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Spring, 2005

Instructor: Tom Trelogan
Office: Smith House (1007 20th St.)
Office Hours: 11:15 a.m.–12:05 p.m. MWF and by appointment
Office Phone: 351-1561
Home Phone: 353-8253
E-mail: tom.trelogan@unco.edu

Course Objectives

The course will be devoted to a series of sustained reflections on Sokrates, Francis of Assisi, and Laozi—each of whom has been a source of inspiration for enormous numbers of people in their attempts to make sense of life and the world about us—and on the traditions associated with their names. The aim: to use these reflections to crystallize and explore a set of general problems concerning history and tradition. So far as skills are concerned, the course is designed is to help you to sharpen your abilities to read carefully, write reflectively, and analyze and construct arguments—abilities that are essential for thinking clearly about historical and philosophical questions (and, for that matter, anything else). In addition, the course will help you deepen your sense of the intellectual, cultural, and historical presuppositions of the disciplines of philosophy and history, will familiarize you with some of the most impressive aesthetic, intellectual, and spiritual achievements in the history of the world, and will provide you with some understanding of at least some of the effects that the study of philosophy and the study of history can have on our lives.

Texts

The texts for the course are contained in the following books, which will be available at The Book Stop, the book store located at 931 16th St.

• Aristophanes. Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Clouds, The Frogs, The Birds, Lysistrata. Trans. William Arrowsmith et al. New York: New American Library, 1984. (ISBN: 0452007178)
• Bonaventure. Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journal into God, The Tree of Life, The Life of St. Francis. Ewert Cousins, trans. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. (ISBN: 0809121212)
• Chesterton, G. K. St. Francis of Assisi. New York: Image Books, 1987. (ISBN: 0385029004)
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003. [Recommended] (ISBN: 0873529863)
• Laozi. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper, 1992. (ISBN: 0060955430)
• _____. Te-Tao Ching. Trans. Robert G. Henricks. New York: Modern Library, 1993. (ISBN: 0679600604)
• Plato. Great Dialogues of Plato. Trans. W. H. D. Rouse. New York: Signet, 1999. (ISBN: 0451527453)
• Reps, Paul, and Nyogen Senzaki, compilers. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. New York: Charles E. Tuttle, Co., 1998. (ISBN: 0804831866)
• Ugolino. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis. Trans. Raphael Brown. New York: Image Books, 1971. (ISBN: 0385075448)
• Xenophon. Conversations of Socrates. Trans. Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield. New York: Penguin, 1990. (ISBN: 014044517X)
• Zhuangzi. Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings. Trans. Burton Watson. New York: Columbia U.P., 1996. (ISBN: 0231105959)

While there are many translations of the non-English works we’ll be reading this semester, I advise you strongly to use the ones contained in the editions listed above. Differences among translations can be substantial, and they can be very confusing; similarly, differences in pagination in different editions can complicate the business of discussing the texts.

Translations of most of these texts are also available as e-texts, and these can save you money, but at the cost of at least some of the difficulties mentioned above. You’ll find a list of such e-texts here on the class Web site, at http://www.unco.edu/philosophy/current/290-008.html.

Course Requirements and Grades

E-Mail Account:

You’ll need to have an e-mail account. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to arrange to get one by Wednesday. You can get a UNC account in any of the computer labs on campus or at Bear Logic, the computer store in the University Center. Accounts with other national or local ISPs (AOL, CompuServ, Juno, Hotmail, CTOS, etc.) are perfectly acceptable as well.

Reading Assignments:

You’ll find a general schedule for the reading assignments in the course outline at the end of the syllabus. More specific assignments will be announced in class and posted on the class Web site as well. Make sure you have these done on time. Expect to spend time on the readings. They’re difficult, challenging, serious texts that require prolonged study and reflection, not presentations of predigested material written for people in a hurry.

Quizzes:

Brief, unannounced quizzes will be given on the assigned readings from time to time. Under no circumstances may missed quizzes be made up.

Class Participation and Contributions to the Class’s Online Forum:

On most days, meetings of the course will involve a combination of lecture and discussion, and you’re required both to attend class regularly and to involve yourself actively in class discussion. Contributions to the class’s online forum at http://www.unco.edu/philosophy/current/forums/—the main venue outside class for class discussion—can help, at to least some extent, to make up for any unavoidable absences and can serve to enhance your overall participation grade. Your participation grade will reflect both the quantity and the quality of your contributions to our discussions.

Essays:

You’ll be required to write three short essays, due on the seventh and eleventh Fridays of the semester and on the day of the final (i.e., February 25, April 1, and May 5). You’ll get fuller descriptions of just what I’ll be looking for in each of these essays well in advance of the dates on which they’ll be due. The manual of style I’ll expect you to use for the essays is Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th Edition [New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003]. Copies are available at the Book Stop.

Final Examination:

There will be a two and a half hour final from 1:30-4:00 on Thursday, May 5.

General Rules Regarding Submission of Work:

To receive credit for the course, you must write all three essays and take the final examination. Zeros will be recorded for missed quizzes.

Overall Determination of Grades:

Summing up, your overall grade will be determined as follows: quizzes, 10%; participation, 20%; essays, 20% each; final exam: 10%.

Penalty for Cheating or Plagiarism:

The penalty for cheating on the quizzes or for plagiarism (i.e., for copying either the ideas or the words of another without appropriate attribution) in your newsgroup submissions, your essays, or your final exam will be denial of credit for the entire course.