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CRW 207

Professor: Dr. Jason K. Swedene
Office location and phone number: Arts Center 223 (phone: 635-2122)
e-mail: jswedene@lssu.edu

website: www.lssu.edu/faculty/jswedene/humanities
student hotline for school/ class cancellation: 635-2858

by appointment see website for latest information

Course Description:

Continuation of HUMN251: the humanities in the age of science, from the early Renaissance to the present.

This course is an examination of our inherited culture through historical, philosophical, religious, literary, and artistic analyses. Our specific focus is on the styles from the Renaissance to the present. The aim of this course is not only to understand the triumphs and shortcomings of the humanistic subjects, but most importantly, to examine our own place in the wider culture that transcends each of us.

Course Readings and Materials:
1)        Fleming, William, Arts & Ideas, 10th ed.(Wadsworth: Australia, 2005).   ISBN: 0-534-61371-3.
NOTE: Past editions are acceptable, however, the student is responsible for the material and pictures presented in the newest edition. 

2)        Other required readings are posted as links to this syllabus.

Recommended Reading:

3)        Swedene, Jason K., Staying Alive: The Varieties of Immortality (Lantham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2009), especially Ch. 4.

Required Course Websites:

http://www.lssu.edu/faculty/jswedene/

Course Goals: 

This course fulfills a portion of LSSU’s General Education requirement.  Like reputable institutions across the world, LSSU’s faculty and administration have decided that in order to receive a degree from this institution, students must develop general skills and knowledge.

General Education Mission Statement                                                       

In a diverse and changing world, college graduates must be prepared for a lifetime of learning in a variety of fields.  In order to meet this challenge, general education requirements foster the development of general skills and knowledge that are further developed throughout the curriculum.  LSSU graduates will be able to:

• Analyze, develop, and produce rhetorically complex texts
• Communicate competently in a variety of contexts (Communication Outcomes)
• Analyze, evaluate and explain human aesthetics and its historical development (Humanities Outcome)
• View the world from cultural perspectives other than their own (Diversity Outcome)
• Incorporate empirical evidence in the analysis of the causes and consequences of natural phenomena (Natural Science Outcome)
• Think critically and analytically about the causes and consequences of human behavior (Social Science Outcome)
• Analyze situations symbolically and quantitatively in order to make decisions and solve problems (Mathematics Outcome)

General Education Objectives: 

This course fulfills a portion of LSSU’s General Education requirement.  LSSU’s faculty and administration have decided that in order to receive a degree from this institution, students must develop general skills and knowledge.

At the conclusion of HUMN252 students will:

• Be able to analyze human aesthetics and its historical development.
• Be able to evaluate human aesthetics and its historical development.
• Be able to explain human aesthetics and its historical development

Grading Scale and Policies:

Your final grade is weighted as follows:

Each test is worth one hundred points. There are 6 tests. If you take all 6 tests and pass the final, your best 5 tests will be counted.

Each blackboard quiz is worth ten points. Your lowest quiz will be dropped.

Final grades are determined by the simple calculating of your points from counted tests and counted quizzes (+ any extra credit earned) over the number of possible points.

Truancy, tardiness, and leaving class early each will be counted against regular attendance. Beware of this policy so that you arrange other engagements such as work, dinner parties, vacations, child care, hunting excursions, etc. accordingly.

Policy on Blackboard Quizzes:

Your score on these quizzes makes up a significant part of your final grade. Blackboard quizzes are designed to be taken before lectures on a given topic. Once a Blackboard quiz has expired, there will be no opportunity to make it up: no exceptions.  It is the student’s responsibility to ascertain when quizzes are due.

Ground Rules:

1) You must attend class regularly and participate in all class activities. You may lose considerable grade points of up to 3 percentage points per class for excessive unexcused absences above beyond two. Please let me know via e-mail if you plan to miss a class.  

2) All assignments for a given day must be done before class.

3) There will be six one-hour tests. The final test, test six, is a non-cumulative exam to be held during finals week. Make-up tests are given only as warranted by circumstance (e.g., documented illness or documented family emergency) and as granted by instructor. The testing center in the basement of the library provides a monitored environment.  Bring a picture ID.  You will not be issued a test without these items. The number to make appointments is 635-2027.

4) Students are responsible for the assignments outlined on this syllabus and the course website. Absence at a previous class is not an acceptable excuse for not completing assignments on time.  

5) An important note about extra credit: students may add up to 4% to their final grade by doing extra credit work.

The first 2% may be earned by completing a chapter summary of a book, pre-approved by the instructor. The due date for that extra credit opportunity is the first class day of the 3rd last week of classes (by 2 p.m.). Click here for the proper form to fill out.

The next 2% may be earned by attending a cultural event and submitting a two-page journal entry on the experience. In this exercise, you are to describe the event.  Then analyze, evaluate and explain its relevance to human aesthetics and its historical development. The due date for all cultural event journal submissions is the first class day of the 2nd last week of classes (by 2 p.m.). No late extra-credit submissions will be accepted.

6) It is worth noting that each individual test will be curved upwards if the class average for that test is below a C.  It is also worth noting that final averages will not be curved upwards.   

7) Use of headphones, cell phones, computers, tablets, and hats during exams is prohibited.

8) Cell phones must be turned off for all class and lab sessions. If the cell phone is on and rings, the student will be asked to leave the class for the day and this will count as an absence.

9) No computers, tablets, or any other electronic device will be allowed.

Grading Scale:

Your raw final grade score is always interpreted according to the highest letter grade it corresponds to.  For example, a 90 is an A-.  A 63 is interpreted as a D.

Policies and Procedures:

Attendance: You must attend class regularly and participate in all class activities. You may lose considerable grade points of up to 3 percentage points per class for excessive unexcused absences above beyond two. Please let me know via e-mail if you plan to miss a class.  

HONOR PLEDGE 

As a student of Lake Superior State University, you must adhere to the Student Honor Code. You will refrain from any form of academic dishonesty or deception such as cheating, stealing, plagiarism or lying on take-home assignments, homework, computer programs, lab reports, quizzes, tests or exams which are Honor Code violations.  Furthermore, you understand and accept the potential consequences of punishable behavior.

IPASS (Individual Plan for Academic Student Success):

If at mid-term your grades reflect that you are at risk for failing some or all of your classes, you will be contacted by a representative of IPASS. The IPASS program is designed to help you gain control over your learning through pro-active communication and goal-setting, the development of intentional learning skills and study habits, and personal accountability. IPASS is located in the KJS Library, Room 106, (906) 635-2887 or  x2294 on campus, or email ipass@lssu.edu if you would like to sign up early in the semester or if you have any questions or concerns.

The Americans with Disabilities Act & Accommodations:
In compliance with Lake Superior State University policy and equal

access laws, disability-related accommodations or services are

available to students with disabilities.  Students who desire such

services should meet with professors in a timely manner, preferably

during the first week of class, to discuss disability-related needs.

Students are eligible to receive services after they are registered

with Disability Services.  Proper registration allows Disability

Services to verify the disability and determine individual reasonable

academic accommodations.  Disability Service is located in the KJS

Library Room 103, 906-635-2355 (from on campus – 2355).

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the

impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss specific

needs.

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Here is the agenda.  Test dates will be announced no less than 3 days before the test is given.

V: Fleming, Ch. 21  Nietzsche (Selections)
W: Fleming, Ch. 21; Sartre; Albert Camus
X: Fleming, Ch. 22; James Rachels
Y: Fleming Ch. 22
Z: TEST FIVE

AA: Fleming Ch. 23
BB: Fleming Ch. 23

FINALS WEEK:  TEST SIX