IUPUI
Spring 2006
Dr. E.L. Saak
Cavanaugh Hall 504P
Office Hours: Thurs. 10-12
(and by appointment)
Phone: 274-1687
Email: esaak@iupui.edu
History H114
Western Civilization 2
Sect.
8554
CA
221
This course has the
following three goals: 1) to give the students an over-view of the development
of Western Civilization from approximately 1500 to the present; 2) to provide
the students with a sense of what “doing history” entails; and 3) to foster the
critical, analytical, and communicative skills of the students, through
extensive reading and writing assignments.
By the end of the course, the students should be able to describe
effectively the basic development of Western Civilization from the Reformation
to the contemporary world order, and to evaluate critically the sources upon
which historical portrayals of Western Civilization have been based. Furthermore, students should be able to
reflect on how Western traditions have impacted, and continue to impact, life
in the West today. Thus this course
contributes to, and indeed is based on, IUPUI’s Principles of Undergraduate
Learning. The exams, assignments, and
final essay (see below) are designed to develop and test the students’
communication and quantitative skills, their critical thinking, their ability
to integrate and apply their knowledge, their intellectual depth, breath, and
adaptiveness, their understanding of society and culture, and their values and
ethics. This is not a course that seeks
only to impart information. This is a
course that by design focuses on the creation of meaning in the past, and how
that creation of meaning in the past relates to present-day meanings. Reflection on and analysis of the sources as
well as the self is the primary
requirement for success in this course.
History is not a “thing of the past”, but a “thing” of the present. The ways in which it is so are the foundation
upon which this course is based, and are analyzed as much as they are taken as
givens. The over-all goal for the course
is that students will not only develop their communicative and analytical skills,
but will also gain intellectual depth and breadth in reflecting on the values
and ethics of the past as a “sounding board” for the values and ethics of today
in coming to a deeper and broader understanding of the society and culture of
the past and of the present, and how that past has impacted and continues to
impact themselves and their worlds.
Required
Texts
Lynn Hunt, et al., The
Making of the West. Peoples and
Cultures. Vol. 2: Since 1500. Bedfords/St.
Martin’s:
John Lock, Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration. Ed. Ian
Shapiro. Yale
University
Press:
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Prelude to a
Philosophy of the Future. Trans. and ed. Walter
Kaufmann.
Vintage Books:
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents. The
Standard Edition, with a Biographical Introduction by
Peter
Gay. Norton: New York, 1961/1989.
Organization
The course is organized
into three distinct, but integrally related components: 1) The textbook; 2) the
lectures; and 3) the sources. The
lectures are designed to compliment, supplement, and comment on the required
texts. Examinations and grading will be
based on all three components. You will
not pass the course if you ignore any one of the three.
Grading
The final grade will be given
based on the following:
1) One mid-term examination: 100
points
2) One Group Project: 100
points
3) One 5-7 page essay: 100
points
4) Final examination: 200
points
Total for course: 500
points
The
mid-term examination will consist of the following: 20 multiple choice
questions, each worth 1 point; 5 short answer questions, each worth 8 points;
one essay question worth 40 points.
Please note well that the textbook, the sources, and lectures will be
represented in each part of the exam.
The final will consist of two parts: 1) a 10-12 page take-home essay
(see the “Guide to Writing the Final Essay” below), worth 100 points, due on
the day of the final; and 2) an in-class exam, consisting of 10 short answer
questions, each worth 5 points; and 50 multiple choice questions, each worth 1
point.
Oncourse
This course uses Oncourse for much of its administration. If you do not know how to use oncourse, you are strongly urged to contact the University Information Technology Services to learn how, and please notify me as well. Students are expected to check Oncourse regularly for course announcements and communications, as well as assignments.
I expect each and every student to attend each and every lecture. More than three absences will result in a loss of 25 points; more than six absences will result in a loss of an additional 50 points. Excused absences must be cleared with me. Only the most extraordinary of circumstances will excuse more than three absences.
