ENGLISH 12 CP, Senior Seminar

ENGLISH 12 CP, Senior Seminar

Philosophy in Literature

August/September 2016

Week 1

• Handout: Syllabus, Independent Reading List, Assignment List
• Library: check out Textbook, Out of the Silent Planet
• Assignment: Personal Philosophy Statement (Canvas)

• Lecture/Notes: Introduction to Philosophy Timeline, Branches
• Activity: Thinking Game (in groups)

• Activity: Thinking Game (in groups); discuss
• Handout: Out of the Silent Planet study guide

• Handout: Metaphysics Cheat Sheet
• Discussion: Out of the Silent Planet chapters 1-2

• Video: Futurama episode (on time travel, season 7 episode 7)
• Discussion: Metaphysics of time, space, etc.

Week 2

• Assignment: Seminar/Response Readings information session and sign-ups (Canvas)
• Lecture/Notes: Introduction to Greek Philosophy (textbook introduction)
• Handout: Aristotle Cheat Sheet
• Handout: text, “On the Soul”; read/discuss

• Discussion: “On the Soul”

• Lecture/Notes: Introduction to Medieval Philosophy
• Handout: Proofs for God’s Existence Cheat Sheet
• Discussion: Out of the Silent Planet chapters 1-6 (Study Guide, close reading)

• Discussion: Aquinas’ Five Ways argument (go over selections from textbook—bring to class)

Week 3

• Assignment: one-pager sample, go over format
• Handout: Out of the Silent Planet mid-book discussion prep

• Assignment: Sample Seminar Reading, Response (discuss)

• Activity: Out of the Silent Planet Mid-book Formal Discussion

• Handout: Leibniz’s Monadology Cheat Sheet, discuss
• Discussion:Out of the Silent Planet chapters 7-12 (Study Guide, close reading)

• Video: Hume Introduction
• Handout: Hume Cheat Sheet, discuss

Week 4

• Handout: Happiness Chart Cheat Sheet
• Activity: Happiness Discussion

• Discussion:Out of the Silent Planet ch. 13-19 (Study Guide, close reading)
• Handout: Out of the Silent Planet end-book discussion prep

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Read Out of the Silent Planet ch.22 to postscript (in class)

• Activity: Out of the Silent Planet End-of-Book Formal Discussion

• Activity: Identity Discussion

Week 5

• Library: check in Out of the Silent Planet, check out “The Secret Sharer”
• Lecture/Notes: Introduction to Epistemology
• Handout: Epistemology Cheat Sheet
• Handout: movie guide, Moon (complete introduction reflection question)

• Handout: Asimov, “The Last Question”
• Film: Moon (with movie guide)

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Film: Moon (with movie guide)

• Film:Moon (with movie guide), finish
• Discussion: movie wrap-up movie, guide (save for mid-book discussion)
• Handout: “The Secret Sharer” Study Guide

• Discussion: Moon and “The Last Question”

October 2016

Week 6

• Handout: Plato Cheat Sheet
• Handout: Plato, “Allegory of the Cave,” read/discuss

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Handout: Plato, “The Divided Line,” read/discuss

• Discussion: Plato wrap-up (discuss “Allegory, “Divided Line,” and learning as recollection); go over Epistemology One-pager
• Handout: “The Secret Sharer” Part 1 discussion prep

• Activity: Personhood Definitions and Survey (work on survey, independently)

Week 7

• Activity: “The Secret Sharer” Part IFormal Discussion

• Handout: Walt Whitman, Introduction and Poetry
• Assignment: choose poems, read, analyze (in groups)

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Assignment: finish Whitman poem analyses

• Assignment: Poem Teach-the-class, follow-up discussion

Week 8

• Handout: Midterm blue-book test Study Guide
• Lecture/Notes: Kantian Categories of the Mind, Knowledge
• Handout: Kant Cheat Sheet

• Handout: “The Secret Sharer” Part 2 discussion prep
• Lecture/Notes: Hegelian Holism
• Handout: Hegel Cheat Sheet

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Assignment: Work on Study Guide (study groups)

