St. Thomas
University
The Aquinas Programme
Great Books: An Introduction to Thoughtful Reading
Course Outline, 2004-2005
1. Introduction
"Great Books: An Introduction to Thoughtful Reading" (hereafter referred to as Great Books) is an 18 credit-hour section of the Aquinas Programme. The Aquinas Programme is designed to offer first-year students an alternative to the typical course of study in which they take five separate courses. In Aquinas, we bring together the equivalent of three courses for a multi-disciplinary examination of some theme or issue. Among other things, the linking of these courses allows us to provide you with an intellectual home base - a small group of classmates with whom you will share the majority of your curriculum.
In this particular section of the Aquinas Programme you will examine some of life s great questions from the point of view of three disciplines: English, Philosophy, and Political Science. Upon successful completion of Great Books, you will receive credit for a full year of study in English 1006; Philosophy 1013 and 1023; and Political Science 1006. You will therefore be eligible to proceed into second year courses in all three of those departments.
2. Instructors
Great Books has three instructors:
Prof. Sara MacDonald
Department of Political Science
Office: HCH 108
Office Hours: M. 8:30-10:30 & by appt.
Phone: 452-0519
e-mail: smac@stu.ca
Prof. Barry Craig
Department of Philosophy
Office: HCH 213
Office Hours: T. 8:30-10:00 & by appt.
Phone: 460-0321
e-mail: craig@stu.ca
Prof. Rodger Wilkie
Department of English
Office:
Office Hours: MW 2:30-3:30 & F 10:30 - 11:30.
Phone:
e-mail: wilkie@stu.ca
3. Course Objectives
The Great Books course has two general objectives:
• Primarily, we want to you to begin to think about a small number of life s great themes, such as Knowledge; Good & Evil; Love and Friendship; and, Freedom. Our intention is to explore these topics with you from a variety of perspectives. We offer no pre-packaged answers. Our aim is to encourage critical thinking and thoughtful questioning.
• Secondly, we want to help you develop the academic skills you need to succeed at university, particularly reading and writing. With a name like Great Books you should not be surprised that in this course we expect you to do a lot of reading. We hope to develop your capacity to read thoughtfully. We also plan to work explicitly on the development of good writing skills.
You should expect to do a substantial amount of reading and writing. It is important to recognize that this programme is the equivalent of three full courses.
4 Course Format
The course meets seven times a week:
M.: 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
T &TH: 10:00 - 11:20
p.m.
T &TH: 1:00 - 2:20 p.m.
On any given day, one of us will lead the discussion, depending on the reading covered. Other instructors will usually be present. In addition, guest instructors will occasionally participate in class.
Great Books will involve a wide variety of teaching styles and learning techniques: lectures, tutorials, small group discussions, and one-on-one meetings with the instructors. For each class, it will be absolutely essential that you have done the assigned reading and are prepared for that class. To this end, we will often assign reading questions and writing exercises in preparation for class. Quizzes will be given to test your comprehension of the readings.
Films will sometimes be used to introduce. explore, or tie together the questions we study. They will normally be shown on Monday evenings.
5 Required Texts
Below is a list of the required texts for the first term . All of these are available at the University Bookstore. You must buy these particular translations and editions since we will frequently refer to passages in the texts by page number.
• Virgil, The Aeneid
(Penguin)
• Homer, The Iliad (trans. Fagles, Penguin)
• Dante, The Divine Comedy: Hell (trans. Sayers, Penguin)
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Broadview)
• Plato, The Republic (Hackett)
• Beowulf: (Broadview)
• Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
A number of shorter readings will be distributed in class in photocopied form.
6 Evaluation
Grades will be calculated as follows:
6 essays 60%
Christmas Exam 20%
Class Assignments 10%
Participation 10%
Please do not make any travel plans for the Christmas holidays before you have consulted the Christmas exam schedule.
All course work must be completed in order for a grade to be assigned.
The grading scheme used
in this course is as follows: 95-100 A+
90-94 A
85-89 A-
80-84 B+
75-79 B
70-74 B-
65-69 C+
60-64 C
55-59 C-
50-54 D
0-49 F