Course Title: Mosaic Part I Fall2016

Instructor: Frank B. Leib PhD., D.D

IH 851/008
MWF 9:00 - 9:50

Classroom: Ritter 109

Prerequisite: English 1 002

Ofhce Address of Instructor: Anderson 215

Telephone: 57 0-57 8-2505

Instructor's E-mail: fleib@temple.edu

Office Hours: M TWF Noon to Five

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Through the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of challenging primary texts and their
contexts, students are introduced to core humanities concepts. This theme-based course surveys the
texts of varied cultures, histories and disciplines. Students investigate the nature of the individual in
human society through the examination of psychological, social and political texts in dialogue with
examples from art and literature. The overall theme of this course is the world in which we live and
how we come to grips with the complexity of that world as well as the social means that people use
to negotiate complex social situations demanding interactions with others. The emphasis of the
course is on creative thinking and originality, as students try to apply the insights of great historical
thinkers to contemporary problems and the ordinary day-to-day stresses and challenges of their own
lives.

GRADING POLICY:

Your final grade will be based on three equally weighted components: class participation,
essay writing and examinations. Class participation is in no sense optional in this course, since every
student must learn how to listen attentively to the ideas of others while making a serious effort to
share his/her own thoughts with them. This course is very much about tolerance, compassion and
human understanding. As a part of his/her quiz grade, each student must keep a journal on each
reading assignment, in which he/she will copy out one sentence that seems somehow important or
interesting and then briefly explain and evaluate it in terms of his/her own interests and beliefs. The
journal entry may also take the form of questions about the meaning and value of the text or about its
implications. Every student, chosen at random, will be asked to read his journal entry to the class on
any given day. Twice a semester, the student will submit his journal for evaluation at a student
conference, once at mid-term and once at end of term. Also, students will write two essay of three to
five pages in length which will follow a magazine-style format. Students will familiarize themselves
with this kind of writing through a hands-on, in- class exercise. In groups of four, students will take
turns introducing each day's reading to the class, following a standard journalistic format: anecdotal
introduction, background information, thesis statement with three supporting quotations and a fnal
evaluation. Ideally students will find the time, either after class, on line, or at an office visit, to divide
up their tasks and co-ordinate their presentation. In this way, the presentation will also be a pre-
writing exercise. There will be a final exam in essay form. All students will the have the opportunity
to bring a draft of their paper to personal conference during which the student can discuss what he
wrote and ways in which he might improve it. Your over-all grade for the course will be computed
on the following criteria:

Participation 25%o,

Quizzes:25Yo,

Papers:25Yo,

Tests: 25o

Note: For the purposes of averaging grades, letter grades can be translated into numerical
points on as follows.
A (outstanding) -10 points
A-(excellent) -9 points
B+ (very good) -0-8 points
B (good) -7 points
B-(well above average) 6 points
C+ (above average) -3 points
C (average) -4 points
C-(below average) 3 points
D oor) 2 points
F (failing) -0 points

CLASSROOM PROTOCOL:

l. Students should be seated in the classroom at the appropriate time. If you arrive after roll call has
been taken, you will be marked absent. There will be no exceptions to this rule under any
circumstances.

2. Because of the importance of class participation, only four unexcused cuts will be allowed.

3. Every student should bear in mind that the University mandates strict penalties for any form of
plagiarism. These penalties will be strictly enforced.
DISABILITY SSTATEMENT: This course is open to all students who meet the academic
requirements for participation. Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact
of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as
possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at2l5-204-1280 in 1000 Ritter Annex to
coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY

All written work must be original. Cheating or plagiarism (claiming someone else's ideas or written work as
your own) will not be tolerated. Failure to comply with this aspect of the course will result in severe academic
consequences. Anyone caught in these activities will be given a failing grade for the paper/exam and for the
course. Additionally, an official letter will be written to the academic dean, along with a recommendation that
your case go before the University Disciplinary Committee. The following text is taken verbatim from the
University's policy on Academic Honesty:

Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism and academic cheating are,
therefore, prohibited. Essential to intellectual growth is the development of independent thought and a respect
for the thoughts of others. The prohibition against plagiarism and cheating is intended to foster this
independence and respect.

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's
words, another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses --papers, examinations, homework
exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations --is expected to be the individual effort of the student
presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting
other resources --journals, books, or other media --these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the
course. lt is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from
other sources --suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language --must be cited.
Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide
Web is plagiarism.

Academic cheating is, generall the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the
specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsi$ring data; submitting, without the instructor's
approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiaze or cheat from one's own
or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person.

Students must assume that all graded assignments , quizzes, and tests are to be completed individually unless
otherwise noted in writing in this syllabus. I reserve the right to refer any cases of suspected plagiarism or
cheating to the University

Disciplinary Committee; I also reserve the right to assign a grade of "F" for the given paper, quiz,test, and for
the course. \
STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM: Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable
facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic
Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through this
link: :http :/policies.temple.edulgetdoc.asp?policyno+O3.70.02.