Please
note that I will not tolerate cheating, and will punish any student caught
cheating with the full severity allowed me by IUPUI regulations, in keeping
with the code of Student Conduct. I view
cheating any of the following: 1) Plagiarism of any kind, by which I mean:
copying all or part of another student’s paper; handing in papers written for
you by someone else; failure to properly footnote direct quotations,
paraphrased passages, or opinions of other scholars (including authors of Cliff
Notes and other such study aids) in essays written outside of class. Plagiarism
also consists of using material from the WWW without using quotation marks and
proper citation. Plagiarism is easy to
detect. Do not do it! If you have any questions whether you are
plagiarizing material, please ask me about it before hand! Once a paper is turned in, it is too late and
the paper, if plagiarized, is subject to the penalties mentioned above; 2)
collaborating on any in-class exam; 3) copying the answers of any other student
during an in-class exam. In short, DO
NOT CHEAT AND DO NOT PLAGIARISE! YOU
WILL BE CAUGHT AND PUNISHED!
M Jan. 9: Introduction
M Jan. 11: The
Contemporary World: History and the Now
Assignments:
Hunt,
pp. v-xxxii
M Jan.
16: Martin Luther King Jr. Day—No Class
W Jan. 18: From
Assignments:
Hunt, ch. 15
M Jan. 23: The
Crumbling of Christendom and the Emergence of Early Modern
W Jan. 25: The
Scientific Revolution
Assignments:
Hunt, chs. 16 and 17
M Jan. 30: The
W Feb. 1: John Locke
and the Glorious Revolution
Assignments:
Hunt, ch. 18; John Locke, Two Treatises of Government and a Letter
Concerning Toleration
M Feb. 6: Enlightenment
W Feb. 8: The Age
of Revolution and the End of the ancien régime
Assignments:
Hunt, chs. 19 and 20
M Feb. 13: Group
Projects
W Feb.
15: Group Project Presentations
M Feb. 20: Man and Machine: The Industrial Revolution
Assignments:
Hunt,
chs. 21 and 22; Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
W March
1: Mid-Term Exam
Assignments:
Hunt, chs. 23 and 24
M March 6: Nietzsche: Prophet or Anti-Christ?
W March 8: All Quiet on the Western Front?
Assignments:
Hunt, chs. 25 and 26; Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
Week 10
M March
13: Spring Break—No Class
W March
15: Spring Break—No Class
M March 20: Freud’s Cigar
W March 22: The Rise of Hitler
Assignments: Hunt,
ch. 27; Freud, Civilization and Its
Discontents
M March 27: WWII
W April 5:
Assignments: Hunt,
ch. 28
Essay on
Hitler Due: Monday, April 3
M April 10: The Sixties I
W April 12: The
Sixties II
M April 17: Postmodernism
W April 19: Winds of Change: The Crumbling of the Eastern
Block
Assignments:
Hunt, ch. 29
Week 16
M April 24: The E.U. and the
W April 26: Beyond Modernity: Empire
Assignments: Hunt,
ch. 30
Week 17
M May 1: So What?
FINAL EXAM: Friday, May 5,
IUPUI
Spring 2006
HIST-H114
Western Civilization II
Sect. 8554
Dr. E.L. Saak
Group Project
Declaration of Rights
One of the foundations of
modernity in the west is the recognition of human rights. From the American and French Revolutions to
the establishment of the
The Group Project for this class is to compose a Declaration of Rights. It is to consist of the following:
1.) a preamble;
2.) articles.
In the preamble you will need to address, in some fashion, the following:
1.) the philosophical parameters of the articles;
2.) the political parameters of the articles;
3.) the historical parameters of the articles.
The philosophical parameters refer to such issues as to whether rights are “things” we/humans are born with, or whether they are granted to us and by whom/what; what is a “right” in the first place?
The political parameters refer to the present day setting. What are the rights that you feel are essential for us today? Why?
The historical parameters refer to the tradition of human rights, beginning in the 18th century.
To help you in this assignment, in addition to the textbook and Locke, I have assigned the following readings:
1.) the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen, 1789;
2.) the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of Citizen, 1791;
3.) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
4.) the International Covenant on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights, 1966/1976;
5.) Report of the ACLU on Dissent After 9/11.
These readings can be found on Oncourse, in the section ‘Assignments’, in the file Declaration of Rights as attachments. You will need to show, in some fashion, that you have taken these readings into account. You can do this explicitly in the preamble, or, you can include an additional appendix, in which you show how your Declaration of Rights relates to these documents.
I encourage you to work in groups. A group can be a single individual, but I would think 4 to 5 members would be optimal.