• Activity: “The Secret Sharer” Part II Formal Discussion

• Exam: Midterm Blue Book Test

Week 9

• Library: check in “The Secret Sharer,” check out The Stranger
• Handout: The Stranger Study Guide
• Lecture/Notes: Genesis, Abraham and Isaac
• Handout: Genesis verses, read in class and discuss

• Handout: Kierkegaard Cheat Sheet
• Handout: “Fear and Trembling” selections, read Preface and Exordium
• Activity: discuss I-IV in groups

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Discussion: The StrangerPart I chapters 1-3 (study guide)

• Handout: The Stranger Part 1 Discussion prep
• Video: Seinfeld episode (season 3 episode 6, “The Parking Garage”); discuss in context of existentialism

• Activity: The Stranger Part I Formal Discussion

November 2016

Week 10

• Lecture/Notes: Atheistic Existentialism
• Handout: Camus/Sartre Cheat Sheet
• Discussion: The Stranger Part I chapters 4-6

• Handout: “The Myth of Sisyphus,” read/discuss
• Discussion: Sartre, “Meaning of Existentialism” (in text, bring to class)

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Discussion: The Stranger Part II chapters 1-2

• Activity: “Being Bored” simulation
• Handout: selections from “Either/Or,” read/discuss; go over Existentialism One-pager

• Handout: The Stranger Part II Discussion prep
• Handout: Determinism Cheat Sheet
• Activity: Behaviorism demonstration

Week 11

• Twilight Zone “Five Characters In Search Of An Exit” (season 3, episode 14); watch, discuss

• Activity: The Stranger Part II Formal Discussion
• Handout: Ethics Survey

• Library: check in The Stranger, check out Point Counter Point
• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Discussion: Ethics Survey

• Introduction: Aldous Huxley, Point Counter Point
• Handout: Point Counter Point Study Guide
• Read: begin Point Counter Point chapter I (if time)

Week 12

• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapter I
• Handout: Major Character Chart

• Lecture/Notes: Bach in B Minor
• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters II-III

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations (any late, make-ups as well)

• Handout: Philosophies of Life Cheat Sheet
• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters IV-V

• Assignment: Final Paper Information Session
• Handout: Topic Proposal format, information

Week 13

• Video: Seinfeld episode (season 3, episode 13); watch/discuss

• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters VI-VII

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Handout: Point Counter Point first-third Discussion prep
• Assignment: Philosophies of Life One-pager

Wednesday 11/23 – Friday 11/25: THANKGIVING WEEKEND

No School

Week 14

• Point Counter Point First-third Formal Discussion

• Handout: Marx, Communism Manifesto Cheat Sheet
• Video: Chinese Sesame Score
• Discussion:Point Counter Point chapters VIII-XII (Study Guide, close reading)

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters XIII-XV

• Handout: Freud, Pleasure/Pain Cheat Sheet
• Handout: Point Counter Point Second-third Discussion prep
• Assignment: Independent Reading Book-talk

• Handout: Bentham Utilitarianism Cheat Sheet
• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters XVI-XIX (Study Guide, close reading)

December 2016

Week 15

• Activity: Point Counter Point Second-third Formal Discussion

• Activity:Topic Proposal Conferences

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters XXI-XXIV

• Handout: Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius Cheat Sheet
• Activity: Topic Proposal Conferences

• Handout: Fascism, Illidge v. Webley Cheat Sheet [Guest lecture?]
• Discussion: Point Counter Point ch.XXV-XXIX (Study Guide, close reading)

Week 16

• Handout: Religious Moral Virtues Cheat Sheet
• Activity: Ethics Discussion

• Discussion: Point Counter Point chapters XXX-XXXII
• Handout: Final Blue Book Test Study Guide
• Handout: Character Axes (work independently, small groups)

• Activity: Seminar/Response Presentations
• Activity: Character Axes, Blue Book Study Guide (continue in small groups)

• Handout: Point Counter Point Final Discussion prep
• Discussion:Point Counter Point ch. XXXIII-XXXIV (Study Guide, close reading)

• Activity: Read/Discuss Point Counter Point chapter XXXVII in class

• Activity: Work on Blue Book Study Guide, if time

Week 17