
Exams:  There will be two one-hour and one three-hour final exam (dates below)
Quizzes:  You will be graded on four (of five possible) unannounced quizzes
In class writing:  You will be graded on four short in-class writing assignments

 Your grade will be calculated on a point system as follows:  In-class assignments:  5 points each (20 points total); Quizzes:  5 points each (20 points total); Exams:  15 points each for the first two (30 points) and 20 points for the final exam; Participation in class and on discussion board:  10 points

 SCHEDULE

 August 23:                  Introduction

August 25:                  On defining “The Western World”

August 30:                  Asking the Right Questions, chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-24)

“Against School” from Harper’s

September 1:              Asking the Right Questions, chapters 3-4 (pp. 25-52)
                                    Continue discussion of “Against School”

September 6:              Asking the Right Questions, chapters 5-6 (pp. 53-82)
                                    From “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

September 8:              Asking the Right Questions, chapters 7 and 13 (pp. 83-102 and 179-190)
                                   “It’s Emerson’s Anniversary and He’s Got 21st Century America Nailed,”
                                    by Adam Cohen

September 13:            Asking the Right Questions, chapter 14 and “Final Word,” pp. 191-204)
                                    “Workers of the World, Relax,” by Alain de Botton

September 15:           “All Ears for Tom Cruise, All Eyes on Brad Pitt,” by Nicholas D. Kristof

 

September 20:            First exam

 

September 22:            Genesis 1-3 (Revised Standard Version)

September 27:            Discussion of Genesis 1-3 continued
                                    Charles Darwin, “Origin of Species”

September 29:            “The Crafty Attacks on Evolution,” by Anonymous“Teach Evolution –
                                   And Ask Hard Questions,” by Michael J. Behe         

October 4:                  Excerpt from The Timaeus, by Plato (read first long paragraph)

October 6:                  Mosaic Covenant

October 11:                No class – Fall Break

October 13:                “Maybe Reason Isn’t Enough,” by Marty Kaplan
                                    “The Commandment Solution,” by William Safire
                                    “Good Book of Few Answers,” by A.N. Wilson

October 18:                “The Duel Between Body and Soul,” by Paul Bloom

October 20:                Mortality in Florence
                                    Contemporary Explanations for the Plague

October 25:                Voltaire on the Lisbon Earthquake

October 27:                Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Nature Much Less Cruel Than Man”
                                   “Time to Mourn,” by David Brooks

November 1:               Second Exam

November 3:              A Justification for Slavery, by John Henry Hammond
                                   Himmler speech:  Rudolph Hess’ Testimony

November  8:             From Primo Levi’s “The Drowned and the Saved”

November 10:             “Hate, American Style,” by Nicholas D. Kristof
                                    “The Hateful Agenda of Ignorance,” by Anonymous
                                    “The Modern Use of Ancient Lies,” by David I. Kertzer

November 15:            Pope Urban II Calls for a Crusade
                                   John Winthrop’s “City on a Hill”
                                  “How a War Became a Crusade,” by Jackson Lears 

November 17:             “The Bright Stuff,” by Daniel C. Dennett Voltaire, “Treatise on Toleration”

November 22:                         No class – AAR meeting

November 24:                         No class – Thanksgiving

November 29:             Excerpt from The Republic, by Plato

December 1:               “A World Not Neatly Divided,” by Amartya Sen“Campus Divided,
                                    and Divided Again,” by Arthur Levine

December 6:                “The Ends of the World as We Know Them,” by Jared Diamond
                                     “Two Years Later, a Thousand Years Ago,” by Robert Wright