You will be asked to present your Declaration of Rights to the class on Wednesday, February 15. The class will then discuss the various Declarations. You will then have until the following Wednesday, February 22 to revise your document. On Wednesday February 22, the Declarations are due, and are to be handed in in class. Each member of your group is to sign the document. They will then be graded and recorded. The grade/credit will be assigned to all the members of the group.
There is no specific length requirement for this assignment. I would think, however, that three pages as a minimum would be required. There is no maximum limit.
You are most welcome to email me with questions about this assignment. The point is to develop a set of rights for which you would be willing to fight, and which you feel should not be infringed at any cost. The point is not to construct a constitution, or to work out how these rights are practically worked out. Disagreements over how the rights are to have effect and how best to achieve their security is most acceptable. Your group does not have to be unanimous on political policy views at all, or on political platforms. For example: you could list as one of the articles (i.e., as one of the rights), the right to live free from the fear of terrorism. The problem with ensuring that, then, would be what does that mean in terms of the current war, etc., etc.; what does that mean in terms of other rights? The point to is to make a set of universal rights, rights based on the immediate context of today, but yet are, or are arguably, valid for anyone and everyone.
Again, if there are any questions, please to do hesitate to contact me. Good luck!
IUPUI
Spring 2006
HIST-H114
Western Civilization II
Sect. 8554
Dr. E.L. Saak
Essay
The essay assignment is to read, analyze, and write a 5-7 page essay on the speech by Adolf Hitler posted on oncourse under assignments as an attachment. This assignment is due Monday, April 3.
What I want from the essay is:
The point is to comment on this
speech in a critical fashion (i.e., analytical), and to do so in terms of
1937. Do not appeal to later
developments, meaning, do not analyze his speech in light of later developments
(e.g.: do not say something like: here we see the nucleus of what would become
Hitler’s “Final Solution”). Try to place
yourself in
Use your textbook, especially chapters 26 and 27, for the context (though you are welcome to use any and all sources you might want, within the context of the parameters for the assignment given above; meaning, you could, for example, use a recent study of Hitler and his rise to help your analysis, but keep the historical perspective, i.e., of not going past 1937, so to speak, if this makes sense). Do know chapters 26 and 27 well!
The essay is to be typed, double-spaced in standard font, and all reference should be accurately cited. No electronic submission of the essay will be accepted.
Again, if there are any questions about this assignment, please do not hesitate to ask! Good luck!
As stated above on the
syllabus, part of the final is a take-home essay. The essay for the final is given here
below. You are strongly encouraged to
work on this essay throughout the semester.
The essay must be typed/printed, double-spaced in standard font (e.g.:
CG TIMES, TIMES NEW ROMAN). Your essay
will be graded on form as well as content.
It must be well written, without spelling or grammatical errors. The essay should be approximately 10-12
pages, though no maximum limit is given.
The essay should be answered based on the course material, namely, the
lectures, the textbook, and the source readings. Your essay should have a strong argument,
supported with evidence, namely, detail and reference to the sources. There is no right or wrong answer on this
essay. The essay will be graded based on
how well you analyze the course material and apply it to the question
below. Be sure to argue your case, and
to base your argument on the course material, and particularly on the
sources. When quoting from the textbook,
the readings, or from the lectures, please
give references/citations in parenthesis.
If you have any questions about this assignment, please do not hesitate
to see me! Good luck!
Final Essay:
Modernity
came at a cost. So too has
Post-Modernity. Yet the basis of the
political, social, and cultural traditions of “the West” today is still the
intellectual position of inalienable human rights, which were themselves a
“discovery” of the Enlightenment. The
question we face, therefore, is how can a modern idea serve as the foundation
for a post-modern world? After Marx,
Darwin, Nietzsche, and Freud, after the Holocaust and the Atom Bomb, we must
also question the conception of the human individual that human rights have
been based upon. What is the foundation
for human rights in a post-modern world?
And what implications does a post-modern understanding of the invidual
have for the foundation of human rights and the political, social, and cultural
traditions of “the West”? Or is the very
idea of “the West” itself one that only
increasingly reveals itself as ideology in the post-modern global culture? In other words, if western civilization was
defined by early modern and modern paradigms, what value does the concept of
western civilization have in a post-modern paradigm? Is “the West” a concept “western
civilization” must abandon as part of the cost of post-modernity? Offer answers to these questions based on a
discussion of the development of the western tradition from approximately 1500
to 2006, tracing in particular the political, social, and intellectual contexts
of the evolving relationship between the individual and government.