250. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors students. (3). (SS).
Section 001 – "Religion, Cultural Transformation, and Political Change."
Comparative analysis of religion, culture, and politics, stressing change
in the Third World. The seminar will explore change in religion, politics, and in the relation between them in a number of key cases, and consider
similarities and differences across a broad range of regions and religious/political
traditions. Special attention will go to understanding how change gets under
way in religion, and how such change (and resistance to change) can produce
values, commitments and organizations with enduring impact on the organization
and justification of politics and power. The issues of the seminar include
"church and state" (or their equivalents in a given culture) and also more general questions of religion, politics, and power. Since the
issues of "religion and politics" join everyday life and local, personal routines with the high politics of power and culture, we will look
closely at both popular and institutional religion, and at the changing
significance of links between them. The relation of religious change to
revolution, to reactionary mobilization, and to the overall capacity for
sustained collective political action will be considered in detail. Materials
will be drawn from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Readings include contemporary and historical case
studies, along with alternative theories and explanations (drawn from different
disciplines) which have been advanced in recent years. Requirements include
regular short papers on the readings, active class participation, and either
a term paper or a take-home final examination. Enrollment limited to 15.
(Levine)
251. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors students. (3). (HU).
Sections 001 and 002 – "Words." This will be a seminar on
words, and the social and philosophical implications of the best of them.
Using the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED) as our text, we will
examine the etymological and historical significance of a number of important
words in the English language. The course will begin with instruction, by
example, in our method of studying; thereafter the class will first examine
together a wide range of assigned words – liberty and religion and justice, freedom and friendship, law and legislation, radicals and radishes, wisdom
and happiness, truth and faith, belief and live, thanks and thoughts, etc. – and then explore the dictionary in search of other interesting words.
Students will be expected to report in class their findings, and to write
up one word per week. The text for the course will be, as we've mentioned, the Oxford English Dictionary; students will be required to buy their
own copies; order forms available from the Honors Office in March. No knowledge
of languages other than English is required, though students with competence
in any foreign language will find such skills useful. In addition to class
reports, a final essay will be required in which students will be asked
to discuss what they have learned. "Admission by application only.
Application sheets available in the Honors Office. Acceptances will be posted
in the Honors Office on 3 April." (Hornback)
Section 003 – Imagination. The Romantics claimed that Imagination was both an artistic and a cognitive faculty; the seminar will begin by considering both the structure of the Romantic literary Imagination and the Romantic theory of knowledge in works by Wordsworth, Blake, and Coleridge. Attention will then shift to more general questions: Does artistic Imagination tell us anything about reality? Can Imagination become a rigorous mode of cognition? What is its relationship to rationality? Does some form of Imagination have a place in science and ethics? The nature of metaphorical thinking will be considered, as will the function of Imagination in scientific revolutions (Kuhn, Barfield, Goethe), ethics (Schiller), the psychology of perception, and the visual arts (Cezanne, Merleau-Ponty). The seminar will end by asking whether Imagination has a role to play in distinguishing between human and artificial intelligence (Weizenbaum). (Amrine)
252. Sophomore Seminar. Open to Honors students. (3). (NS).
Section 001 – "Environmental Chemical Impact on Human Health."
This seminar would consider the influence of the chemical environment on
public health. Retrospective studies of specific incidents of chemical contamination
would be used to identify the potential for human disease resulting from the addition of synthetic chemicals to the environment. Attention would
be focused on the conflicting political, economic and societal interests
which have to be compromised in order to deal successfully with such environmental
health issues. Each case study would begin with a member of the faculty, who has expert knowledge of the incident, presenting an historical overview
of the event concentrating on the paramount issues involved. Student presentations
of the details of the incident, based upon the relevant literature and prepared
with the guidance of the faculty member, would follow. Finally, there would
be a discussion among all members of the class in an attempt to derive general
principles by which to minimize the danger of similar future incidents of
human chemical contamination. A background in undergraduate introductory
biology and chemistry would be useful but not required for participation
in this seminar. (Bernstein)
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