Required Texts:

The Bible, any translation,

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Homer, The llliad

Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates

Plato, The Symposium

The Bhagavad Gita

Sappho, Poems

Shakespeare, William: Hamlet

Schedule of Readings

Introduction:

Week One: Introduction

January 12: handout

January 14: handout
January 16: handout

Unit One: Reason as Process; Reason as Structure

The texts in this unit deal with the nature of rational discourse as a way of acquiring knowledge
and solving life's personal, political and moral conundrums. The assumption of the f,nst
Rationalists -- Athenians of the Golden Age (c.400 B.C.)
- was that reality had a rational
structure but that it was so vast that the possibilities for exploring it were essentially infinite.
They assumed that moral values and political ideals should be based on reason, so we will also
be talking about family life, the varieties of human love, the meaning of friendship, the
importance of both team-spirit and individual freedom, etc. Most of all we will talk about the
methods and goals of a good education
Week Two: Plato, The Trial and Death o.f Socrates

January 21, The Euthyphro, pp. 1 - 19

January 23,The Apology, pp.19 -42

Week Three: Plato continued

January 26,The Crito pp. 43 - 85

January 28, The Phaedo, pp. 55 - 58
January 30, The Symposium Introduction and the speech of Phaedrus. pp. I- 8
PRESENTATION 1 - The Socratic Method

V/eek Four: Plato's Symposium

February 2,The speech of Pausanius, pp. 8 - 12

February 4, The speeches of Eryximachus and Arostophanes, pp: 13 - 19
February 6. The speech of Agathon and Socrates, pp. 19 -25

V/eek Five: Plato continued

February 9, The speech of Diotima, pp.25 - 34

February 11, The speech of Alcibiades, pp. 34 - 43
February 13, The Poetry ofSappho

Unit Two: Myth and Imagination, Doctrine and Devotion

From the caves of Lascaux and the Archaic Venus to the Arena Chapel and the Sistine Madonna, the
human race has sought to understand its place in the world through pictures and stories, songs and
poetry. The focus of this section will be on the changing faces of the religious imagination and the
place of faith in the modern world. We will reflect on the conflicts between science and religion
(reason and faith) on the one hand, and on the conflicts between the various world religions on the
other hand. We will discuss the relationship between religion, moral goodness and civic unity as
they have evolved since Plato.

Week Six, The Gilgamesh Epic

February 16, Gilgamesh, pp. I - 54

February 18, Gilgamesh,pp.54 - 100
February 20. The Bible: Genesis, chapters 1 - 8 and Exodus, chapters 1 - 15
PRESENTATION 2 - Platonic Love

Week Seven, The Bhagavad Gita

February 23,The First to the Sixth Teaching

February 25,The Seventh to the Twelfth Teaching
February 27,The Thirteenth to the Eighteenth Teaching
PRESENTATION 3 - Love and Death in Ancient Sumer
Week Eight: Journalistic Writing

March 2, Discuss Paper Topics. Handout

March 4. Conferences
March 6, Conferences

SPRING BREAK

V/eekNine: The Gospel of John

March 16, John I - o

March 18, John 7- 13
March 20, John 14 -21 PAPER DUE

V/eek Ten: The Gospel of Luke

March 23. Luke 1 - 8

March 25, Luke 9 - 16
March Z7,Luke 17 -24
PRESENTATION 4 - The Gospel of John

Unit Three: The Modern Temper

The Italian Renaissance lead, first, to a flourishing of art, music and literature and then to a
whole series of scientific revolutions that radically changed our human understanding of our
place in the world. "The new philosophy calls all in doubt," wrote John Dunne. Life became
easier and longer through exploding new technologies that opened up opportunities undreamed
of in the past - but at a price. As Karl Marx wrote, "The constant revolutionizing of production,
uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation
distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones." In short, for moderns, change is the only
constant, "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled
to face with sober senses his real conditions of life and his relationship with his kind."

Week Eleven, Voltaire

March 30, Chapters 1 - 9

April 1, Chapters 10 - 19
April3, Chapters 20 -30
PRESENTATION 5 - The Gospel of Luke

Week Twelve, Hamlet

April6, Act I
April 8, Act II and Act III
April
10, Act IV and Act V
PRESENTATION 5 - Positive Thinking in the Age of Anxiety

Week Thirteen, Shakespeare' s S onnets, Handout

April 13. Sonnet 29

April 15, Sonnet 30
April 17, Sonnet 9l
PRESENTATION 6 - Lies, Sex and Shakespeare

Week Fourteen: Conferences

ApriI2l, Discuss Final Exam

April22, FINAL PRESENTATION -- Shakespeare, Socrates and Temple
April24, Conferences
April27, Conferences

FINAL EXAM