This course introduces students to themes central to humanistic inquiry and to the methodologies employed by humanists to analyze artistic and written expressions that incorporate these themes. Students examine works of literature, art, architecture and philosophy chosen from a variety of historical periods and representative of distinctive approaches to the themes under discussion. (Catalog Description)
This semester we will be using the theme of “Imagined Realities: Civilization and the IIndividual” to consider how the products of human imagination both influence our “realities” and are influenced by the social, historical, and political contexts in which we live. In pursuing this theme we will analyze works of philosophy, history, literature, art, and film using the skills employed in the study of the humanities (e.g., defining terms, causal analysis, narrative analysis, image analysis, argument, and counterargument).
Required Texts:
The following are texts are on sale at the IVC Bookstore:
Kingston: China Men
Paz: Labyrinth of Solitude
Plato: Five Dialogues
Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound
Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents
Lahiri: Interpreter of Maladies
The following films will be shown in class:
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Dir. By Woody Allen)
Rebecca (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
The Sketches of Frank Gehry (Dir. Sidney Pollack)
| Essays | Lectures/Readings | Reading Questions
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(Civilization) Freud Essay Topics (Morality) Nietzsche-Plato Essay Topics (Identity) Paz/Painting Essay Prompt Images for Mexican Painters/Paz Essay
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Marcuse: "Political Preface 1966", "Introduction" and Chapter 1 to Eros and Civilization. Meno Outline (Word Doc) Mexican Painters LECTURE PowerPoint Being & Time Brief Summary (Honors) Heidegger Poet Dwelling (Honors)
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